Autumn mushrooms begin to appear in the forests towards the end of August. You can collect them throughout the first half of September. Autumn mushrooms grow in waves. Depending on weather conditions, there may be 2-3 waves of these mushrooms each year, with the first of them usually being the most abundant. Another feature of the growth of autumn mushrooms is that they appear quickly and abundantly, and then disappear just as sharply. Therefore, it is important for lovers of "silent hunting" not to miss the moment of the beginning of the collection.
In what forests is this species found?
Autumn mushroom can be considered a cosmopolitan of our latitudes. It can be found in almost any forest that is over 30 years old. Honey mushrooms grow on more than 200 types of trees. As a rule, these fungi appear in colonies on dry trunks, deadwood, stumps, roots and trunks of living plants. Most often, mushrooms are found on spruce and birch trees, a little less often they can be found on pines, aspens and oaks. Tree mushrooms are orderlies of temperate forests. Settling on dead wood, they destroy it. At the same time, valuable elements are returned to the biological cycle of substances, fromwhich it consists. In the same place, autumn mushrooms can be collected up to 15 years in a row. After this period, the wood is completely destroyed by the mycelium.
Colonies of autumn mushrooms grow very abundantly. From one stump, you can collect several liters of these valuable mushrooms. Young mushrooms with an unopened hat are collected together with a leg. In grown mushrooms, only caps are cut off. Their legs have no nutritional value.
There are many recipes for these mushrooms. Honey mushrooms can be boiled, pickled, dried and s alted, and also fried. When picking mushrooms, you do not need to pull out their legs "with the root" from the wood, so as not to damage the mycelium, which will delight you with a bountiful harvest next year.
Precautions
However, going to the forest, it is important to remember the precautions. Many edible mushrooms have poisonous counterparts, so not a single year passes without poisoning. Before going into the forest, it is important to study the signs not only of the species that you plan to collect, but also similar to them, which are better to miss. If you're unsure if this particular mushroom is definitely edible, don't risk your he alth and leave it in the forest!
Myths about edible and poisonous mushrooms
You should not listen to "grandmother's" advice on how to distinguish a poisonous mushroom from an edible one. For example, some people seriously believe that poisonous species are not eaten by either forest animals or snails. You can see for yourself the fallacy of this statement - even the pale toadstool, which is deadly for people, has no problems fortheir lives are eaten by slugs and insects. Another "unmistakable" way to make sure the edibility of the gifts of the forest is to heat a silver spoon (or onion) with them when cooking them.
They say that if they do not darken, then this means that among the mushrooms there is not a single poisonous one. Of course, this is not true. Silver can darken, for example, from boletus, but will not change its color when heated with the same pale grebe. You can check it yourself, but it's still better not to make such experiments. There are also myths among the people that mushrooms become poisonous if they grow near rusty iron or snake nests. Such stories should be treated as folklore, interesting as folklore but of no practical value.
Do I need to know the signs of poisonous mushrooms?
No less ridiculous and dangerous are the beliefs of some optimistic people who believe that poisonous mushrooms are rare, so you should not bother yourself with their distinguishing features. In fact, about 90 of these species can be found in our forests, and about 10 of them are deadly to us.
Of course, this does not mean that in order to avoid mushroom poisoning, you need to buy them only in grocery stores. The purpose of this article is to show the reader the importance of knowing not only tasty and edible species, but also the signs by which they can be distinguished from poisonous counterparts.
Mushrooms-twins of autumn mushrooms
In some ways, edible species may resemble poisonous ones. And there are quite a few similar cases. Among the mushroom pickers, a pair of "autumn mushrooms is a dangerous double" is known. The name of an inedible relative is a false honey agaric. This is a generalized name for several species that have some resemblance to the autumn honey agaric. These mushrooms belong to the genera Hyfoloma and Psalitrella. Some of them are considered simply inedible, some are poisonous. Regarding individual species, there are still discussions about whether they can be considered conditionally edible. But there is no clear evidence that a person who eats them will not harm himself. Therefore, it is better not to take risks and limit yourself to collecting only autumn mushrooms. Moreover, there are a lot of them in the forest during the season.
Where do inedible and poisonous twins grow?
False mushrooms grow in the same places as edible mushrooms - on stumps, deadwood and live trees, so a novice mushroom picker can make a mistake. In order to be sure that the gifts of the forest you have collected can be eaten, you need to know the signs of edible mushrooms and their dangerous counterparts.
Differences between a false honey agaric and an autumn honey agaric
The dangerous double can be easily distinguished from its edible relative.
The first thing you should pay attention to is the color of the hat. In edible honey agaric, it has a color from beige to yellowish-dark brown. Moreover, old mushrooms are usually darker compared to young ones. Parts of hats that are closed from the sun are usually much lighter. The dangerous double of the autumn honey agaric often has a bright defiant color.
The second distinguishing feature is the color of the spores. In edible mushrooms, they are white, so you can see a white coating on the caps of old mushrooms. This is the controversy. With their help, mushrooms are settled. The third thing to check is the presence of a membranous “skirt” on the leg of the honey agaric. False honey agaric autumn does not have it. This feature is the most important difference to pay attention to. The “skirt” of the autumn honey agaric is the remnant of a protective cover that envelops a young mushroom. The dangerous double of the autumn honey agaric does not have such a coverlet.
The fourth difference that helps to highlight the dangerous twin of the autumn honey agaric is the color of the plates on the inside of the mushroom cap. Inedible species, with which it is better not to deal, have yellow plates if the mushroom is young, and greenish-olive in old ones. Autumn mushrooms are characterized by cream, beige or light yellow coloring of the plates.
The fifth difference is the surface of the mushroom cap. In autumn mushrooms, it is covered with small scales. Moreover, their color is usually darker than the hat itself. But old mushrooms lose their scales and become smooth. True, such overgrown mushrooms no longer have nutritional value, so mushroom pickers are not interested in them.
The sixth sign that will help distinguish an edible mushroom is its smell. Autumn mushrooms smell pleasant, and the smell of false ones gives off mold.
Conclusion
Knowledge of these signs will be enough to be able to distinguish the autumn honey agaric. A photo of a mushroom will help you not to make a mistake. But it's even better to takean experienced connoisseur who will show you what autumn mushrooms look like. Once you see them with your own eyes, it will be difficult for you to confuse them with any other species. But even an old woman can get a hole, so do not forget the main rule of mushroom pickers: “If you are not sure, don’t take it.”
