Beyond the Basics: Blewits

My poor friends put up with my seasonal personality disorder. The summer version of me hosts cocktail parties and spends afternoons sprawled on the beach. But by mid-autumn, my inner mushroom nerd is fully unmasked. I'll try to recruit everyone for expeditions to what's affectionately dubbed the 'fuck no forest'—Ivan Milat’s picnic spot of no return. It’s a leech-infested damp pit. Turn left and you'll be met with rusty “no trespassing” warning signs, turn right and you'll descend downwards into a dark valley, covered with all sorts of fungi—medicinal Snow Fungus, squishy Cat's Tongue Fungus, orange slimy Witch's Butter and smurf-blue Pixie Parasols.  

I endure the muck and leech bites for Wood Blewits (Collybia nuda), a delicious purple mushroom.

They’re late-season fruiting, popping up in late autumn and winter, a month or two after most other edible mushrooms. They prefer the colder temperatures and thrive underneath decaying leaf litter. Wood Blewits are also in sync with another type of fun mushroom, so when you're out foraging you'll bump into twenty-something year old kids looking for something magic. Last season some hippie dude tried to direct me to an alternate location, probably hoping I wouldn't stumble across his patch. Not that it mattered, I'm not looking to raid his supply. He's looking for spiritual enlightenment, but I'm just looking for dinner.

I've seen Wood Blewits selling for $140 a kilo at the markets—a complete rip off, yay for late-stage capitalism. So if you're lucky, finding a stash feels like a valuable treasure hunt achievement.

They're not a mushroom for inexperienced foragers, but you don't need to be an expert mycologist either. Find them a few times, take one home to closely observe, and if you're a newbie, post in an ID group to confirm. If in doubt, chuck it out.

Other edible mushrooms like Saffron Milk Caps are easy peasy to ID—their lookalikes are fairly distinguishable. But Wood Blewits are a little more tricky. Eat the wrong purple mushroom, and you'll be messaging the admins at Poisons Help; Emergency Identification For Mushrooms at 2am, before calling your mum to take you to the hospital.

I feel obligated to strike both confidence and fear into the hearts of all the gung-ho newbie foragers. As long as you're careful and do your research, mushroom poisoning is very low risk. It occurs from human error, by overlooking an identification feature. The more you learn, the lower the risk. Read books, join identification groups, and familiarise yourself with lots of photos. And the best teachers are the mushrooms themselves; get up close and touch, smell, observe.

Wood Blewits have lots of potentially toxic doppelgängers. Here in Melbourne, the main offender is Cortinarius archeri, dubbed the Emperor Cort. There are many different purple mushrooms in the Cortinarius family that you don't want to eat. There is some debate about the toxicity of purple coloured Cortinarius, but you don't wanna become the next case study. If you're foraging Wood Blewits, you need to know how to identify both Wood Blewits and their Cortinarius lookalikes .

You're basically playing a higher-stakes game of Spot the Difference.

At first glance, Blewits and purple Cortinarius can be nearly identical: They're both purple, with similar size, shape, and habitat. But look closer—the devil's in the details:

1) The sniff test: Stick your nose in them. If it's a Wood Blewit, you’ll catch a whiff of something floral or fruity—many people associate the smell with orange juice concentrate. On the other hand, Emperor Corts smell like musty yuck, though some people don't notice a smell at all.

2) Cobweb cortina: Young Cortinarius have a delicate spiderweb veil (called a cortina) between their cap and stem. As they mature, this delicate membrane tears away, often leaving behind fragments of wispy silk-like threads on the cap edge or stem. Don't rely on this alone—rain, wind, or clumsy fingers can wipe this evidence away. Wood Blewits never have a cortina or partial veil.

3) Spores Galore: Cortinarius have rusty orange-brown spores that might be visible in-between gills, or have deposited along the stem or on the cortina.

Blewits have pale cream or peachy-pink spores—sometimes too faint to see. For certainty, you can do a spore print: place the mushroom cap on foil gill-side down, put a bowl over top, wait four hours. Observe the spores which have been deposited on the foil.

Rusty Spores = Regret it all ❌

Pale peach = Safe to eat! ✅

On this older Wood Blewit, you can see the pale peach/pink spore deposit on the inner gills.

On this Cortinarius, you can see rusty coloured spores on the gills and stem.

4) The touchy-feely bit: A Wood Blewit cap has the texture of a fresh pencil eraser—satisfyingly rubbery and smooth. The cap of Emperor Corts start off feeling slimy and slippery, like they're covered in lube. When they're old, they dry out and have a satin fabric texture.

5) Mycelium fragments: When you pluck a mushroom, you might notice tiny bits of fluffy mycelium fragments stuck to the base of the stem. Wood Blewits are unique because some of the mycelium fragments close to the mushroom are sometimes coloured purple (the rest is white). Emperor Corts are always completely white.

