Mushrooms that can be used in food without the risk of poisoning are called edible. In natural conditions (forests, fields, meadows) there are many of them, they are in constant demand and popularity. But how many types of mushrooms do you know? Perhaps there are instances that you do not notice simply because you do not know them. If you want to expand your knowledge, read on.
Common Edible Mushrooms
These include mushrooms, the knowledge of which we gain in childhood. Mushrooms that are known and calmly collected or bought from mushroom pickers by the townspeople.
White mushroom (boletus)
Borovik is the king of the forest. Mushroom of the first category. It grows in coniferous, deciduous, as well as coniferous-mixed forests. They can meet one at a time, proudly rising above the ground. But often, next to one mushroom, several more brothers necessarily grow.
The mushroom is dense, strong. May have a sufficiently large size. The mushroom cap often reaches a diameter of thirty centimeters. The color of the hat varies from tan to tan. The leg of the mushroom is thick, dense. In height, such a mushroom grows up to twenty centimeters (sometimes a little higher). A distinctive feature of this porcini mushroom is the white flesh of the leg (rather than a pinkish tint). It does not have a bitter taste (which is typical of a false porcini mushroom).
The mushroom retains its aroma and taste during any cooking. Therefore, it can be both boiled and fried, as well as salted, marinated, dried. When dried, it does not blacken, like many mushrooms.
Varieties of ceps depend on their place of growth:
- Birch - differs in light brown, ocher color or almost a white hat. It grows in birch forests from early July to late September.
- Oak - has a longer leg, grayish-brown hat. The pulp is friable. It grows in oak groves from July to October.
- Pine (pine forest) - the hat is dark (brown or almost black). Short thick leg. It grows in pine forests from July to the end of August.
- Spruce - the hat is brown, reddish-brown, chestnut-brown. Compared with other ceps, it has a longer leg. Such a mushroom can be found from late July to late September among spruce forests.
Borovik birch
Oak mushroom
Pine boletus
Boletus spruce
If you decide to grow mushrooms in a farm, then this article will be useful to you.
Boletus
Edible mushroom of the second category. It grows in deciduous or mixed forests, where aspen trees necessarily grow. It has a characteristic hat, which is characteristic of most reddish shades: it can be red, orange, less often grayish-brown. The mushroom leg is dense. The section has a white flesh, which in the beginning turns pink in the light, gradually acquires a greenish-black color. Such mushrooms grow in groups and around the central fungus you can usually find a few very small fungi.
Mushrooms are especially tasty in a salty, pickled form, but they can be dried, fried, boiled.
Varieties of boletus:
- Red - the color of the hat is orange, red-orange, brick. Diameter from five centimeters, the largest “stubs” can reach twenty-five centimeters. The surface is smooth, slightly velvety. The inner surface of the cap has no plates, finely porous. Leg length up to ten centimeters. The pulp is dense. Thickness is three to five centimeters. The larger the mushroom, the higher it is. The most voluminous specimens reach thirty centimeters.
- Yellow-brown (aka red-brown). It grows in coniferous-mixed forests (where aspen must be present), from mid-June to mid-September. A distinctive feature is the color of the hat. They can be yellowish, yellow-orange or red-brown. The rest has the same properties and characteristics as ordinary boletus.
- White - a very rare species, which is why it is listed in the Red Book. From July to the beginning of October (with luck), it can be found in coniferous, deciduous, mixed forests.
Red boletus
Yellow-brown boletus
Boletus white
It has an interesting hat color - soft light cream. The hat itself is fleshy, dense five to ten centimeters in diameter. Differs in concavity of an internal surface. The leg is narrow, long, thickened below. When cut, it turns blue.
Common boletus
It grows in coniferous-deciduous mixed forests, preferring a large number of birches. The greatest distribution is, of course, in birch trees. With warm summers and heavy rains, you can harvest from July to the end of September.
It has a smooth hat of various shades of gray (from light to dark grayish-brown). The diameter of the hat is three to five centimeters. In young mushrooms, it is small hemispherical, but as the mushroom grows, the hat becomes large and rather fleshy.
The leg is long. It has small scales of dark gray color. The height of the legs is up to fifteen centimeters. The flesh is light - cream or grayish.
Has a false inedible double - bile fungus (false boletus). Unlike a real boletus, it is never wormy. The mushroom is non-toxic, but very bitter in taste.
Real fox
Chanterelles grow in coniferous, mixed and deciduous forests, near trees and among moss and fallen leaves. As a rule, not one fungus grows, but a whole “chanterelle fox”. Fruits in late June to October. The hat is flat, with an uneven edge, gradually becoming funnel-shaped. The color is most often bright yellow, but depending on the composition of the soil and the age of the fungus, it may be paler.
The leg is a little curved, cylindrical. Often, two mushrooms from one base grow at once.
