How to identify edible and poisonous mushrooms. Poisonous mushrooms of Russia: How to identify a poisonous mushroom, how to distinguish an edible mushroom How to distinguish mushrooms
Section: Mushroom encyclopedia. Mushroom key.
1st page of the section
The section helps to identify edible and poisonous mushrooms, and also suggests possible ways to prepare them.
To achieve complete culinary success, check out the section:
Introduction
How and when to pick mushrooms
Mushroom categories
Safety rules for mushroom pickers
Mushroom picker calendar
About buying wild mushrooms
Rules for collecting and eating mushrooms
Useful tips about mushrooms
* * * * * * *
How and when to pick mushrooms
It is usually believed that mushroom season is summer and especially the first half of autumn with drizzling but not cold rains. In fact, the mushroom season begins in early spring and lasts until the end of autumn.
Earlier then others, in April-May, morels appear. They are found in deciduous forests on rich fertile soils; less often they can be found in willow forests.
The conical morel with an elongated cap is more often found in coniferous forests. In mixed forests, the morel is a true one with an ovoid cap of a brownish or grayish color. In deciduous ones there is a cap line with a bell-shaped cap (also from the group of marsupial mushrooms).
Some experts classify these mushrooms as poisonous because they contain helwellic acid, but when boiled it turns into a decoction, which must be completely drained. As a rule, poisonous acid also disappears when morels are dried. At the end of the morel season, puffballs appear. Their favorite place is clearings; they also grow in meadows, pastures, near roads, and in gardens. The shape of the mushroom is similar to a pear. The old one is no good: dark in color, dust comes out of the cracks - ripe spores. The young puffball is fleshy and tender. It's best to fry it.
During the same period, oyster mushrooms can be found on stumps, dead trunks of deciduous trees, dead wood, and piles of brushwood.
At the same time, meadow honey fungus appears in dry meadows. It grows until late autumn. When other mushrooms are in abundance, rarely does anyone pay attention to this brownish fungus on a thin stalk, but in the spring, meadow honey fungus is also a mushroom. Spring mushrooms are being replaced by more valuable summer mushrooms. In June, boletus mushrooms appear in birch groves, and boletus mushrooms appear in pine forests. They can be collected until late autumn, but they attract mushroom pickers mainly in early summer, before the best mushrooms appear.
Moss mushrooms and russula are widespread and ubiquitous, and in some places, summer honey fungus. And these mushrooms are sometimes collected until October. At the end of June porcini mushrooms appear. They can be found in sparse pine forests and spruce forests. They are also found in oak forests. The porcini mushroom is considered the best edible mushroom, even its appearance speaks of this. The cap of the pine porcini mushroom is dark brown, convex, and the flesh is dense. The white or brown leg is short, widened towards the base, and fleshy. Fresh mushrooms are odorless, but very aromatic when dried.
In aspen and less often birch thickets, as well as in pine and heather thickets, boletus and real chanterelle appear in abundance. It is in shady forests under ferns, pines and fir trees on peaty, sandy and even rocky soil that you can see several caps at once, sometimes spherical, sometimes cushion-shaped, from yellow-orange to red-brown in color, on rather long white legs covered with brown or gray scales. Mushroom pickers readily collect boletus, like boletus, until late autumn for pickling and drying.
At the same time, pigs are found in the forests, and champignons are found on the edges and clearings. Collections of agaric mushrooms such as bitterberries are also successful at this time. In July Many new mushrooms are appearing, but mushroom pickers are especially looking forward to milk mushrooms. Of the salted mushrooms, milk mushrooms are the most delicious. For harvesting for future use, white loading pads are also very popular. For loading, you can go to any forest - to a birch and aspen forest, to a mixed and not very dense coniferous forest. The family of russulas of the most varied colors also grows in July. In August For pickling and pickling, mushroom pickers collect yellow, black and aspen milk mushrooms. In addition to milk mushrooms, white and pink milk mushrooms are also used for pickling. Pink ones are often called volzhankas, and white ones are called whites.
Saffron milk caps are more often found in spruce forests. They can be immediately noticed by their bright color. Both the convex or funnel-shaped cap with circles and the cylindrical leg are all orange. The pulp and non-caustic juice of the camelina are also orange. Ryzhiki are delicious both salted and pickled. Dishes made from fresh saffron milk caps are also wonderful. Some mushroom pickers eat young mushrooms raw, cut and salted.
There are no forests where russula does not grow. In August, lilac-lilac, blood-red, gray-olive, bluish, greenish, yellowish varieties fall into the baskets of mushroom pickers.
Chanterelles are especially common in August. Due to the funnel-shaped egg-yellow cap and dense rubbery-elastic pulp, the chanterelle cannot be confused with another mushroom. You can also find nests of autumn honey fungus. In late August The peak of the mushroom season is approaching, both in terms of the variety of mushrooms and their quantity. With the onset of autumn cold weather, the growth of mushrooms slows down and gradually stops. In September They collect swamp birch, milkweed, late russula, and autumn honey fungus. In October you can find mainly pine white mushrooms and autumn oyster mushrooms. With the onset of frost, towards the end of leaf fall, the mushroom picker no longer looks into the forest. The timing of collecting certain mushrooms is very approximate. Depending on climatic conditions, mushrooms may appear earlier than average, or much later. Some mushrooms appear unexpectedly very early. Real mushroom pickers conduct observations, identify mushroom spots and study them.
The basic rule that should be followed when picking mushrooms is to collect only well-known, benign mushrooms, so that you can eat them without fear.
How to distinguish edible mushrooms from harmful and poisonous ones during collection? To do this, you need to have a good understanding of the wide variety of types of mushrooms and recognize them by their external signs. You should familiarize yourself with the album of at least the main types of mushrooms, and begin your first searches under the guidance of experienced mushroom lovers.
