No matter how easy it is to go to the store or the market at any time of the year and buy mushrooms there, it is impossible to seduce a real hunter of forest riches with basement oyster mushrooms and champignons. Comparing white mushroom or boletus with their "captive" relatives is like putting a frozen broiler chicken and a fresh domestic cockerel on the same level. However, not everyone can boast of impeccable knowledge of the gifts of the forest, and even more so, not everyone will say what edible mushrooms look like. Considering that more than 200 species of mushrooms are found on the territory of our country, information about the most common of them will be quite useful for many.
A mistake at the cost of life
Having gone into the forest only once or twice, it is impossible to remember absolutely all types of safe and poisonous mushrooms. In addition, for those new to the collection of data from representatives of nature, the difficulty in studying this issue lies in the fact that in different territories there aretheir different subspecies. The growth of the same mushrooms and chanterelles depends on the soil in the forest, trees, and the intensity of sunlight entering them. In addition, even the same type of mushroom in different forests may have a different appearance. But it is strictly forbidden to take risks in this industry. Why is it important to know what edible mushrooms look like?
First of all, not to collect toadstools in a basket. Secondly, because relatively safe mushrooms have their own classification. They are divided into edible and conditionally edible. What does this mean? Mushrooms from the first group have excellent taste and aroma, and their preparation allows for a wide variety of processing options (drying, boiling, frying, stewing, pickling, s alting). Everyone knows what edible mushrooms from this category look like. These are familiar and beloved by many white, mushrooms, boletus and boletus, milk mushrooms, mushrooms, champignons.
Conditionally edible mushrooms cause a lot of doubt and controversy both among scientists and experienced mushroom pickers. These are morels, umbrellas, false chanterelles and some other species, some of them have the most excellent taste, but only after they undergo a rather thorough and specific heat treatment. If you do not follow the safety rules, then at best you can just ruin the dish, and at worst, the unfortunate mushroom picker will end up in a hospital bed with serious intoxication.
What should never be taken
Before we tell and show what edible mushrooms look like, photowhich will be in the article a little further, we want to warn readers against the biggest mistake during the harvest in the forest kingdom. That is why we once again recall those mushrooms that cannot be taken under any circumstances, no matter how attractive, reliable and tempting they look.
Eight extremely dangerous species from the kingdom of fungi grow on the territory of Russia. The most common are fly agaric, pale grebe, false chanterelle and false honey agaric. The first mushrooms can only be confused with a motley umbrella, we will talk about it later. The fly agaric itself is a marvelously beautiful mushroom, its red hat with white speckled scales has not in vain become the “hero” of cartoons and children's illustrations. However, behind the deceptive appearance lies an insidious and highly toxic inside.
Even more misleading is the pale toadstool, which is considered the most toxic mushroom of those that are found in our open spaces. After eating it in an amount of 30-40 g, a person will most likely die, because an antidote for its toxins has not yet been invented. Surprisingly, this mushroom has a good aroma and taste, which once again confirms the fact that it is impossible to determine their suitability and safety by smelling and tasting forest gifts.
The false chanterelle is visually similar to its edible relative, but has a darker, dirty-red shade of the cap and does not grow in groups. But it is much easier to confuse a false honey agaric with a good mushroom. Therefore, you need to know what edible mushrooms look like. Photo and description of mushrooms of the most common and valuable species alsois in our publication.
The most common edible summer mushrooms
Harvesting by silent hunters begins in early May. It was at this time that the first mushrooms appeared - St. George's or, as they are also called, May rows. They belong to the genus Calocybe, which has 13 species. Mushrooms are conditionally called rows. But only the May row deserves special attention. The season ends quite quickly, by mid-June. This is a white-yellow agaric mushroom with a dense hat, it is suitable for cooking, although not to everyone's taste due to fibrous and specific aroma.
Midsummer is the height of mushroom season. At this time, the forest pleases people with its most delicious gifts, among which the following species have the greatest value in terms of both nutritional properties and taste:
- Cep mushroom. It has a wide fleshy leg, sometimes with gray streaks. The hat is convex, tubular on the underside, white or cream in color, the top can have a different color: from light yellow to dark brown.
- Mokhovik chestnut (Polish). Its distinguishing features are a rather dark top with green-yellow tubular flesh (elastic to the touch) and a yellowish stem. This mushroom turns blue when cut and pressed, making it recognizable.
- Mushroom green. It is very similar to the Polish mushroom, but it has a thinner stem, and the cap is not brown, but velvety green.
- Babok. Much larger than white fungus. The leg is white, with gray streaks-scales, elastic andflat, tubular cap, when mature reaches 15-20 cm in diameter, its color is usually dark brown. But sometimes it comes in lighter shades.
- Aspen and boletus are also among the most valuable species. What do edible mushrooms of these species look like? They look like obabok, but differ in a smaller hat, which usually either tightly fits a high, strong leg, or is open, but has a small diameter (up to 2-3 cm). Their characteristic feature is the color of the top. In boletus, it can be bright red, brick or ocher-orange. In the boletus, the hat has a color from white to dark gray, sometimes almost black.
It is impossible to remain silent about another common mushroom, which many disdainfully pass by, although it has a wonderful taste - russula. She has a snow-white leg without a ring and a lamellar hat. Most often, it is covered with a greenish or red skin, which is very easy to separate from the pulp. The disadvantage of this mushroom is its fragility, only its legs can be carried entirely to the house.
A gift from the autumn forest
Now let's talk about later species and how edible mushrooms look, photos with names will help not to confuse them with grebes. The yield of forest gifts strongly depends on the level of moisture in the soil, so their mass collection occurs in July, after rainy days, and also in September-early October. At this time, the days are quite warm, it often rains, which favors the growth of mushrooms.
