Varieties of honey agarics and their useful properties
The edible mushrooms are one of the most common in the region. They have a rich mushroom aroma and are equally well suited for canning and cooking hot dishes. But there are also inedible doubles in the forest that are dangerous to human life.
Varieties of honey agarics and their useful properties
Characteristics and habitat
Edible mushrooms are different from other varieties. A small-diameter hat flaunts on a thin and long leg, under which the plates are located. The height of the leg does not exceed 15 cm. There is almost always a “skirt” ring adjacent to the leg.
Young mushrooms have small scales on the cap. Colored cream, honey or brown. Sometimes a reddish tinge is present. The diameter of the cap varies between 5-8 cm. The color of the leg matches the color of the cap, but differs in tone.
The color of the leg is more intense at the bottom than at the top. The color is influenced by the type of mushroom, the place of its growth and age. They grow most often on stumps, due to which they are popularly called "hemp".
Harvested throughout the summer and autumn. Honey mushrooms appear in spring. But there are few spring species.
Habitat
Honey mushrooms grow in groups, on trees or tall shrubs. The exception is the royal (pimpled) honey agaric, which grows singly and looks like a prickly or needle ball. Most often they settle on weakened trees or on old stumps. They can also choose a fallen tree or a tree starting to fall. They are also found on the ground, not far from the tree, and feed on its root system.
They do not take root in cold conditions. Most often found in deciduous forests, less often grow in pine. Prefer forest clearings or ravines.
Tree mushrooms are especially well known to the inhabitants of the Far East.
Varieties of honey agarics
The following varieties of honey agarics grow in our region:
- summer or lime;
- autumn or real;
- winter;
- meadow;
- fat-legged.
Summer (lime) mushrooms
The earliest detection is summer. For them to appear in the spring, winter must end early. As soon as it rains, the first spring crops rise, the earth warms up, it will be possible to make a test trip to the forest.
The diameter of the cap is 5-8 cm. At first, it is hemispherical with edges tightly attached to the stem. With age, it opens and its shape becomes flatter. It is colored unevenly. The main color in the center is light brown, dark brown or yellow with brown spots, and the edges are 1-2 shades darker than the main color. If you look under the cap, there are plates that are pale yellow in young mushrooms, and red-brown in adults. At a young age, the plates are covered with a thin white or yellowish film (private veil).
The leg is yellow-brown, has a dense structure.Its length varies from 3 to 8 cm, and its diameter does not exceed 0.12 cm. Decorated with a cream ring. Below the "skirt" there are small scales. Fruiting from early summer to early autumn. Under suitable climatic conditions, it begins to bear fruit in May.
Autumn (real) mushrooms
The fleshy caps of the autumn variety at a young age resemble a hemisphere in shape, and in the mature they have an umbrella-shaped shape with edges bent inward. Due to small scales, the surface of the cap is matte, its diameter varies from 3 to 10 cm. It is painted cream, ocher or brown. The plates are hidden under a white film, characterized by cream tones at a young age, and brown at an old age. The pulp is cream colored.
The length of the leg does not exceed 10 cm, and the thickness is from 1 to 2 cm. It is even and dense in structure. Irregularly colored in beige-cream color. In some places, a yellow or cream shade is more pronounced. There is a "skirt" ring.
Autumn mushrooms grow in August. The last honey mushroom, real or ordinary, appears at the end of November. They prefer birch and oak groves, rarely grow on aspen stumps. A high yield is observed every 3 years.
Winter mushrooms
Winter mushrooms can be found in December
The diameter of the cap does not exceed 8 cm. The shape at first resembles a bell. With aging, it turns into an umbrella-shaped one with slightly curved inward edges. The cap is usually painted yellow-ocher or red-brown. Slightly sticky to the touch. The edges are a few semitones lighter than the center. The plates are white or light beige, thin, frequent.
The height of the flexible thin legs varies from 7 to 15 cm. They are velvety to the touch, unevenly colored in honey, golden, light or dark brown colors. At a young age, mostly honey, and as an adult - brown. At the base of the leg, the shade is the darkest, and closer to the cap it is the lightest. The cut mushrooms change color at the cut site - there they become darker.
The bright color against the background of white snow does not allow winter mushrooms to go unnoticed. It is better to look for them on birches, poplars, willows and lindens. Less commonly found on coniferous crops. Collection time starts in September. The last wave of fruiting occurs in December. Winter or winter mushrooms are often found in the Altai Territory.
Winter mushrooms do not have poisonous twin mushrooms.
