Tropical bolete

Overview

The tropical bolete is the common name used for Phlebopus beniensis, a bolete, a mushroom with a pored rather than gilled underside, of the genus Phlebopus. The genus is placed in the family Boletinellaceae, and reviews of it describe several of its species as widely eaten and prized in local markets in tropical countries. The catalogue treats the scientific name as a research name, not a reconciled current name.

The species is recorded from Brazil, in tropical Atlantic and Amazonian forests and in seasonal savanna (Cerrado). The supplied catalogue records its ecology as terrestrial, in tropical and subtropical Brazil, and its supply as unknown.

Food use

Documented food use of this species is recent and sparse. A study of the species with ethnomycological notes from Paraguay reports that two records of its consumption had recently been documented in Brazil, and it is described as the first formal documentation of consumption by local people in the literature. The local Brazilian name recorded in that work is chapéu-de-baiano, meaning Bahian hat.

The same kind of account notes that, in some rural areas of São Paulo, people know the name chapeu do baiano but did not eat the mushroom. The sources found here do not say how often rural households in the Amazon eat it, how often they gather it, or what role it plays in local incomes.

Nutrition and the evidence on safety

A 2023 analysis of the species reports a low fat content, about 4 per cent, and a protein content of 39.2 per cent of the dry matter analysed. The authors of that study describe their preliminary toxicological analysis as suggesting that the mushroom is innocuous. That is a laboratory result on the material analysed, and it is not a standard food-safety assessment of the species or a guide for any specimen.

The catalogue states that documented occurrence and consumption do not establish a standardised food-safety assessment for this species.

Relation to other edible boleti

The genus Phlebopus includes species that are eaten in several tropical countries, and reviews of the genus describe several of them as widely consumed and as having potential for economic development. Food records for one Phlebopus species do not extend to another, and the sources reviewed here do not give a dedicated preparation for P. beniensis.

Identification and cautions

This entry is not an identification guide. Boleti are easily confused with other mushrooms, and some bolete look-alikes are toxic. Identification of this species from a photograph or a regional name is not reliable, and no edibility verdict for any specimen follows from this entry.

The sources read for this entry do not give a preparation method, a cooking time, or any advice on whether the mushroom needs to be cooked. Anyone who wants to eat a wild bolete needs a qualified identification of that specimen.

Open questions

Three points are open: how much the species is eaten in Amazonian communities; whether the Brazilian records and the Paraguayan records refer to the same material; and how the species is prepared locally. The toxicological work is preliminary and needs a fuller study before the safety of the species is described as established.