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Pioppino
Cyclocybe aegerita · Fungus
40 pairings
The pioppino (Cyclocybe aegerita), also called the black poplar mushroom, velvet pioppini, swordbelt agaric or chestnut mushroom, is a clustered gourmet fungus with domed tan-to-chestnut caps on long, firm white-to-pale-brown stems. Prized in Italian and East Asian cooking, it is firm and crunchy with a deeply savoury, nutty, almost peppery taste that holds up to long cooking.
Veil just splitThe all-rounder: ragù, braises, soups, anything long and savoury.Everyday best
Cap surfaceDry and flat, colour faded to tan
GillsRing split, gills fawn to cinnamon
Stem and cut baseFirm still, cut base browned
SmellClean, earthy, mushroomy
What to look for, from domed, dry, cluster tight to flat, slick, gills weeping.
Keeping ittap a band
A domestic fridge holds it about 5× longer than the counter.
Humidity
95%, no free water
Around 95%: dry air shrivels the cap and dulls its gloss. Free water is worse — a wet cap feeds bacterial blotch, which spots the surface then slimes it.
Airflow
Paper bag, never sealed
Sealed plastic traps the mushrooms' own moisture and they sweat and rot; a paper bag holds the damp in but keeps the caps blotted dry.
Browns beside ripening fruit
It makes almost none itself, under 0.1 µL/kg/h, but ethylene off apples, pears and bananas browns the caps; strong smells transfer too, so keep onions away.