Firstmid-autumn is a great time for hunters for forest vegetable "meat". It is during this period that boletus mushrooms and their closest relatives begin to bear fruit with renewed vigor, and you can also easily find butterflies, milk mushrooms and, of course, mushrooms. These mushrooms are fall favorites. Mushrooms collected at this time are usually used for s alting, pickling and drying. Autumn gives the last chance to prepare a valuable product for the winter.
Now we will tell you about what edible mushrooms look like. Photos with the names of the main representatives of the kingdom will help to collect a high-quality forest harvest. Let's start our review with the porcini mushroom.
Cep mushroom
We have already given a brief description of the porcini mushroom a little higher, we will only add that it belongs to large species of the boletus genus. Its hat in diameter can grow up to 50 cm, and the leg reaches a height of 25 cm. It is extremely difficult to meet such a giant, because the white mushroom, which is often called boletus, is the main goal of all mushroom pickers. He is simply not allowed to grow to such a size - they are cut off young. It is tasty and nutritious, well absorbed by the body and easy to prepare.
An important characteristic of this mushroom is that it does not change its color either during cleaning and separation into parts, or later when it is cooked. It is from boletus that it is best to cook soups, sauces, it is also tasty and attractive in dried form.
Everyone knows its appearance, which is good, because you need to know what edible mushrooms look like in the forest so as not to pick up inedible specimens. Yes, we did not make a reservation, there is a representative of the kingdom from the kind of tilopiles,which is very similar to the boletus, but is unsuitable for food.
This is the so-called gall fungus, or mustard. Its main difference from the boletus is the pinkish color of the tubules under the hat, and this color also appears at the cut points. Note that the mustard is not poisonous, but extremely unpleasant, because in itself it is tasteless, once in the same pan with other mushrooms, it will hopelessly ruin the whole dish.
Oils
Under this name, a whole genus of mushrooms is united, including about 40-50 species. Three of them are mainly popular: larch, yellow (ordinary) and yellow-brown butterdish. The latter is outwardly the most attractive, it looks a bit like a Polish mushroom, but, alas, does not have special taste qualities. It has a yellow stocky leg, a burgundy hat covered with mucus only during heavy rains, it has a tubular flesh of an ocher hue.
Larch and yellow oilers are more valued by mushroom pickers, despite how they look and feel. Butter mushrooms are edible, moreover, they are very tasty. After removing the slippery skin from the hat, they can be fried, boiled and pickled.
Rows
This type of mushroom can be harvested from April, when the May row, and until November. True, since mid-June, the May species is no longer found, it is replaced by later relatives:
- row crowded;
- row red;
- purple row;
- row fused.
They belong to conditionally safe mushrooms. What do edible mushrooms look like?rows? They have common structural features. The mushroom has a small cap with very frequent plates and a dense stem thickening towards the base. They grow in well fertilized soils, usually in large families (rows, concentric (witch) rings). In this they differ from some similar toadstools. Between themselves, they are quite different in appearance.
So, the crowded row has a grayish-yellow hat. The stem is white at the top and gray near the base. It is considered the most delicious, so we suggest looking at this view in the photo. What do edible row mushrooms of other species look like? The fused row has a white cap. The caps of individual mushrooms often merge into one, hence their name. The purple row is distinguished by its beautiful purple top, which is why it is considered poisonous in some countries. It belongs to edible mushrooms, but requires careful heat treatment. The same applies to the red line, it looks pretty, it has a beautiful burgundy scaly head and a burgundy-yellow leg. However, the taste of the mushroom is not the best.
Umbrella mushroom
Despite how umbrella mushrooms look, there are edible representatives among them, moreover, some species are considered delicacy. This representative of forest vegetation has a conspicuous configuration: it has a thin brown leg, which is covered from top to bottom with small scales. The hat, depending on the species, may differ; its top is crowned with a tubercle. You can eat mushroom-umbrella motley (large), graceful and blushing.
Agaric mushrooms are great guys
The most dubious autumn mushrooms are considered to be mushrooms. Not because they are tasteless or poisonous, but because they have many counterparts, and quite dangerous ones. What do edible mushrooms look like? A photo of mushrooms is presented below. The most common mushrooms are autumn, summer and meadow. The first two species are considered parasitic mushrooms that can kill a strong he althy tree in 5-6 years, grow in colonies. They have a long and thin leg, often covered with brown spots, it is fibrous, and therefore it is rarely eaten. To know what edible mushrooms look like, you need to carefully examine the appearance of their hats. It is lamellar, usually small, convex, with edges turned down, in some species it reaches 20 cm in diameter.
Meadow mushrooms are much smaller. The hat grows up to a maximum of 8 cm in diameter, it has a light brown or ocher color. The leg is thin and high.
Description and photo of mushrooms
Probably all experienced mushroom pickers know what saffron mushrooms look like. Are they edible or not? Different countries think differently. In Europe, they are not eaten, but among Russian mushroom pickers they are respected and valued for their excellent taste and aroma. Their appearance is remarkable. Ginger grows on a dense orange leg,the top of which is completed by a hat with edges turned up. Thus, it forms a recess, a funnel. Its lower part is made up of a layer of orange plates, and the top is distinguished by a beautiful pattern of numerous concentric circles of a darker color.
The peculiarity of the camelina is that the flesh changes its color to a burgundy or greenish tint at the site of the cut or damage. It grows mainly in coniferous forests, sometimes so densely that it is found literally at every step.
