False russula: features and characteristics

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

In our forests, there are few mushrooms that mushroom pickers would treat with slight disdain. But russula is one of them. But this is very strange, because in terms of their taste and nutritional properties, these "outcasts" are very good, and in lean years they can even become a real salvation for mushroom pickers.

Unfortunately, even these nondescript but very useful representatives of the mushroom tribe have a dark side. This is a false russula, which, when eaten, can cause a whole bunch of problems for consumers.

In our article we will list all the signs, focusing on which, you can easily identify these insidious twins. We note right away that the false russula is extremely “multifaceted”, since several of their types are hidden under this name at once. Moreover, the differences between some of them are so insignificant that only an experienced mycologist can distinguish them. And even then, if he has a laboratory with all the necessary equipment at hand.

Note that russula, in principle, account for up to 45% of the totalmushroom mass of our forests, so that the rules for their collection must be remembered very well. It is best to take those of them, the cap of which does not contain a trace of red and dark purple flowers. If you saw such mushrooms, then you almost certainly have a false russula in front of you.

So, the pungent variety has just the same deep red hat. The flesh of the mushroom is extremely brittle and slightly reddish when broken. Scientists are divided on the toxicity.

The division in opinion is due to the fact that after a long digestion with several changes of water, this false russula becomes edible, and in other cases you still cannot eat it due to its extremely bitter taste.

The same can be said for the blood-red variety. Its appearance can be judged by its name. The flesh is white, slightly reddish on the cap itself. In terms of taste characteristics, it is almost similar to the type described above.

Bile russula is generally similar in taste to the substance that gave it its name. By the way, in autumn there is a lot of it in coniferous forests. Her color is ocher-red or ocher-yellow. It is easy to distinguish it if it has recently rained in the forest: when wet, its hat becomes slimy, which is completely uncharacteristic of russula.

Swamp view in this "bad company" and completely undeservedly got. A distinctive feature is a blood-red cap, the skin of which is removed with great difficulty. You can meet her asin swamps, and in pine forests overgrown with sphagnum. It is very often referred to as false varieties, but in vain, because it tastes simply incomparable.

In a word, you may have already noticed that false russula do not belong to poisonous mushrooms in the full sense of the word. Their use in large quantities is simply impossible physically, and a small portion, which, although it will spoil your mushroom dish, will not cause any harm to your he alth.

After all, it is difficult to make a mistake when choosing them: break off a small piece of mushroom pulp. If you have false russula in your hands (the photo of which is in the article), then you will know about it right away.