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Wine cap
Stropharia rugosoannulata · Fungus
40 pairings
The wine cap (Stropharia rugosoannulata), also called king stropharia, garden giant or burgundy mushroom, is a large, robust agaric whose smooth, domed cap ripens from deep wine-red and burgundy to a fading reddish-brown, carried on a stout white stalk fitted with a thick, wrinkled, star-shaped ring. Meaty and mild, it is widely cultivated on wood chips and is prized for a savoury flavour often likened to potato, asparagus and red wine.
Picking a good onedrag
Domed, dry, wine-redSlimy, black-gilled, sour
Shop firmThe all-rounder: sauteed, roasted, or grilled whole like a steak.Everyday best
Cap surfaceFlattening, colour faded to tan
GillsPurple-grey, dry and even
Stem and fleshFirm, cut base browning at the rim
SmellMild and mushroomy, a potato note
What to look for, from domed, dry, wine-red to slimy, black-gilled, sour.
Keeping ittap a band
A domestic fridge holds it about 5× longer than the counter.
Humidity
95%, no free water
AH-66 asks for 95%: dry air shrivels the cap and blackens the stem. Free water is the opposite fault - it warns plainly against condensation inside the pack.
Airflow
Paper bag, not sealed
A paper bag, never sealed plastic: the caps breathe hard, the trapped sweat condenses back onto them, and that film is what turns them slimy.
Browns beside ripening fruit
It makes almost none itself, under 0.1 µL/kg/h, but ethylene browns mushroom caps, so keep the bag off the apples, pears and bananas.