The Cardoncello Mushrooms were already particularly appreciated during the Middle Ages not only for their qualities related to taste but also for their alleged aphrodisiac powers due to which they were objects of censorship by the Holy Office  which by means of an edict of the Popes, forbade the innkeepers of the time to serve the “sinful” mushroom to the faithful on pilgrimage to Rome in the jubilee years. It was believed that eating “ferlengi” (Cardoncello was called frlengo in northern Lazio) encouraged people to commit “sins of the flesh”.

Until the 1970s when Cardoncello was still present in large quantities spontaneously, it was called “the meat of the poor” and this probably due to its particular consistency.

Cardoncelli Mushrooms come in a fair variety of shapes and colours,  from the pure white of the highly prized Cardoncello bianco, to the more well-known gray-brown which lightens the more the mushroom grows exposed to the sun.

The pulp is fleshy and compact and gives off a slight smell of bread dough and fennel seeds, the taste is sweet and pleasant even raw, so much so that it can be eaten as a carpaccio.