Potentially toxic Emperor Corts. These are young specimens.

Emperor Cort. This is a middle aged specimen.

Another potentially toxic Cortinarius. It is a bit older and the colour has faded.

Here's a more thorough checklist of what to look for:

Edible Wood Blewit:	Potentially toxic Emperor Cort:
Smell: Fruity and floral. A distinct scent reminiscent of orange juice concentrate, flowers, oranges or apricot	Smell: Musty/unpleasant smell. Smell fades as it gets older.
Cap:   • Colour: Lavender when young, transitioning to pale cool brown with age. • Texture: Rubbery, smooth, cool to the touch. • Size: 4–15 cm.	Cap:  • Colour: Bright purple when young, can age to lavender, purple, pink or brown. • Check for cortina (cobweb-like veil) remnants on cap edge. • Young specimens glossy; older ones may have a satin-like sheen. • Texture: Slimy when young; dries to satin-like texture with age. • Size: 4–15 cm.
Stipe [stem]: • Colour: Lavender purple. • Texture: Smooth, firm. • No partial veil remnants or cortina. • Occasionally wider at the base.	Stipe [stem]: • Colour: Lavender to bright purple. • Texture: May have a jelly layer (scrapes off); dried specimens feel firm/satin-like. • Cortina remnants often halfway up the stipe. • Occasionally wider at the base.
Gills: • Colour: Lavender purple. • Tightly packed, crowded. • Broadly attached (adnate to emarginate).	Gills: • Check for rusty spore deposits. • Colour: Lavender to bright purple; brownish in older specimens. • Adnate to sinuate (slight inward notch near stem). • Tightly packed but slightly wider-spaced than Wood Blewits. • Slightly thicker gills. • Check for cortina remnants.
Location: Prefers locations with lots of leaf litter. Likes deciduous trees, conifers, eucalyptus.	Location: Often found in similar habitats to Wood Blewits. Likes eucalyptus trees but can be found with other trees.
Growth Pattern: Small to large clusters, or fairy rings.	Growth Pattern: Usually solitary or in small clusters. They're Nigel no-friend loser mushrooms.
Bruising: No colour change.	Bruising: No colour change (but other toxic purple mushrooms may bruise).
Spore colour:  White, cream or pale pinkish-peach	Spore colour:  Orange or rusty brown. Some Cortinarius have cinnamon brown spores.
Mycelium: Upper fragments may be purple; rest is white.	Mycelium: White mycelium fragments.
Taste: Mushroom taste with slight floral/ fruity flavour. Must be cooked for 10+ minutes to eliminate a heat sensitive toxin.	Taste: All toxic mushrooms are able to be tasted and spat out; this is called a spit test. Some people describe Emperor Corts as tasting woody. Many other Cortinarius taste bitter, acidic, like radishes, or like mothballs.

They're particularly abundant around the Macedon region, especially around the big pine forests, roads lined with eucalyptus, Centennial Park, Clyde Track, and the cemetery. I won't give up my best location (the creepy forest in Macedon, but if you think you've guessed the spot, just head down further to the bottom and keep going). Check gently under leaf litter, and I swear sometimes I can smell them when I'm getting close!

Once the mushroom gods bestow you with Wood Blewits, don't get too excited in the kitchen, you'll need to cook them very thoroughly. They contain a heat sensitive toxin that requires cooking at high temperatures for 10 minutes. Personally, I go for 15 mins because I’m chickenshit. Don’t let the word "toxin" scare you off—plenty of foods need cooking to be safe. You wouldn't eat raw pork or chicken, and other mushrooms like Shiitake and Morels also contain heat sensitive toxins too. Undercooked Blewits won’t kill you, but they’ll turn your digestive system into a slip ‘n’ slide for the next week. Rarely, some people are allergic or sensitive to Wood Blewits. So just eat one your first time. Cook the rest of them up the next day if no issues.

Wood Blewits are pretty special—they have a subtle, fruity flavour that sets them apart. To really let that shine, keep the cooking simple. Here’s how I do it: 1) Remove the stems, and grill the caps dry (no oil) for about 10 minutes, cap-side down. You'll see liquid pool and evaporate on the gills. 2) Flip them over and cook for another 5 minutes, adding a little butter or oil in the last couple of minutes. They’re fantastic as a standalone side, stirred into creamy pastas or gnocchi, or even paired with eggs—try them in omelettes or frittatas (just make sure they're cooked thoroughly before adding the rest of the ingredients). Their delicate flavour works beautifully with mild onion flavours like shallots—one of my favourite ways to enjoy them is in crispy, breaded crepes stuffed with sautéed Blewits and shallots. You can really use them in anything. That said, if you throw them into heavily seasoned dishes, you won't taste the fruity notes and they'll taste similar to boring store bought mushrooms.