Finding mushrooms requires not only knowledge of their species, but also practical skill, skill and dexterity.
When going mushroom hunting, you should take with you a small knife and a stick with a forked end to make it easier to push apart grass, dry leaves, pine needles and even branches. The most convenient container for mushrooms is a basket. Buckets, backpacks and especially plastic bags are not suitable. The mushrooms “burn” in them, crumble, and become wrinkled.
If the mushrooms are excessively saturated with water, this indicates that they are overgrown or damaged. The decay process can produce substances harmful to health, such as the poison neurin, which can cause edible mushrooms to become poisonous.
Collected mushrooms are immediately cleaned of soil, leaves, pine needles, grass and other debris adhering to them; remove parts affected by insect larvae. Heavily contaminated lower parts of the legs are cut off. It is better to put mushrooms in the basket with their caps down - this way they are better preserved.
Only young mushrooms with fairly dense pulp are suitable for food. An old, wormy, overripe mushroom should be thrown away, but not on the ground, where it will rot uselessly. It is better to string its hat on a tree or bush branch so that it dries. Then the wind will scatter the mushroom seeds - spores. Mushrooms are collected early in the morning before the sun heats them. In this case, they can be stored for a longer time. Mushrooms heated by the sun and spread in a thick layer quickly deteriorate - they become covered with mucus and emit an unpleasant odor. Such mushrooms are not suitable for processing.
When you come across an edible mushroom, under no circumstances pull it out of the ground, but carefully cut it off at the base with a knife, being sure to leave part of the stem in the ground. This way the mushroom spot is preserved for a longer time. After cutting the mushroom, check if it is wormy. In addition, by cutting off the mushrooms with a knife, we reduce the possibility of them becoming contaminated with stuck soil.
It is best to transport mushrooms in baskets or wooden boxes, placing no more than 2.5 kilograms of mushrooms in them. Based on materials from the Russian Hunting Newspaper
Mushroom categories
Mushrooms are very rich in extractive substances, which give them a unique taste and smell, as well as enzymes that contribute to better digestibility and absorption of food.
Mushrooms are difficult for humans to digest, but they give food additional volume and improve peristalsis.
To improve digestibility and digestibility, it is recommended to chop the mushrooms well.
Mushroom powder made from ground dried mushrooms is very good as a flavoring for adding to various dishes. Mushroom powder is added at the very end of cooking before removing it from the heat. Cm. Based on their taste, mushrooms are conventionally divided into four categories. I. The first category includes the most valuable and tasty species that produce mushroom products of excellent quality (for example, white - birch, oak, pine, spruce; saffron milk caps - pine, spruce). II. Good and quite valuable mushrooms, but somewhat inferior in quality to the previous ones, are classified in the second category (boletus, boletus, milk mushrooms - blue and aspen). III. The third category of mushrooms includes species that are not very bad in taste, but also not very good, those that are collected only in “mushroom-free” conditions, when the best mushrooms are few (blue russula, autumn honey fungus, mossy mushroom). IV. The fourth category includes those mushrooms that most mushroom pickers usually bypass, and in rare cases only a few amateurs collect them. These are mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms - common and autumn, green russula, ram mushroom, swamp butterfly.
Safety rules for mushroom pickers
Mushrooms can be collected at almost any recreation center or country house, combining business with pleasure. At many bases you can have fun not only with mushrooms and berries, but also with fishing.
When going into the forest to pick mushrooms and berries, you need to take with you a set for a safe and comfortable “quiet hunt”.
Don't forget about safety - be sure to check your cell phone's charging and account balance. However, charging is much more important - remember the number of the unified rescue service from a cell phone: 112 will work if there is a network of any cellular operator. It doesn’t matter whether your keyboard is locked, whether you have money in your account, or even whether you have a SIM card in your phone. And once again - the main thing is a charged battery.
It is always possible that the place you wander into will not have cellular reception.
Therefore, take a compass and a map of the area. Try not to miss the direction to return - the sun will help you with this.
If possible, take an electronic GPS navigator with you - now they are quite affordable and very convenient. They don’t need cellular communications, and there are plenty of satellites everywhere. Do not forget that simple GPS and GLONASS navigators require an open space on your head - they may not work under trees, you need to go to a place with an open sky and wait a few minutes. It is better to use GPS Garmin navigators for hiking; although they are more expensive than regular ones, they work more reliably even in bad weather.
When going into the forest for the whole day, do not forget to take a large bottle of water and something to snack with you. Grab a bar of chocolate - this is a very compact and high-calorie NZ.
The best choice of container for mushroom harvest is a wicker basket. There is not much difference what mushroom basket is made of - natural or plastic, the main thing is wicker, because... it lets air through. You should not use a bag, plastic or metal bucket; unlike a basket, they do not allow air to pass through, and the mushrooms quickly deteriorate.
The main weapon for mushroom hunting is a mushroom picker's knife. Remember - mushrooms should not be pulled up by the roots, as this can damage and even destroy the mycelium. The mushroom must be carefully cut off at the root. It is better to take a knife with a blade about 10 cm long and a handle of a bright color, for example, orange: it will be easier to find if you drop it in the grass.
Be sure to choose a suitable stick - you shouldn’t move your hands in the grass, there may be not only mushrooms, but also unpleasant forest surprises, for example, broken glass, sharp twigs. We especially need to remember that there may be poisonous snakes in the forests! Don't forget about ticks! Take care of yourself!
Don't forget the first aid kit. It should contain painkillers and stomach medicines, a plaster, a bandage, potassium permanganate and a remedy for insect bites - we have plenty of mosquitoes everywhere in Russia.
