One of life's pleasures in our part of the world is fungi foraging

Martin Hesp may love eating the mushrooms he finds on his walks, but he urges caution

- 

Timing. So much of life is about timing. Last week we promised to dedicate this Hesp Out West feature to the wonderful fungi explosion that has been occurring here in the South West of late. I'd already found more edible field mushrooms than I could possibly eat, but I was hoping to find some delicious ceps before I had to file this article. And, hey-presto. Monday and Tuesday's bright sunshine brought the blighters out.

There they were, just a brace of them, standing white and brown and proud, right on one of my daily dog-walking routes. Boletus-edulis first appeared in this particular woodland spot near my house about 10 years ago. Over the previous two decades I'd never seen any in that spot now they pop up under some holly and oak trees every year. Not many. Just enough to keep the hunter-gatherer who lurks inside one weary journalist happy.

Because, ceps really are delicious. One of my favourite wild mushrooms - and, indeed, a favourite among foragers in countries where they really do know about harvesting food in the wild, such as France and Italy. Slightly sweet, crunchy and nutty. That's how I'd describe really good fresh boletus-edulis in their prime. Perfect, just fried in good butter and tossed in steaming spaghetti. That is how I've enjoyed them in Tuscany, and that is how I like 'em here when I am lucky enough to find them.

The other wonderful thing about ceps is that you'd have to be an idiot to confuse them with any of their more poisonous cousins. Indeed, boletes are a relatively safe bet because only one I know of can make you really ill. That is devil's bolete (rubroboletus satanas), also known as Satan's bolete. It has bright red spongy pores underneath, so you'd need to be colour-blind to eat one of those.