All mushroom pickers know that not all mushrooms in the forest are edible. To find them, you need to know exactly what they look like, where they are found and what distinguishing features they have. We will talk about all this in our article. Photos, descriptions of edible mushrooms and their main features can be found below.
What are they like?
Mushrooms do not belong to either the plant or animal world, and form their own separate kingdom of nature. Currently, from 500 thousand to a million of their species are known. They populated all the geographical zones of the planet, reaching even the most remote cold regions.
In appearance and their qualities, these organisms are very diverse. They can be very useful and used in medicine, cooking or agriculture, or they can only bring harm. Species that have a pleasant taste and are absolutely safe to eat are called edible mushrooms. Inedible mushrooms are called those mushrooms that have low culinary properties, but they do not carry much harm to he alth.
Really dangerous mushrooms are poisonous species. They contain toxic substances that cause disorders of the body systems and can cause death. The most poisonous in the world is the pale grebe, even a few grams of which are fatal.
Distinctive features and names of edible mushrooms
Mushrooms are a very common food item. They are rich in proteins and other useful substances for us. However, they must be collected very carefully, otherwise an innocent dinner may end up in a hospital bed.
Here are some of the most popular names for edible mushrooms:
- Cep.
- Borovik.
- Polish or pansky mushroom.
- Ginger.
- Boletus.
- Autumn honey mushroom.
- Pearl raincoat.
- Chanterelle.
- Ring cap.
- Goat.
When going on a "hunt", you should carefully study the features of the fungus. Literally everything needs to be taken into account - the color and size of the cap, the shape of the leg, the type and smell of the pulp, the presence or absence of a fringe on its body. This information is easy to find on the Internet or in special directories, but it is better to go searching with experienced people.
For beginners in this business, it is better to focus on tubular species (butter, white, boletus, etc.), among which there are very few poisonous ones. Under the cap of such mushrooms is a spongy layer, consisting of many vertical tubes or cells. In edible species, the tubular layer can be easily separated from the pulp.
Learn edibleagaric is much more difficult. Skill is required here, because among them there are many poisonous ones. The lower part of the cap of all agaric mushrooms consists of vertical folds or plates. Of these, you can eat mushrooms, chanterelles, milk mushrooms, serushki, champignons, mushrooms.
Twin mushrooms: edible, inedible and poisonous
There is an opinion that poisonous species are very easy to recognize, they say, they will definitely give themselves away with an unpleasant smell or unusual color. But not all of them look like fly agarics, so you should not trust such myths. In addition, there are many edible and non-edible twin mushrooms that differ from each other in only a few details.
The most dangerous pale grebe is easily confused with champignon. You can distinguish them by the plates: in an edible mushroom they darken when ripe, in a poisonous one they remain light. The green variety of grebe is very similar to green russula. Here you need to look for the presence of a ring around the leg, Volvo, various patterns and scales on the leg - only the grebe has all these elements.
The white fungus also has two "twins" - bile and satanic mushrooms. You can recognize false species by the dark mesh pattern on the stem, the pinkish or red color of the lower part of the cap, and also by the bitter taste (if you lick the caps). When you press the flesh of the leg, it turns pink in inedible mushrooms, while in the "correct" species it remains white.
False mushrooms can be recognized by the olive color and the absence of a “skirt” from the skin on the leg. True mushrooms have a fringe, and the color is always brown. The false chanterelle gives itself out by the white juice that is released when the pulp breaks. Its colors are always very saturated from bright orange to reddish, and the hat is too even and smooth. A real chanterelle has an even yellow tint, and the hat is wavy.
There are no general rules on how to distinguish an edible cap mushroom from an inedible or poisonous counterpart. That is why it is important to know the characteristics of each individual type that you are going to cook.