Mushroom picker calendar
(data for the Moscow region and central Russia)
Types of mushrooms | May | June | July | August | September | October | ||||||||||||
Decades | ||||||||||||||||||
I | II | III | I | II | III | I | II | III | I | II | III | I | II | III | I | II | III | |
Morel | ||||||||||||||||||
Porcini | ||||||||||||||||||
Boletus | ||||||||||||||||||
boletus | ||||||||||||||||||
Chanterelle | ||||||||||||||||||
Oiler | ||||||||||||||||||
Mosswort | ||||||||||||||||||
Honey fungus | ||||||||||||||||||
Ryzhik | ||||||||||||||||||
Volnushka | ||||||||||||||||||
Gruzd | ||||||||||||||||||
Valuy | ||||||||||||||||||
Russula | ||||||||||||||||||
Champignon | ||||||||||||||||||
Belyanka (white volnushka) | ||||||||||||||||||
Gorkushka | ||||||||||||||||||
Greenfinch | ||||||||||||||||||
Serushka | ||||||||||||||||||
Kozlyak | ||||||||||||||||||
Raincoat | ||||||||||||||||||
Cap | ||||||||||||||||||
Ryadovka | ||||||||||||||||||
Violin |
Mushroom picker calendar
(data for the Leningrad region and other northern places of Russia)
There are a lot of mushrooms around St. Petersburg, and there are many mushroom places in the Leningrad region. And although there is no arguing about tastes, mushrooms are delicious. Think of a frying pan of chanterelles in homemade sour cream or porcini mushrooms in cream. How do you like stewed potatoes with boletus mushrooms, even if they were cooked in a Russian oven? And a roasted mushroom from a freshly picked assortment... And a delicious mushroom soup made from dried white mushrooms, on a February evening, with fried onion on top, hot... And so that a spoonful of cold sour cream with sourness would stand in it with eyes of cream spreading across the hot soup butter... Whatever this soup goes well with - you can come up with it yourself to your liking! Do you want some tasty mushrooms? Then let's go to nature - take a walk, take a break from the city noise, breathe fresh air, admire the scenery, improve your health and enrich your diet!
Edible mushrooms in the Leningrad region provide a huge selection and variety of types of mushrooms. Everyone knows the bright aspen boletuses and delicious boletus mushrooms, the royal boletuses and boletus mushrooms, rich in both appearance and taste, the most tender melt-in-your-mouth chanterelles, boletus and moss mushrooms, an unrivaled appetizer for any table, milk mushrooms, milk mushrooms and honey mushrooms. You can also pick up morels, strings, which are exotic for many, but tasty, and even milk raincoats that are familiar to many strangers. Mushrooms provide a huge variety of mushroom recipes and, on occasion, even help in healing.
So - we look at the mushroom calendar and choose mushrooms, look at the weather outside, decide on the route, prepare a mushroom picker's kit, set the alarm for 5 o'clock in the morning and dream about prey. However, you will dream of prey after a successful mushroom hunt.
Let's decide on the season. The mushroom season in the forests near St. Petersburg is considered to be from August to November, but edible mushrooms can be found in the Leningrad region almost all year round. Take a look at the mushroom picker's calendar below - it covers the most popular of the more than 200 species of edible mushrooms growing in the forests of the Leningrad region.
Mushroom picker calendar for the Leningrad region | ||
Collection month | Types of mushrooms | Features of collection |
January | Oyster mushroom | For mushroom pickers, this is the emptiest month; there is practically nothing to look for in the forest. But if the winter is warm, you can find fresh oyster mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms usually grow on trees, the cap of such a mushroom is one-sided or rounded, the plates run down to the stem, as if growing to it. |
It is not difficult to distinguish oyster mushrooms from inedible mushrooms - it has a cap that is completely leathery to the touch. | February | Oyster mushroom, tree mushrooms |
If there is no thaw, there is practically nothing to look for in the forest | March | Oyster mushroom, tree mushrooms, talker |
There are practically no mushrooms, but at the end of the month the first snowdrops may appear. | April | Oyster mushroom, tree mushrooms, govorushka, morel, stitch |
May | Snowdrop mushrooms – morels and stitches – are quite common | Morel, stitch, oil can, oyster mushroom, raincoat |
June | Most mushrooms can be found not under trees, but in clearings, in thick grass. | Oiler, boletus, boletus, oyster mushroom, morel, honey fungus, chanterelle, porcini mushroom, puffball |
July | In June, mushrooms of the highest (first) category begin to appear. | Oiler, boletus, boletus, oyster mushroom, morel, puffball, honey fungus, chanterelle, porcini mushroom, moss mushroom |
August | Oiler, boletus, boletus, oyster mushroom, morel, honey mushroom, chanterelle, porcini mushroom, moss mushroom | At this time, mushrooms can be found almost everywhere: in the grass, under trees, near stumps, in ditches and on trees, and even in city squares and on the sides of roads. In addition to mushrooms, lingonberries have already ripened, and cranberries are appearing in the swamps. |
September | Oiler, boletus, boletus, oyster mushroom, morel, honey mushroom, chanterelle, porcini mushroom, moss mushroom, | September is the most productive month for mushrooms. But you need to be careful: autumn is coming to the forests, and in the bright foliage it is difficult to see the multi-colored mushroom caps. |
October | Valuy, oyster mushroom, camelina, honey fungus, champignon, boletus, porcini mushroom, milk mushroom, moss mushroom, russula | The number of mushrooms in the clearings begins to decrease. In October, it is better to look for mushrooms near stumps and under trees. |
November | Butterfly, greenfinch, oyster mushroom, tree mushrooms. | Frosts begin, and there is a high probability of finding frozen mushrooms. |
December | oyster mushroom, tree mushrooms | There are almost no mushrooms anymore – but if you’re lucky, you can find remnants of the autumn abundance |
About buying wild mushrooms
Mushrooms are hygroscopic and concentrate many harmful substances from the environment. Moreover, the mushrooms themselves are insensitive to many toxic substances.