Mushrooms are fried, salted, pickled.
You can confuse it with a false chanterelle, edible, but not so aromatic and tasty.
Champignons
Mushrooms are known to every city dweller, as they are sold in winter at every grocery store.
In nature, prefers to grow on fertile, humus-rich soils. Most often these are open spaces (not dead forests). You can meet him in the fields, abandoned gardens, in the meadows, near farms and stockyards. The mushroom mushroom is tenacious and can grow in one place for several decades.
Distinctive features. The size of the mushroom cap is from two to three to fifteen centimeters in diameter. First, in the shape of a ball, gradually straightens to an umbrella. The color is white, grayish, light. The surface of the hat is silky satin. The plates are light pink, and the old mushrooms are dirty pink. It is the pink color of the champignon plates that differs from the pale grebe, in which they are always pure white.
The leg of the mushroom is long, dense with a mushroom ring exactly in the middle. Fresh champignon has a delicate iodine flavor. The pulp is dense, white, slightly turning pink on the cut.
Champignons are cultivated by both farmers and ordinary amateur gardeners. Special conditions for growing are not required. It is enough to purchase mycelium or mushroom spores, prepare the soil and a little care. Widely used in cooking.
Mushrooms
Honey mushrooms got their name because of the habitat. They grow exclusively on stumps, tree roots sticking out of the ground. More than thirty species of honey mushrooms, but usually mushroom pickers deal with summer, winter, autumn and meadow. These are tasty and healthy mushrooms. They differ slightly, but there are common features.
Young honey agarics have semicircular hats, which become almost flat with growth. The color of the muffled hats: from yellowish with a honey tint to brownish brown. Sometimes on top of the hats there are small scales. The plates are light cream in color.
False mushrooms from real ones can be distinguished by bright, even screaming hats: they have yellow, red-brick hats.
The leg is long, hollow. In height reaches fifteen centimeters. Another important difference between true honey agarics of all types from false (poisonous) specimens is a leathery ringlet on the leg. Real mushrooms have a pleasant aroma, while false mushrooms have an earthy, heavy smell. You can also check for "falsity": you can drop the cut mushroom into the water. A toxic specimen immediately turns blue or black.
Like mushrooms, honey mushrooms are successfully grown in gardens, vegetable gardens, as well as on mushroom farm plantations.
Butterdish
Oilers or oysters are widespread in coniferous and deciduous-mixed forests. They like to grow in small but bright clearings. More often grow in groups of several. Grow all summer until October.
They have a “buttery” smooth hat. Hat peel can be easily removed when cleaning the mushroom. In young mushrooms, it is slippery and sticky. The color of the hat varies from light brown ocher flowers to brown chocolate colors. The color depends on the type of forest in which it grew, the illuminance of the place and the type of oiler.
The mushroom pulp is soft, dense and porous. Color from light to dark yellow. The tubular layer is covered with a white film. As the fungus grows, it breaks and hangs in flakes. The butterdish very quickly “ages” and becomes dark and shriveled. This is the most commonly affected by worms fungus.
The breast
It is popularly considered the "pickling king." It grows among deciduous and coniferous-deciduous forests where birches grow. Low, the height of the legs is not more than five to six centimeters. The color is white or yellowish. At the edge of the hat is twisted inward. The flesh is white, bitter.
Mushrooms are salted, but they are always soaked or boiled before pickling.
Varieties of breasts:
- Yellow - grows in birch groves and mixed forests from July to September. Has a large yellow hat slightly bent down. The leg is short, not more than five centimeters and a thickness of not more than three.
- Turning blue - found in deciduous and coniferous forests. The hat is yellowish, covered with hairs. Leg up to seven centimeters long, hollow. Milky juice is white, it turns blue in the air. It is used only in salt form after soaking.
- Oak - grows in oak groves in July-September. Has a large hat yellow-orange. Leg light, with spots, hollow.
- Aspen - grows among aspen trees. The color of the hat is off-white. It occurs from July to September.
- Black (chernushka) - grows in birch forests, in clearings. The color of the hat is olive-brown, almost black. Good in salt form. When salting, it becomes a dark cherry color. After soaking, the mushroom can be used not only in pickles, but also in soups and frying.
- Pepper - grows in deciduous forests from August to October. Has a big bright hat and a short leg. Milky juice turns blue in the air.
- Parchment - similar to pepper, but has a longer leg, and the hat is not smooth, but slightly wrinkled. It grows from August to early October.
Real chest
Yellow chest
Blue chest
Oak Chest
Aspen chest
Black chest
Peppercorns
Parchment Loaf
Oyster mushrooms
Prefer old stumps, you can find them among decaying trees. They grow in groups fused at the base, rarely grow singly. It is best to collect young mushrooms; in old specimens, only hats can be used for food. Harvest time falls on the end of August - October, sometimes it can bear fruit in the spring in May-June. Sometimes you can meet these mushrooms even in winter in the thaw.
