What mushroom turns blue on the cut: to help mushroom pickers

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

How often have you found unfamiliar mushrooms? Surely every lover of "quiet hunting" has come across this. A number of signs will help distinguish edible species from poisonous ones. Let's try to figure out which mushroom turns blue on the cut.

Firstly, it should immediately be noted that there are many tubular and lamellar species that change the color of the pulp on the cut. This is due to the oxidation in air of certain substances that make up the composition. The mushroom, blue on the cut, can be either a tasty boletus or a poisonous false white. The latter is one of the most dangerous, containing a huge amount of toxins and causing severe poisoning.

Warning: Dangerous Doubles

If you do not know which mushroom turns blue on the cut, but you met such a handsome man on your way, be extremely careful. This is the so-called "satanic mushroom", or false white. Outwardly, he really has a resemblance to a boletus. The same dense fleshy leg, convex hat, but there are a number of differences! White fungus on the cut does not change color. The flesh of the poisonous twin instantly turns blue or pink. In addition, the leg of the satanic mushroom is covered with a pronouncedmesh, and the color is much brighter than that of the boletus.

Another false white is bitter. It is much more difficult to poison them because of the taste. Compared to the porcini mushroom, the mustard mushroom has a thinner stem, bluish or pinkish flesh and a disgusting bitter taste.

Edible species

To find out which mushroom turns blue on the cut, you should also consider edible species, which are quite common. These are varieties of tubular: boletus, boletus, Polish mushroom.

The fruiting body of the boletus instantly turns blue on the cut, and both the stem and the cap darken. Because of this, the boletus looks ugly in dishes, but it has an excellent taste and wonderful aroma. You can recognize him by his bright red hat and gray mesh leg.

The boletus has a blue leg, but not so clearly, and the hat remains white on the cut. The fruit body consists of a long stem (1-1.5 cm in diameter) and a brown convex cap. The color can vary from light (almost white) to dark chestnut. The leg is always gray, with barely visible scales.

The rarest "blue" mushroom

Much less common are specimens known as "Polish mushroom", or boletus. This is a real find, because they can only be found in deciduous, mostly oak forests. Since its flesh varies greatly in color, it is important to know which mushroom turns blue when cut. According to experienced mushroom pickers, boletus mushrooms instantly change color on the cut, becoming dark blue or even purple. However, in drying, this color disappears somewhere.

Outwardly, the boletus can be confused with both white and boletus. But if you look closely, it is easy to see that the hat of the Polish mushroom is always open, even slightly prostrate, especially in old fruiting bodies. The pulp is tender, has a pleasant taste, which is why it is often damaged by worms. The color of the surface of the hat is a noble brown, coffee, rich chestnut. In a humid environment, the skin shines, but does not stick to the hands. On the reverse side there is a tubular layer of yellow color, in mature fruiting bodies it has a green tint, turns blue when pressed. In Europe, it grows in oak groves, but in Russia it can also be found in conifers, but this is very rare.