Therefore, wild mushrooms should be collected independently and away from roads and other polluting objects. The best time to pick mushrooms is early morning.
Often, wild mushrooms for sale are collected close to the roads - this makes it more convenient to export them.
Of course, if you overslept, you can buy mushrooms, but you must remember - only by picking mushrooms yourself can you be 100% sure of their quality and freshness. And if you absolutely don’t have time for a quiet hunt, or you slept through the notorious 5 am and it was all over in the forest, and at night you dream of fried potatoes and chanterelles, then you can take a chance and buy mushrooms, guided by the following safety rules:
Buy wild mushrooms only at stationary markets.
In hypermarkets you can only find artificially grown champignons and oyster mushrooms: other mushrooms in Russia are not yet grown in industrial quantities. But in the markets there are boletuses, and boletuses, and white ones. It is important that in “official” markets mushrooms are at least somehow checked “for freshness” and selectively “for worminess”. But no one can check where the mushrooms were collected.
When purchasing, avoid buying large sized mushrooms. Of course, it’s hard to take your eyes off this beautiful white mushroom 15 cm high, but you need to buy those mushrooms that are smaller and younger. Mushrooms absorb all substances from the soil and air - both useful and harmful, so the older the boletus or boletus, the higher the concentration of absorbed substances.
Of course, mushrooms can not only be bought, but also sold.
Happy mushroom hunting! Or at the berry shop...
Rules for collecting and eating mushrooms
According to toxicologists, mushroom poisoning occurs all year round, despite the fact that the mushroom picking season is only summer and autumn.
In the warm season, people poison themselves with mushrooms, which they collect in the forest and in the field, and in winter and spring they begin to poison themselves with their canned preparations.
To prevent this from happening, you need to remember which mushrooms you should not touch.
Mushroom poisoning is a great tragedy, because, as a rule, people are poisoned by large companies, families, and the losses are very heavy. It must be said that all mushrooms have toxins, which are present in varying quantities even in our most favorite mushrooms: porcini mushrooms, aspen mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, etc. The June first mushrooms, morels and strings, have poison, which has one peculiarity - it dissolves when these mushrooms are boiling. You should never make soups from spring mushrooms. Before preparing any mushroom dish, you must first boil them for 40 minutes, then drain the water and boil again for 10 minutes. Only after this can they be either fried or mushroom sauce made.
Remember: If you bought morels and strings, under no circumstances should you cook soup from them!
To avoid getting poisoned, you need to remember which mushrooms you shouldn’t touch. Poisonous doubles
When picking mushrooms, you need to be very careful.
Interesting advice on how to learn to understand mushrooms after going mushroom hunting. They need to be sorted by variety: boletus, boletus, chanterelle, etc. If you come across an inedible, poisonous double, then in a group of fellow creatures it immediately stands out, because in the forest in the heat of the hunt you may not notice it. Even the most noble mushroom - the porcini mushroom - has its poisonous counterpart - this is a Polish mushroom that can only be prepared in a special way. When it lies down, its leg begins to turn red, under the cap it is not the same color as a porcini mushroom, so it immediately stands out. The same applies to all other mushrooms; when you sort the mushrooms into piles, you will immediately see which mushroom needs to be thrown away. There is one immutable thing in the rules for collecting mushrooms - if you are in doubt about any mushroom, it must be thrown away immediately. Look not at the root, but at the stem
Another tip regarding agaric mushrooms: russula, chanterelles, etc. There is a dangerous and poisonous counterpart to these mushrooms - the toadstool. Its cap has a grayish-green color, unlike the russula on a stalk, it has a thickening at the bottom. Therefore, all mushrooms must be collected with stems. If you can't see the stem of the mushroom, you won't be able to tell the difference between the very poisonous toadstool and a good russula.
Contrary to the name, russulas are classified as conditionally edible mushrooms (i.e., edible only after boiling in 2-3 changes of water). This rule especially applies to pale lilac and greenish russula. It is better to collect pink, orange, and red russulas; you can’t go wrong with them.
Pale toadstool is such a poisonous mushroom that if you pick it and see that there is a thickening on the stem, under no circumstances put it in the basket. If you held this mushroom in your hands, and then there is no way to wash your hands, do not touch your mouth, lips, nose, or eyes with them under any circumstances. The toxins are so strong that through the mucous membranes you can release this poison into the body and become poisoned. If, unknowingly, one of you picked a toadstool and it ended up in the basket, all the mushrooms should be thrown away. The poison of the toadstool is so strong (it is a deadly poisonous mushroom!) that even its proximity to a good mushroom makes it poisonous.
Poisoning with toadstool begins to manifest itself after a day, when the destruction of the body begins and preventive medical care is already overdue.
Sharp abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting appear, and the temperature drops sharply. Nothing can be done at this time. The poisons of the toadstool kill the liver and kidneys. If possible, such a person needs to undergo a kidney transplant, then there will be a chance of saving him. But if it is not possible to perform an operation, the likelihood of saving a person’s life is very low. So, be extremely careful when picking mushrooms with stems! You can distinguish the pale toadstool from the russula only by the thickening on the lower part of the stem. Overripe mushrooms
Sometimes mushrooms are overripe: the mushroom looks good, not wormy, and in addition is very large. From one mushroom you can make potatoes or soup. You can’t pick such mushrooms!