Meadow mushrooms
Meadow mushroom or garlic is popularly known as steppe mushrooms. These edible mushrooms look nondescript. But they are appreciated for their rich taste. Large mushrooms of this type cannot be found. The diameter of the cap does not exceed 6 cm, it can be light beige or light red in color. The plates are creamy, not densely located.
A feature of this type is that the caps practically do not change their structure and color with age. The edge of the cap of adult mushrooms is fragile. In the absence of rain, it withers and shrinks. After the rain, it returns to its previous size and shape. This explains its fragility. They go after them after the rains have passed. It is after the rain that they are clearly visible from under the grass.
The height of the legs, thin and velvety to the touch, does not exceed 10 cm and are painted in ocher color. The lower part is darker than the upper one. Meadow mushrooms appear in June and finish bearing fruit in November. Prefers forest glades.
Fat-legged honey mushrooms
Fatfoot honey fungus got this name because of its appearance. The diameter of his cap is 10-12 cm, it is brown or pinkish. There are scales that are gray, yellowish or light brown in color. There are more of them in the center of the cap than on the edges. At first, the edges are white or yellow, and brown with age. Frequent plates are first white, then beige. As they grow, they turn brown. Young honey agarics have a "skirt" on a club-shaped leg, which disappears with age. These mushrooms are very popular among culinary experts.They surpass even porcini mushrooms in taste.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
For a long time, the tolstopod honey fungus was considered an autumn species, mycologists noticed its characteristic distinctive features:
- Growing season: the peak of collection falls on October-early November (autumn mushrooms are harvested in September).
- Habitat: never settles on a living tree.
The cap of the thickfoot honey fungus is covered with gray or light brown conical scales. Most of them are in the center. Closer to the edge, they become solitary and are no longer in a "standing", "lying" position. If we compare an adult and a young specimen, it is clearly seen that in old mushrooms the scales are located only closer to the center of the cap.
By the way. Even experienced mushroom pickers consider autumn mushrooms and thick-legged mushrooms to be one species.
Forest mushrooms prefer to grow in plantations where there are spruces and pines. They also love alder trunks. It is impossible to find a trunk of a living tree on the wood, however, as well as on a healthy stump, they cannot be found. This fungus grows on dying trees or rotten tree stumps. Does not gather in bunches, but grows in large groups. Fruiting time is the second half of summer and autumn.
Less popular mushrooms
Gray lamellar or poppy honey fungus is rare, as well as reed, October, bulbous, marble, chased (marsh), dark, agrocybe (poplar), northern.
An interesting appearance has a bulbous appearance, and spruce mushrooms, which become spotty with age. And northern mushrooms have medicinal properties. All of the above varieties also belong to the category of edible mushrooms.
There are others - they are classified as conditionally edible. It is easy to distinguish them from inedibles by the same characteristics as edible ones. There are many of these types and their description will take a lot of time. And they are suitable for use only at a young age and only after heat treatment. It is better to cook them. Raw and undercooked, they are harmful to health.
Beneficial features
Honey mushrooms are tasty and healthy mushrooms with a rich chemical composition. They are full of vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, fiber and natural sugars. Most of them contain zinc, calcium, copper, iron, potassium and phosphorus. They are recommended for anemia, vitamin deficiency, eye diseases, hormonal disorders. In order for the body to receive the daily rate of trace elements that take part in the process of hematopoiesis, only 100 g of fungi are enough. They are also recommended for the prevention of cancer. They also have antiseptic properties, are able to minimize the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and normalize blood pressure. Traditional healers have long resorted to their help to treat diseases of the liver and thyroid gland. In small quantities, their use is allowed for diabetes. Hypertension is not a contraindication.
Honey mushrooms contain many vitamins
Raw honey mushrooms should not be consumed. Also, they should not be given to children under the age of 6, pregnant women and nursing mothers. When breastfed, they can seriously harm your baby. In the presence of gastrointestinal diseases, you should first consult with your doctor and only then eat the mushrooms.
As for the nutritional value and indicators of BJU, this is a dietary product, the calorie content of which is 22 kcal. Few vegetables and fruits contain the same amount of calories. 100 g of honey agaric contains 2.2 g of proteins. Fats and carbohydrates are contained in the amount of 1.2 and 0.5 g. With such a number of calories and such energy value, they are not forbidden to be consumed by people who are on a diet.
Preparation for cooking
First you need to sort out fresh mushrooms brought from the forest. Those that are blackened or wormy will not work. Their processing is impractical. They will spoil the taste of the entire dish and can harm the body.
