Avid mushroom pickers must have met in the midst of summer an inconspicuous mushroom called pig. The thin pig mushroom (or Paxillus involutus) grows in both coniferous and deciduous forests, as well as in parks, along roads, in garbage dumps, on bare ground, and even among anthills. This explains its name, which has taken root among the people. Pigs are unpretentious mushrooms and illegible in choosing a place of growth.
Fruits long enough - from mid-June to October. It grows in large groups, sometimes lining peculiar paths and creating chains and rings. Outwardly, the pig mushroom is a dense, fleshy cap on a short stalk. The hat resembles a funnel with the edges bent down. It can reach up to 20 cm in diameter, but on average it is 10-12 cm. Initially, it is flat, but as it grows, it becomes funnel-shaped with a depression in the center. The hat is not always the correct round shape, often with torn edges or irregular shape. Color - from light brown to dark brown. The surface of the entire fungus is rough, felt-velvety. It looks very dense, but quickly turns intointo dust, especially at the bottom of the basket.
Pig mushrooms (photo above) are lamellar. The color of the plates is dirty yellow, when pressed, dark marks remain, fragile dry partitions quickly crumble. The leg rarely grows more than 9 cm, the diameter is from 1.5 to 2 cm, it is located in the center, very often it shifts slightly to the edge of the cap. The pulp is dense, yellow on the cut, then brown, often affected by worms.
Much less often you can find another variety - Paxillus atromentosus, or fat pig mushroom, and only in coniferous forests on tree stumps. Its edibility is questionable due to its unpleasant bitter taste. Yes, and it looks strange - always a lateral leg, a hat with jagged edges, asymmetrical, odorless and with very hard flesh. Undoubtedly, this mushroom is at the very bottom of the list of culinary addictions.
Despite this, many people like the taste of thin pork mushroom (as opposed to thick). Since ancient times in Russia, this species has been eaten - boiled, s alted, fried. To this day, there are disputes about edibility, since the mushroom has good taste, especially young pigs. However, scientists have found the presence of toxins and poisons in them. Each organism individually reacts to these poisons, someone has acute poisoning from one time, and someone does not experience any pain. Muscarine - the poison contained in the fly agaric, is also found in pigs. In addition, with constant and repeated use, the destruction of red blood cells is observed.
SpecialistsThey say that the pig is a kind of time bomb. If the poisoning did not happen the first time, then the further consequences can be very different - up to hallucinations and death. This fungus should be completely excluded from the diet of children. It is known that if some poisons and toxins disappear during heat treatment, then the accumulated radioactive isotopes of copper and cesium remain in the pulp of the mushroom. The main signs of poisoning are weakness, nausea, dizziness, pain in the liver. Several acute poisonings were also recorded with the most unfortunate outcome.