Overripe mushrooms are spoiled protein. Unlike meat and fish, which rot and have a very unpleasant odor, mushroom spoilage does not manifest itself in any way externally. The spoilage of the mushroom is indicated by its large size, softness, and lack of elasticity. Such mushrooms can harm the body. Mushroom protein is very difficult to digest. It is similar to the protein that forms the shells of beetles, crabs, and shrimp - chitin. This protein must be processed for a very long time so that there is no heavy load on the gastrointestinal tract. If you want to fry mushrooms, you must first boil them for an hour. Mushrooms are not a dietary product
Mushrooms should not be eaten by people suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), liver, or pancreas. It is also not recommended to give mushrooms to children under 7-8 years old. They have a very unstable gastrointestinal tract, biliary dyskinesia often occurs, and eating mushrooms can cause an exacerbation of the disease and harm the child.
Mushrooms are considered a low-calorie product because... they are almost impossible for human digestion. And almost all the beneficial substances contained in mushrooms pass through the gastrointestinal tract. The champions in this regard are chanterelles and honey mushrooms - they come out of a person in the form in which they were swallowed. Depending on the variety, a kilogram of mushrooms has 350-380 kcal, and a piece of meat has 4000 kcal. However, due to the fact that mushroom protein is very difficult to digest, requires long-term processing and other indications, mushrooms are not considered a dietary product. Mushrooms should not be given to people suffering from the above diseases. But if people want to lose weight, then mushrooms are just the right product - it is a protein that gives energy, flavor, and pleasant food that can be used.
We love picking mushrooms so much that this activity can rightly be called “silent hunting.” City residents are often deprived of movement, and this is very harmful to their health. When you pick mushrooms, you walk through the forest, breathe clean air, cleanse your lungs, inhale the aromas of the forest, and get a huge amount of positive emotions from the leaves, the forest, and a full basket.
Picking mushrooms is useful not only for food, it is movement, clean air, aesthetic enjoyment of nature and, of course, your forest “catch”, which you can always be proud of, even if it is 1-2 mushrooms.
Only those who have at least once gone on a quiet hunt know how exciting and enjoyable it is. Real hunting excitement, delight from every strong white or boletus found, pleasant fatigue, and the incomparable pleasure of walking through an autumn forest, painted with the most wonderful colors and emitting the most unimaginable smells. However, here too there is a “fly in the ointment”: false and poisonous mushrooms. To ensure that the pleasure of a quiet hunt is not overshadowed after the meal, you need to learn to have a good understanding of edible and poisonous mushrooms.
What you need to know about mushrooms? There are two reasons why you need to have a good understanding of mushrooms before you start actively collecting them. The most important thing is, of course, safety. Among the poisonous mushrooms there are those whose consumption can lead to rapid death. The second reason is more practical - having collected a full basket of inedible mushrooms, you will have to carry this weight with you through the forest. And it will be very disappointing and unpleasant when it turns out that all the contents of the basket will have to be thrown away. And you simply shouldn’t pick inedible mushrooms, because what is not suitable for human food is often used by forest dwellers as food or “medicine.”All mushrooms are divided into three groups - edible, highly poisonous and slightly poisonous. Edible mushrooms and the most popular among mushroom pickers include porcini mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, aspen mushrooms, milk mushrooms, honey mushrooms, and chanterelles. In Russia, mushroom lovers collect more than 100 types of mushrooms, but this is the lot of those who are well versed in them. For a novice mushroom picker, you need to take several types as a basis and have a good understanding of how to distinguish edible mushrooms from inedible ones.
Poisonous mushrooms.
First you need to understand which mushrooms are poisonous and simply avoid them in the forest. The most dangerous mushroom is toadstool. One small mushroom is enough for the whole family to be poisoned by the dish in which it fell. Fortunately, toadstool has very distinctive features and is very easy to distinguish from other mushrooms. The long graceful stem of this mushroom has a “skirt” under the cap, and at the base the stem is inserted into a “cup.” While the russula, with which the toadstool is most often confused, has a smooth straight leg without similar features. Therefore, before picking such a mushroom, clear the grass and foliage at the base of the mushroom and see whether the stem goes into the ground or grows “from a cup” and whether there is a “skirt”.
The poisonous, stinking fly agaric is very similar to the pale toadstool. It has a pale yellow color and a conical cap. When broken, the mushroom emits a very unpleasant odor, which is why it got its name. This is the most insidious of the fly agarics and is least similar to the bright, beautiful red and green fly agarics we are used to, which, like their stinking brother, are very poisonous.
The easiest way to understand that this is Patouillard fiber, another very poisonous mushroom, is if you come across a whole family where mushrooms of different ages grow nearby. Young fibers have cone-shaped caps that are whitish in color, but as they grow, the cap straightens and changes color. In an adult mushroom it becomes yellow, and in an old mushroom it becomes red. The stem always has the same color as the cap and is greatly expanded downwards.
Another poisonous mushroom is the waxy govorushka. This is a beautiful white mushroom that has a pleasant taste and smell. Its distinctive feature is that the plates located at the bottom of the cap smoothly fit onto the stem, merging with it.
Double mushrooms (false).
False mushrooms are most often mildly poisonous; they are not capable of causing serious damage to health, but they are quite capable of spoiling a dish with an unpleasant taste or causing intestinal upset.
Beginning mushroom pickers often mistake the gall mushroom for white mushroom or boletus mushroom. The underside of the cap of the gall mushroom has pinkish-brown tubes, while those of the white mushroom are yellow. When broken, the cap is also pink, which is not the case with its edible counterparts.
Edible and false honey mushrooms are very similar to each other. Edible honey mushrooms are always brown in color, while false ones are pale green or yellow. This mushroom has a bitter taste.
