Honey mushrooms surprise with their diversity, 34 of their mushroom species are known. They are true and false, edible and inedible, they combine mushrooms of different families and genera, which prefer to grow in large groups on stumps or trees. The only exceptions are meadow mushrooms growing on the ground, but outwardly similar to other representatives of this group. Many popular superstitions are associated with them, for example, about travelers who perish, falling into the "witch's circle" formed by mushrooms at night. And the scientific facts are amazing. So, scientists have determined that the largest living organism on the planet, which occupies more than 880 hectares, is a dark mushroom growing in the state of Oregon.
Please put your likes and subscribe to the channel "About Fasenda". This will allow us to publish more interesting garden articles.
Honey mushrooms suitable for food
Someone considers these mushrooms a delicacy, but many are afraid to pick them due to the presence of a large number of false poisonous counterparts. You can meet edible mushrooms almost at any time of the year. Most often, spring, summer, autumn, winter and meadow mushrooms are collected. There are also thick-legged, bulbous, royal and other species.
Summer honey agaric prefers dry trunks of usually deciduous trees. His hat has a small diameter of 3-6 centimeters, in young mushrooms it is initially convex and tightened from below with a spider web, as the fungus matures, it becomes flat-convex with a tubercle in the middle. Its color is reddish-brown, lighter in the center. The more it rains, the lighter the shade. The pulp is brownish, watery, with a pleasant mushroom smell.
Autumn honey agaric grows, like summer, on dry trees, but it also parasitizes on living roots and trunks, it can even be found on potatoes. In general, more than ten species are united under this name, which have small differences, but grow at about the same time - from late August to frost. In young mushrooms, the cap is convex with the edges wrapped inward, then straightens out like an umbrella. The skin is brownish, scaly, darker in the center. Many sources recommend boiling it first to reduce the likelihood of intestinal symptoms.
Winter honey agaric begins to bear fruit in late autumn and grows even after snow falls. His hat is honey-yellow or rusty-yellow, in the center it is darker, naked, smooth and sticky.
Meadow honey fungus grows on sod soil in meadows, forest glades, along roads, sometimes forming "witch circles". It can be harvested from late May to early November. The cap of young mushrooms is conical-convex, while in mature mushrooms it is flat with an obtuse tubercle in the center, naked and smooth. Its color is cream or grayish yellow.
The difference between false agarics
In addition to edible mushrooms, there are also false ones, which are often inedible and even poisonous. Therefore, the ability to distinguish between them sometimes depends not only on the taste of a dish, but health and life.
The main difference by which you can determine a real honey fungus is a filmy ring on a leg, often called a skirt.
Another difference is the color and shape of the cap. If edible mushrooms have a modest color of brown shades, then the caps of inedible mushrooms are more elegant and painted in bright colors, from poisonous sulfur-yellow to brick, depending on the species. The surface of the cap of young edible mushrooms is covered with scales, while in false ones it has a smooth surface.
If you look under the cap of the mushroom, then the edible honey agarics have creamy, white or yellowish plates, while inedible ones are dark or bright yellow.
They can also be distinguished by their smell. Good mushrooms have a pleasant mushroom aroma, similar to the smell of damp wood. Poisonous mushrooms smell of mold and rotten earth.
There are folk ways to determine the toxicity of a mushroom when cooking with onions. If the onion turns blue, then the mushrooms are poisonous. Another way is to dip the mushroom into milk, if the milk is curdled, then the mushroom is poisonous. Unfortunately, the tyrosinase enzyme that colors onions can be present in any mushrooms, and milk will turn sour, even if the mushroom is edible.
False inedible and poisonous mushrooms
The brick red false mushroom is very easy to confuse with the real one. You can distinguish it by the red-brown color of the cap, the absence of a ring and scales on the stem, as well as dirty yellow plates, which become olive as the mushroom ages. Its flesh is dirty yellow and bitter. The information on the toxicity of this fungus is conflicting.
Sulfur-yellow falsefoam is a poisonous representative of false honey agarics, although it is very similar to edible gray-lamellar honey fungus. It can be distinguished by greenish plates. Its pulp is very bitter with an unpleasant odor. When eaten, vomiting, sweating and loss of consciousness appear.
Bordered gallery is the most dangerous false mushroom. In its toxicity, it does not differ from the well-known pale toadstool. Most of all she looks like summer mushrooms, she even has a ring on her leg. But, unlike real honey agarics, gallerina grows on rotten coniferous wood and never grows together with legs. The size of her cap is smaller, it does not exceed four centimeters, and there are no scales on the legs, but there is a whitish coating that can be easily removed even with a light touch.
Whitewashed talker is another type of poisonous counterparts of meadow honey. They got their name due to the mealy plaque covering the caps. Poisoning to it causes a violation of the heart rhythm, a decrease in pressure, and respiratory failure.
Winter mushrooms do not have clearly similar poisonous counterparts due to the fact that other mushrooms do not grow during this period.
When picking mushrooms, be sure to approach this process responsibly. The basket should not include copies in which you doubt. But even if you are one hundred percent sure of the edibility of mushrooms, you cannot collect them near freeways, landfills or in the airport area.
Do you like to pick mushrooms in the forest?
Original articleand many other materials, you can find on ourwebsite.
Read about woody mushrooms in the following article:5 beneficial tree mushrooms that many consider inedible