Earthen lumps, any plaque and other dirt are removed from the leg. Then the mushrooms are selected according to the size and integrity of the fruiting body. Small specimens are used for canning. Lemon juice or acid is added to the blanks. They are placed in sterilized jars. Large and broken mushrooms are best used for hot dishes or salads. Boil them for 10-15 minutes. In a double boiler, the cooking time is 15-20 minutes. It is important not to digest them. No need to soak before cooking, just rinse well.
There are other ways of processing as well. They are ideal for drying and freezing.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
If the mushrooms left for freezing are heavily contaminated, it will be necessary to wipe each hat with a cloth dampened with water or an old kitchen towel and leave to dry for 1 hour. Then honey mushrooms lay out containers or packages in portions and sent to the freezer. If you want some of the mushrooms to be frozen separately (for some personal reasons), then put the mushrooms on flat surfaces of trays or cutting boards, freeze and only then place them in bags or containers for storage in the freezer.
Frozen mushrooms retain their flavor better. Both fresh and boiled mushrooms are frozen. Fresh ones are pre-washed. The large mushroom is cut into pieces.
Raw mushrooms have a less intense aroma than those that have been heat treated.
It is better not to take fully opened mushrooms. The disclosed old mushrooms are less tasty and aromatic than the young ones.
Twin mushrooms
To recognize poisonous mushrooms, you need to know how they differ from edible ones. Many species have so-called "twin" species. The double of the summer mushroom is the bordered gallery. She loves coniferous forests and grows alone. A distinctive feature is color. It is uniform, there is no yellowish center. Otherwise, there are no distinctive features. If you are not sure that the mushroom found is edible, you should use the golden rule of the mushroom picker and not take it.
Autumn mushrooms are similar to red-brick false mushrooms. It is easy to distinguish them by the brighter color of the cap, which is orange at a young age, and red-brick at a mature age. Even in the inedible variety, shaggy scraps of film are clearly visible at the ends of the cap, which covers the plates at a young age.
Some similarities with edible mushrooms have tiger rows and pale toadstools, even a small piece of which is easy to poison. But if you look at them more closely, you can find differences. Yellow mushrooms (sulfur-yellow) are also dangerous. It is impossible to give a description of all the varieties. Common signs of poisonous mushrooms are bright coloration and an unpleasant bitter taste. Most of them also smell unpleasant. When broken, the pulp acquires an unnatural hue (purple, orange, yellow-red, red). It is worth looking under the hat. In poisonous varieties, the plates are most often greenish. Their venom infects all living organisms. Because of this, wormy mushrooms are not inedible. It is better to bypass a large, overgrown mushroom.
In case of poisoning with false detections, medication is needed. Symptoms of poisoning are nausea, vomiting, chills, fever. If at least one symptom appears, a doctor should be called.
Cultivated species
There are also cultivated species, which include summer and poplar honey fungus, nameko (Chinese honey fungus). Cultivated mushrooms are not inferior to wild mushrooms in taste. They reproduce by mycelium. You can do the preparation of the mycelium yourself. To obtain mycelium, from which it is easiest to grow mushrooms, you need a certain type of cap and water. They bear fruit for 3-7 years. Mycelium is grown at home, in the country or in the garden, most often in bags. Planting is carried out in a special soil, which contains wood residues. Stumps are also used.But, growing these species in the garden on a stump is not worth it. If there are healthy horticultural crops nearby (apple trees, pears, etc.), then spores can get on them and myceliums will begin to form. Such symbiosis is undesirable for trees, due to the fact that it leads to their death. Reproduction is fast. Growing at home does not require a lot of money, but it is a laborious process.
If you plant mycelium in your basement, you can harvest all year round. Myceliums bear fruit 2-3 times every month.
They called the mushroom a mushroom due to the fact that the fruiting bodies are arranged as if they twine around the trunk of a tree, forming a kind of living bracelet. He forms the same "bracelet" on the stump. From Latin, the name Armillaria is translated as "bracelet". Useful properties and group growth are the advantages that a tree mushroom has. But, due to the fact that poisonous mushrooms are dangerous, they are collected carefully. It is advisable to first go to the forest with a mushroom picker, who will help you recognize an edible mushroom and show you how to distinguish it from a false one. He will teach not only to distinguish between false and edible varieties, but also show mushroom places. A mushroom, the variety of which could not be determined, is not taken into the basket.
Interesting fact: sometimes there are giant mushrooms that weigh more than 10-15 kg. They have a large mycelium and thick hyphae that penetrate the wood.