Inexperienced mushroom pickers are often deceived by the appearance and yellowing of the false champignon. It can be distinguished from edible champignon only by its smell. In the false mushroom it is quite unpleasant.
False chanterelles are also common in our forests. They differ from edible ones in their brighter color - yellow, turning into orange - and in their smooth, neat shape. While edible mushrooms have a more “ragged” and irregular shape and a less pronounced color saturation.
There are general rules that can be followed when hunting quietly. If the mushroom is very hard and smells bad, there is a high probability that it is poisonous. But, as with any rule, there are some exceptions. There is a group of mushrooms that are considered conditionally poisonous. That is, they require mandatory processing before consumption. Such processing completely eliminates the content of toxic substances or bitterness. These mushrooms include trumpets, milk mushrooms, morels and other mushrooms that have excellent taste. Some of them just need to be soaked in water to dissolve unnecessary substances, some are dried and heat treated. Each mushroom requires a special approach.
Distinguishing edible mushrooms from inedible ones is not always easy. The fact is that their shape, size and color are influenced by many factors: place of growth, time of year and even weather. Therefore, the most reliable way to learn to distinguish mushrooms is to know their anatomy. It’s good if they are purchased under the guidance of an experienced mushroom picker.
How to distinguish an inedible mushroom from an edible one. First aid for mushroom poisoningExperts believe that it is impossible to derive a universal rule. The only guarantee against poisoning is knowledge of the characteristics of individual species and the differences between them.
Among wild mushrooms there are poisonous ones. Some of them, at first glance, are very similar to edible ones; such doubles should be especially wary. Thus, poisonous mushrooms grow in pine and spruce forests: gall, pepper, satanic. The pepper mushroom is very similar to the butter mushroom and the boletus mushroom, the satanic one looks like a “double” of the boletus mushroom, and a very skillful one at that, and the gall mushroom from a distance also looks like a porcini mushroom.
The difference between the White mushroom and the false ones: Gall mushroom and Satanic mushroom
The gall mushroom is a mildly poisonous mushroom; it is often confused with white mushroom. It is impossible to get poisoned by it, but its bitter taste can ruin the entire dish. The main differences are: a dark mesh pattern on the stem (in the porcini mushroom it is white), a dirty pinkish bottom of the cap (in the porcini mushroom the tubular layer is always white or cream, turns yellow or green with age), bitter pulp (it is enough to lick the bottom of the cap to feel bitterness) - that’s why the gall mushroom is also called bitterness. At the break, the flesh turns pink (in boletus it is always white).
The white mushroom is very similar in appearance to the satanic one. But if you press on the inside (“moss”), it will turn pink. This means that this is not a white mushroom, but a poisonous one.
Differences between Chanterelle and False Chanterelle
In fact, distinguishing a real chanterelle from a fake is not so difficult. To begin with, you should pay attention to the color. In false chanterelles, unlike real ones, it is especially bright orange in the transition to copper-red. And the ordinary ones are just exactly yellow.
Hat. If you notice very smooth edges, you should be wary. A real chanterelle has a wavy decoration on this part of it.
The legs of a real chanterelle are thick and not hollow. The spores are yellowish. But her false sister has the opposite: the leg is thin, and the spores are white.
Take a sniff. It was already said earlier that the difference between a true mistress of the forest is her fruity or woody smell. But you are unlikely to want to put the talkers in the basket after such a check.
Mushrooms do not like to grow alone. Usually this is a whole family united by a common mycelium. But false chanterelles have just such a feature. They are often found in a single copy. For this reason alone, you should be wary.
Look at the color of the pulp. The real one is yellowish and white in the middle. The fake one is distinguished by a solid orange or yellow color.
Lightly press the flesh with your finger. An ordinary fox will blush modestly, but a false one will remain calmly monochromatic.
Real chanterelles are rarely worm-bearing, since they secrete chitinmannose and the larvae die under its influence. But orange talkers do not have chitinmannose, so the larvae can infect them.
Differences between Moss mushrooms and Butter mushrooms from the poisonous Pepper mushroom
The pepper mushroom has a reddish-cherry tint to the pores of the tubes and legs. The flywheel has a tubular layer of olive or brown shades. The poisonous pepper mushroom turns red (the similar edible mushroom mushroom turns blue, but the butterdish does not change color). Unlike boletus, the pepper mushroom does not have a ring on the stem. In the pepper mushroom, the lower spore-bearing layer of the cap approaches red, in the oiler it approaches yellow.
The difference between real honey mushrooms and false honey mushrooms
Of the mildly poisonous mushrooms, false honey mushrooms are often found - they can be distinguished by their olive tint. Edible honey mushrooms are always brown in color. Double honey mushrooms cause gastric upset only if they are poorly cooked or fried.
Remember: real mushrooms, especially young ones, have a “skirt” on their legs, like a ballerina’s. The false ones do not.
The difference between champignon and toadstool
White milk mushrooms are good for pickles. But they can also be confused with milk mushrooms, which are popularly called “creaks.” The difference is that a real milk mushroom has a wet film, is slimy and hides in the grass, while a “squeaky” mushroom is absolutely dry.
The pale grebe is very dangerous. She looks like a russula. The cap is green, sometimes almost white. On the stem, closer to the cap, there is a noticeable ring. To avoid confusion, learn a simple selection rule: all mushrooms for pickling have a hole in the stem. This is a sign that the mushroom is edible.
The main principle of mushroom picking
Everyone collects only those mushrooms that they know and can distinguish in any conditions, they know what young and old fruiting bodies look like, what they look like in dry weather, what they look like in rain, etc.
Sometimes mushrooms are overripe: the mushroom looks good, not wormy, and in addition is very large. From one mushroom you can make potatoes or soup. You can’t pick such mushrooms!
