How to identify false boletus?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Any mushroom picker knows that in our forests there are a lot of tasty and nutritious mushrooms, the “silent hunting” for which is becoming more and more popular every year. Unfortunately, this phenomenon also has a downside: many newcomers appear in the forest, who often collect poisonous mushrooms in their baskets.

One of these are false aspen mushrooms. Their "meanness" lies in the fact that in appearance they are very similar to their edible counterpart. Because of this, even experienced mushroom pickers sometimes make mistakes.

How to tell?

Fortunately, nature has taken care of us, providing false aspen mushrooms with a whole range of distinctive features. Knowing them, you will never make a dangerous mistake, you will not bring a poisonous mushroom from the forest.

To more accurately remember all the important distinguishing features, it will not be superfluous to learn about similar differences in real boletus. So, they have a characteristic red-brown hat. In addition, if you cut the stem of a mushroom with a knife, then over time the cut will noticeably turn blue.

How do they "behave"false boletus?

We have already said that an edible mushroom turns blue when cut. Its poisonous counterpart does not contain any blue. Its cut turns red, sometimes acquiring the most surreal hues. Of course, even for a novice collector, this should cause some caution.

Features of the leg

After the tests with the knife, take a close look at the stem itself. In an ordinary boletus, it is grayish-white, while in its false “colleague” a pinkish tint appears brightly in color. However, such visual diagnostics can hardly be considered reliable. After all, the foot is often dirty.

Can false boletus be accurately distinguished from their edible cousins?

Look again at the stem of the mushroom: if it is "real", then it will have an even, permanent color, without any inclusions. The same part of the false boletus will be covered with a kind of reddish-pink mesh.

Danger of eating

If you think that if you accidentally use the false boletus "repay" you with serious he alth problems, we can reassure you: nothing bad will happen. First of all, you just can't eat enough of these mushrooms to put your life in danger.

Why? It's just that their taste is so disgusting that only a person who has completely atrophied taste buds can overcome at least a couple of grams of such a dish.

Among other things, boletus(photo: false analogue) is not considered an edible mushroom by itself in some countries. So, in Norway a couple of years ago it was recognized as conditionally edible. The false variety was once eaten by soaking the mushrooms in s alted water and boiling.

Conclusions

So what can you advise to novice mushroom pickers who go to the forest in order to search for boletus? First of all, you need to remember the universal rule: if you are not sure about the breed of the mushroom you found, then it’s better not to take it! Look carefully at his leg and its cut: the pink color should alert you.