The black velvet bolete is listed as a choice edible mushroom so I may have misidentified this Bolete because after satisfying myself that this was the Black Velvet (and since it was a bolete that was not brusing blue upon being opened - as in the last photo - I did not bother with a spore identification as I knew that the worst that could be was a non-palatable taste upon cooking) I brushed it clean and removed the porous sponge-like gill section then sliced the lovely white meat of the crown into small pieces and using olive oil gently grilled these for five to ten minutes. When I chewed one small section the taste was quite bitter so I spate it out and rinsed my mouth with water, put the cooked and un-cooked pieces in the compost and washed the round iron grill, that I had used, very carefully. It might have been just my own personal reaction to that particular mushroom and that it was identified correctly or maybe it was just a Black Bolete look-a-like - for sure next time I will do a spore identification first