Overripe mushrooms are spoiled protein. Unlike meat and fish, which rot and have a very unpleasant odor, mushroom spoilage does not manifest itself in any way externally. The spoilage of the mushroom is indicated by its large size, softness, and lack of elasticity. Such mushrooms can harm the body. Mushroom protein is very difficult to digest. It is similar to the protein that forms the shells of beetles, crabs, and shrimp - chitin. This protein must be processed for a very long time so that there is no heavy load on the gastrointestinal tract. If you want to fry mushrooms, you must first boil them for an hour.
Mushrooms that are considered edible can become poisonous under certain conditions if:
Poisonous microorganisms have multiplied in old mushrooms;
The mushrooms grew in a forest that had been treated with pesticides and herbicides;
Mushrooms were found near roads - they could accumulate toxic heavy metals;
Mushrooms requiring appropriate heat treatment were eaten raw.
First aid for mushroom poisoning requires:
Call a doctor immediately;
Perform gastric lavage;
Give the victim activated charcoal, put him in bed and give him water or strong tea;
Irina Kamshilina
Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than for yourself))
Content
How many lovers are waiting for the start of the season to walk through the forest in search of saffron milk caps or saffron milk caps. Fry chanterelles, pickle milk mushrooms, marinate boletus to taste at the festive table in winter. Unfortunately, not everything ends well if you don’t know what you have collected. Every mushroom eater must be armed with useful knowledge of how to distinguish inedible species.
How to distinguish poisonous mushrooms from edible ones
You should not go into the forest if you do not know how to determine whether a mushroom is poisonous or not. Ask an experienced person to take you on a quiet hunt. In the forest thicket he will tell you about edible varieties and show what they look like. Read books or find information on websites. This is the only way to protect your loved ones and yourself from mortal danger. Even one inedible specimen in a basket can lead to disaster if you do not distinguish it and cook it with others.
Inedible species are dangerous because they can cause food poisoning, cause disruption of the central nervous system, and lead to death. Experienced mushroom pickers recommend following the following rules when collecting:
- don’t taste it – you can get poisoned instantly;
- do not take if in doubt;
- do not cut dry, overripe specimens - it is difficult to determine their identity;
- do not collect everything in the hope of figuring it out at home;
- visit the forest with experienced people;
- do not collect specimens with a thickened stem at the bottom;
- Before departure, refresh your knowledge about the characteristics of the species.
What do edible mushrooms look like?
Experienced lovers of quiet forest hunting know how to distinguish edible mushrooms from inedible ones. You can’t go wrong, you can put the copy you like in the basket, and then cook it if:
- there is a “skirt” on the leg;
- under the cap there is a layer of a tubular appearance;
- it gives off a pleasant smell;
- the caps have a characteristic appearance and color for their variety;
- insects were noticed on the surface - bugs and worms.
There are varieties that are very famous and popular in the middle forest zone. They are known and collected, although among them there are specimens that have dangerous doubles. To obtain a unique taste, different cooking methods are required. Among your favorite types you can distinguish:
- white - boletus;
- milk mushroom;
- saffron milk cap;
- boletus;
- honey fungus;
- boletus;
- oiler;
- wave;
- fox;
- Russula.
What mushrooms are poisonous?
How to distinguish edible mushrooms from inedible ones? Poisonous varieties are often recognized by the following characteristics:
- color – have an unusual or very bright color;
- sticky cap in some varieties;
- change in the color of the leg - when cut, an unnatural color appears;
- absence of worms and insects inside and on the surface - they do not tolerate mushroom poison;
- smell - it can be fetid, medicinal, chlorine;
- absence of a tubular layer under the cap.
Inedible varieties contain toxic substances. It is necessary to carry out the collection very carefully, to know the special signs of dangerous specimens in order to distinguish them:
- pale grebe - fatally poisonous, has a greenish or olive-colored cap, a thickened stem downwards;
- satanic - differs from white in color in red tones;
- red fly agaric - has a bright cap with white dots, provokes the destruction of brain cells;
- thin pig – has hallucinogenic properties when interacting with alcohol;
- Amanita muscaria smells like chlorine and is very poisonous.
How to distinguish mushrooms
Among the variety of species, you can find poisonous specimens - doubles, similar to species suitable for consumption. How to distinguish between edible and inedible mushrooms in this case? The similarity can be distant or very close. The edible varieties of twins are:
- white – satanic, bilious;
- moss mushrooms, boletus - pepper;
- chanterelles - false chanterelles;
- milk mushrooms - waxy talkers;
- mushrooms - fly agarics;
- honey mushrooms - false honey mushrooms.
How to distinguish a false white mushroom
Inexperienced mushroom pickers may confuse the robust boletus with false species, although they are not very similar. A true white specimen is strong, dense, and grows in groups, sometimes forming a path. Distinguished by its hat, the bottom is exclusively olive, yellow, and white. Its flesh is firm, dense, and has a pleasant smell. If you make a cut, it will be white.
There are two types of false:
- Gall - has a pinkish tint. There is a dark mesh on the surface of the leg.
- Satanic - with a strong smell of rotten onion, distinguished by a velvety cap and yellow or red flesh. The leg is thickened at the bottom. It has a very bright color that varies in height from rich red to shades of green and yellow.
How to recognize the false chanterelle mushroom
How to determine edible and inedible mushrooms, if both look bright and elegant? How are chanterelles similar and by what characteristics can they be distinguished? Characteristics of an inedible variety are:
- a bright, velvety, orange hat;
- smaller diameter - about 2.5 cm;
- pulp with an unpleasant odor;
- leg tapering downward;
- a hat that looks like a funnel with smooth edges;
- absence of worms - contains chitinmannose - an anthelmintic substance.