Widely grown on an industrial scale. Growing is simple, as they can grow on all types of substrate that contain cellulose - sawdust, bark, old paper, husks of sunflower seeds.
Ordinary oyster mushrooms have large meaty hats (up to twenty centimeters in diameter). There are two types of oyster mushrooms - gray and light. Light mushrooms have a whitish, light yellow, cream shade. Gray specimens are grayish-blue, steel, dark gray. The pulp is white. Leg about four centimeters long, about two centimeters thick, often curved. The mushroom is juicy, fleshy, with a pleasant mushroom smell.
There are many varieties of oyster mushrooms. Their appearance depends entirely on the habitat. The most famous:
- Autumn - can be found on stumps and trunks of hardwood, such as: maple, aspen, poplar, linden (in the autumn). They have a gray or gray-brown hat with a diameter of up to fifteen centimeters.
- Horn-shaped - grow from mid-May to October almost everywhere where there are deciduous trees. They can grow on stumps, deadwood, trees. They like wet but warm weather. In dry summer only individual specimens grow.
The edges of the cap are slightly wavy. Only young mushrooms are used. It is used boiled and fried. - Oak - found in oak groves on stumps and trunks of oak and elm in July and August. You can find a hat with curled edges that is light with dark scales. Leg with scales up to five centimeters long.
Used boiled and fried. They can also be frozen to prepare mushroom dishes later.
Oyster mushrooms are autumn
Oyster mushrooms
Oyster mushrooms are oak
Raincoat
The raincoat grows in deciduous forests, meadows, glades. It begins to bear fruit from the beginning of summer until the month of October. It has the shape of a ball turning into a false leg. The color is white, brownish-brown, gray.
Varieties of raincoat:
- Giant - the size of the ball of the mushroom can reach fifty centimeters.
- Pear-shaped - has the shape of a pear, five centimeters high, with a diameter of three centimeters.
- Pearl - the head of the fungus is heterogeneous, as if consisting of separate pearls. The height of the fungus is not more than ten centimeters.
- Umber - the color is buffy, covered with small needles.
- Prickly - spherical, ovoid, has long spikes.
Giant raincoat
Pear-shaped raincoat
Pearl raincoat
Raincoat umber
Prickly raincoat
Use boiled, can be dried.
Valui (snot, plak mushroom, kubar)
Distributed in deciduous, mixed forests, in shady and humid places, not far from streams. It grows in groups, less often one at a time. It grows from the beginning of summer to the end of autumn.
A hat of spherical shape, pressed in the middle. The color can be tan to red brown. In its young form, the mushroom has a plate-like mucus hat. With the growth of the fungus, stickiness disappears. The old one has a dry hat.
The mushroom has a burning, bitter taste and an extremely unpleasant smell of rancid oil. In order to get rid of bitterness, obligatory boiling is required at least two times. In cooking, it is used in salted and pickled form.
Annular cap
Not too common mushroom. Prefers peaty soil. Usually grow in whole colonies. It can be found in the forests of Belarus, in the European part of Russia, in Ukraine.
It tastes like mushrooms.
A hat with a diameter of three to fifteen centimeters. In a young mushroom, the hat has the shape of a cap, which opens as it grows. The color of such a hat is yellowish, light brown, as if dusted.
The plates on the hat have a brownish tint. According to these plates, it can be distinguished from poisonous brethren (pale grebe), in which the flesh is white or grayish, but not tan. Mushroom pulp with a pleasant smell. This smell distinguishes it from inedible fungi of cobwebs. The mushroom leg is smooth, dense, yellowish in color and has a mushroom ring with a double edge.
Bruise
It grows in oak and pine forests until the end of October. It has a large round hat with a diameter of up to fifteen centimeters of light brown color. The hat turns blue from pressure. Use in boiled, dried, pickled form.
Kozlyak (prison)
It grows in swamps and pine forests with high humidity, from August to October. It has a reddish hat with a diameter of up to twelve centimeters. The flesh is yellow, reddening when cut.
Use in boiled, dried, pickled form.
Common Dubovik (or olive brown)
Dubovik grows in the south of Russia where oak trees grow.
The cap is brown, yellowish-brown, olive in color. The flesh of the cap is red-orange. The leg is yellow-orange. The pulp is yellow.
The fungus is edible, but requires boiling in two waters for fifteen minutes. Can be used as a sauce for meat dishes. These mushrooms in a marinated form are very tasty.
Undergrowth
It grows near oak or walnut trees, loves moist shady places. You can meet him near the roots of fallen trees, old stumps. Harvest of this mushroom falls from July to October.
Because of its milky juice, it tastes pepper and the smell is fishy.
The color of the hat is red-chestnut, but there may be lighter and darker colors of the hats. There is a recess in the center of the cap. The edges are bent inward.