Oyster mushrooms
Oyster mushrooms are edible agaric mushrooms, whose name is usually pronounced by everyone with the letter e. They live in groups, literally growing on top of each other. Their fruit body is juicy and elastic. Unlike many cap mushrooms, it does not have a clear separation from the cap, but, on the contrary, smoothly flows into it, expanding upwards. The cap of oyster mushrooms is solid, round or oval, in the center it strongly bends, raising the edges.
The top of the mushroom can reach from 5 to 30 centimeters. The color varies depending on the species. It can be gray, brown-olive, gray-violet or lilac. The lamellar bottom of the cap (hymenophore) is white, but turns yellow or gray with age.
This genus includes oak, oyster, steppe, lung, pink and other oyster mushrooms. Many of them have high nutritional value and contain vitamins (B, C, E, D2) and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron, iodine). Common oyster mushrooms (lumps) are common in deciduous and mixed forests of the temperate zone. They growon diseased weakened trees and rotten stumps of oaks, birches, aspens or willows. At home, they are grown even on sawdust.
Oils
The edible butterdish mushroom is known by many names: butterdish, butterdish, buterpilts, slippery Jack, etc. It got its main name due to the thin sticky skin on the hat, which glitters and shimmers in the sun, as if it is covered with oil.
The surface of the fungus is smooth or velvety, and may crack into small scales. The hat is usually neat semicircular, up to 15 centimeters in diameter. The color of different species ranges from ocher to brick or brown-brown. The hymenophore of the fungus is tubular yellowish in color. The leg is white cylindrical up to 10 cm tall, painted reddish downwards.
Butterflies are distributed mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, but some species are present in Australia and Africa. They do not climb into too shady places, prefer to grow on the sides of trails or among young low trees. Most often they are found in coniferous forests, but can also live near oaks or birches. They are harvested from June to November, when the temperature drops below +16 degrees, they do not protrude.
Shiitake
Imperial mushroom or shiitake is widely known in China and Japan, because thousands of years ago it was served on the table of the ruler. Today it is used not only in cooking, but also in cosmetology and medicine. Its name is translated from Japanese as growing on a chestnut (shea tree).
The mushroom grows from 2 to 20 centimeters in height with a cap of 5-20 cm. It has a thin, even stem, slightly narrowed downwards. The cap is convex and rounded, velvety to the touch. As the fungus grows, it can crack and become uneven. Shiitake hymenophore lamellar white, when damaged becomes brown. The color of the hat is always brown or light brown, reminiscent of a shade of cocoa.
The mushroom grows in Southeast Asia and the Russian Far East. It lives on fallen birches, oaks, chestnuts, hornbeams, mulberries and their stumps. Appears in forests from spring to late autumn.
Boletus
Aspen or redhead is included in the same biological genus with boletus. A characteristic feature of these mushrooms is that most often they settle next to certain types of trees.
A characteristic feature of almost all aspen mushrooms is a bright brick-red hat, reminiscent of autumn foliage. Only the white boletus has a light color. The mushroom cap is convex, 5-20 cm in size. The fruiting body is dense and fleshy, the leg is thick, stocky, club-shaped.
Absolutely all boletus are edible mushrooms. They are common in mixed and deciduous forests of North America and Eurasia, sometimes growing in coniferous forests. From the name of the mushroom, we can conclude that it lives only near aspens, but it can also be found under spruce, oak, willow, hornbeam, birch, beech and poplar.
Cep mushroom
Cep mushroom is one ofthe most famous and revered in our area. He did not get his name at all from the color of the hat, it is usually brown or brown in him. This nickname was given to him because of the snow-white pulp, which, even after being damaged or cooked, remains light.
The cap of the mushroom is convex and rounded, reaching from 8 to 30 cm in diameter. In a warm and very rainy period, it can grow up to 50 cm. The leg of the porcini mushroom is thick and shaped like a barrel. It is white or brownish in color, sometimes covered with reddish spots.
Cep mushroom has a characteristic pleasant aroma and taste, very much appreciated in cooking. It can be found mainly in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, rarely in the tundra and forest tundra. It is distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also in South America.