Edible chanterelles grow in groups in mixed, coniferous forests. They often have large specimens with a hat up to 10 cm. They are distinguished by:
- a thick, dense leg that is never hollow;
- the hat is lowered down, has lumpy edges, the color is dim - from light yellow to pale orange;
- the plates are dense, descending to the stem;
- The flesh is red when pressed.
How to distinguish between edible and poisonous honey mushrooms
Particularly difficult is the correct identification of honey mushrooms, since several edible varieties with different shapes are collected. They grow on stumps, tree trunks, and grass, often in large groups. Good honey mushrooms can be distinguished by:
- caps from light beige to brown with dark scales;
- ring on the leg;
- cream or white plates under the cap;
- pleasant smell.
Inedible honey mushrooms often grow singly. The difference from edible ones is the absence of a ring on the stem. Other features of inedible varieties:
- brightly colored hat, red, orange, rusty brown, sticky and smooth after rain;
- dark plates – green olive-black, yellow;
- musty odor;
- spots on the cap are black.
Video: how to check mushrooms for edibility
Found an error in the text? Select it, press Ctrl + Enter and we will fix everything!
Those who like to pick mushrooms, first of all, need to know how to distinguish poisonous mushrooms from edible ones. Of course, if you follow the rule and do not take mushrooms unknown to you, the chances of poisoning are reduced, but you can confuse an edible mushroom from a poisonous one, since some edible mushrooms have very similar look-alikes, which can lead to poisoning and dire consequences. In fact, it is very difficult to talk about all poisonous mushrooms in one topic, since there are a great many of them, so we will only touch on those mushrooms that are poisoned most often. We recommend that you read
HOW TO DISTINGUISH AN EDIBLE MUSHROOM FROM A DOUBLE?
GALL MUSHROOM: This mushroom can be confused with the porcini mushroom, as they are very similar to each other. They differ only in that when broken, the gall fungus turns red or brown, and the fungus has a bitterness that is not removed when processed.
SATANIC MUSHROOM: Just like the gall fungus, it is very similar to the porcini mushroom, but differs from the porcini mushroom in that when broken it begins to turn brown or red. The toxicity of the satanic mushroom is quite high; they say that even one gram of such a mushroom can cause serious consequences. We recommend that you read
FALSE MEDICHAEL: You can distinguish edible honey mushrooms from poisonous ones by the color of the cap and the ring on the stem. Edible honey mushrooms have a brown-yellow cap color and a ring on the stem; poisonous (false) honey mushrooms have a yellow-green cap color and no ring on the stem.
DEATH CAP: It is very easy to confuse toadstool with champignon and russula, especially if you have no experience in the mushroom business. Toadstool is the most poisonous mushroom and, as a rule, poisoning with toadstool always ends in death, since signs of poisoning occur when irreversible damage to organs occurs in the body. You can distinguish toadstool from champignon and russula by the characteristic ring around the stem and the egg from which it grows. We recommend that you read
A LITTLE ABOUT TYPES OF POISONOUS MUSHROOMS
Amanita: We hope that you will not confuse this mushroom with any other, since the fly agaric is not similar to any edible mushroom. The fly agaric has a red cap with a white dot, and a white leg.
PATUYAR FIBER: It is a poisonous and dangerous mushroom.
This mushroom looks like this: at a young age, the cap is conical, straightening out later, the color is whitish, turning into straw-yellow or reddish as it grows. WAX SPEAKER:
The mushroom grows mainly from July to October, the color of the mushroom is white. It is a very poisonous mushroom. The wax talker is very similar to the sorrel. CHAMPIGNON RED:
It is very similar to the common champignon, but when broken it begins to turn yellow and smells unpleasant.
HOW CAN YOU NOT distinguish between poisonous mushrooms and edible ones?
There is a popular belief that a poisonous mushroom smells unpleasant, and you can distinguish it from an edible mushroom by its unpleasant smell. This is not true; for example, toadstool has a similar smell to champignon. We recommend that you read
You cannot determine a poisonous mushroom by the presence of larvae and worms in the mushroom. Some poisonous mushrooms are edible to worms.
There is an opinion that any poisonous mushroom at a young age is edible, but this is not true, for example, toadstool is very poisonous at any age.
You also cannot distinguish edible mushrooms from poisonous ones by using half an onion or garlic, which are said to darken in the presence of poisonous mushrooms in the broth; this is not so.
Also, do not try to distinguish a poisonous mushroom using milk; there is a sign that when you put a poisonous mushroom in, the milk will quickly turn sour. This is wrong.
TIPS OF MUSHROOM PICKERS HOW TO IDENTIFY AND NOT COLLECT POISONOUS MUSHROOMS
ADVICE ON HOW TO IDENTIFY POISONOUS MUSHROOM No. 1: If you do not know the mushroom and doubt its edibility, do not take such mushrooms under any circumstances. We recommend that you read
ADVICE ON HOW TO IDENTIFY POISONOUS MUSHROOM No. 2: Never taste the mushroom, it can be poisonous and fatal.
ADVICE ON HOW TO IDENTIFY POISONOUS MUSHROOM No. 3: Do not collect dry mushrooms; after a drought, there are usually no mushrooms, but if they do appear, they can absorb harmful substances.
ADVICE ON HOW TO IDENTIFY POISONOUS MUSHROOM No. 4: Do not take with you rotten mushrooms, mushrooms that have survived and become old and overripe. These mushrooms may contain harmful toxins and mold.
ADVICE ON HOW TO IDENTIFY POISONOUS MUSHROOM No. 5: Before you take a mushroom, make sure once again that the mushroom is not poisonous, compare its differences. There are double mushrooms, only some are poisonous, others are not.