The leg is hollow, fragile. Milky juice is secreted in the section.
Like all mushrooms, lactarias, the arewolves require soaking. It is better to soak it in salt water, which needs to be changed 1-2 times (so that bitterness comes out). After that, it can be used in any culinary treatments.
Edible mushrooms
Edible mushrooms include mushrooms with a rather pungent or bitter taste, which are quite suitable for food after appropriate preliminary processing (soaking or boiling). The same mushrooms include those that should be used only in a young form.
False chanterelle (coconut or orange talker)
Despite the name “false” mushroom is quite edible, although in taste it differs from ordinary chanterelles.
It has a beige-orange hat, which fades over time and becomes pale yellow (but with a bright yellow center and white edges). Hat plates are bright orange, frequent and large. The leg is brighter in color than the hat. The pulp in the leg is hard.
For food, only the caps of young mushrooms are used. The legs are not used at all, as they are very stiff and tasteless.
The wake
There are several varieties of waves:
- White - Found where birch trees grow.
The edge of the hat is as if "fluffy", light color. A bitter milky juice is secreted at the cut of the fungus. It is used only after preliminary boiling. - Pink - grows in a deciduous moist zone, with a predominance of birches. Often there are whole glades of waves. Fruiting time: August-October.
The hat is pinkish, yellow-pink, with red spots. Flat at an early age, as it grows, it becomes funnel-shaped. As with the white wave, the edges are distinguished by "furry". The leg is hollow inside, pink. - Marsh - grows in moist places and near marshes. The hat is flat with a wavy edge and a smooth surface, sticky. The color of the hat is grayish, lilac, light brown, lilac with a brown tint. In the middle of the hat, the color is darker than at the edges. The mushroom flesh is fragile, the taste is sharp-burning. Provides caustic milky juice.
White top
Pink pink
Marsh
Russula edible
Species russula exists about thirty. The peculiarity of these mushrooms is that they grow even in mushroom lean years, when there are no other mushrooms.
All Russula are similar to each other. All have a dry hat that differs in color (from pink to black). The hat is initially slightly convex, but eventually becomes flat. All Russula have a specific burning taste, which disappears after boiling. The leg of the mushroom is round, hollow, white.
The most common types of russula:
- Golden - grows on the outskirts of moss swamps. Has a bright yellow hat.
- Blue (bruise) - Has shades of a hat from blue to blue-lilac, blue-green color.
- Russula green - has a bluish-greenish hat with brown spots.
Russula golden
Russula blue
Russula green
Morel
Mushroom with an unusual hat. Very light in weight, as it is hollow inside. Hat in the shape of an elongated cap of a wrinkled shape. The color of the hat is from tan to dark gray. Leg cylindrical in shape, almost fused with a hat. The stalk of young mushrooms is white; in old specimens it is yellowish.
Only young specimens are used in food. Old and overgrown morels have the ability to accumulate harmful and toxic substances, which is unsafe for health.
Little-known, but quite edible mushrooms
This type of mushroom is less common, is not very popular, and mushroom pickers often simply do not notice them.
Polish mushroom
Has a wide hat with a diameter of up to fifteen centimeters. The flesh of the cap is yellow, blue at the site of the cut, then turns brown. Leg light brown, up to three centimeters thick.
Use this mushroom in boiled, dried and pickled form.
Garlic
It occurs on the trunks of fallen trees, on stumps, next to anthills. You can find it in the fields on last year's packed grass. Belongs to the family of ordinary. It grows in whole colonies.
The mushroom is small, the cap is no more than three centimeters, with a tubercle at the base. The color is cream brown. The pulp is thin, lamellar; when rubbed, it emits the smell of garlic.
The leg is thin. The color is brownish red.
The mushroom can be boiled, fried. It retains its properties well when dried. In frozen form, the taste does not differ from fresh.
You can grow this mushroom in the country. Dig a mycelium with a large amount of earthen coma and transfer to the garden. Add the mixture for planting champignons, pour. The mushroom quickly takes root and bears fruit well.
Flake
It occurs in deciduous (occasionally in coniferous) forests. It can grow on stumps, fallen trees, around trunks. These mushrooms grow in "bunches", like mushrooms.
Hats are spherical in shape with a diameter of ten to twelve centimeters. The color of the hat is pale yellow, with growth it turns into brownish brown. A distinctive feature of the mushroom are triangular scales, which are like needles located on the entire surface.
The leg is dense up to ten centimeters high. It has a mushroom ring. The pulp is dense, with time it becomes very rough.
The mushroom is edible, but it is better to collect it until it has grown. In addition, do not use mushroom legs for food.
The list turned out to be long, but this is far from all existing edible specimens. Learn mushrooms, expand your mushroom horizons and join the fans of the “silent hunt”.