Picking mushrooms is a pleasure, and picking mushrooms is an even greater pleasure. Having found the mushroom stump, you can immediately fill the basket. But when collecting honey mushrooms, caution and care must be taken: false mushrooms are expertly disguised as edible mushrooms. This article will tell you what false livers are, how they look and how to distinguish them from good mushrooms.
False mushrooms: what are
False foal is very similar to an edible honey agaric externally and not only. He, too, does not grow alone, but with his entire family. Mushrooms grow on wood, for example, stumps, dead and living trees, or next to them, so edible and inedible mushrooms are easy to confuse.
There are a lot of “doubles” among mushrooms. All of them are divided into 3 groups: inedible, conditionally edible and poisonous. With each group you need to familiarize yourself so that they can not deceive the mushroom picker and get into his basket.
Inedible
The separation of false hemp mushrooms into inedible and conditionally edible is relative and controversial. Basically, they can also be eaten, but only after special processing.
Did you know? Honey mushrooms contain so much protein that they can replace meat in a vegetarian menu. And the phosphorus in them is not less than in river fish.
Inedible species are often called those species that are very difficult to distinguish from other relatives in hats growing on stumps. For this reason, there is a danger of improperly preparing them and earning poisoning or indigestion. Such species include Candolle and watery mushrooms.
Kandolla
Representatives of the Kandoll family can be met from May to October. They love hardwood.
Description of appearance:
| Leg | thin and high (up to 9 cm in height), white and smooth, hollow inside |
| Hat | diameter - from 3 to 8 cm, shape changes from hemisphere and bell-shaped to flat with a rounded tubercle, the skin is smooth, yellow-brown in color, then brightens to a cream and yellowish hue, shreds of blankets hang down along the edges of the hat |
| Pulp | white, thin, tasteless and odorless |
| Plastic under the hat | adhering to the stalk, frequent, whitish color changes first to gray-violet, and then to dark brown |
Watery
Watery pseudo-foil, or Psatirella water-loving, loves damp places. It grows in large colonies on deciduous and coniferous wood, stumps and around them. It occurs only in autumn.
What it looks like:
| Leg | high (up to 8 cm), 0.5–0.8 cm in diameter, uneven, empty inside, but strong, smooth and silky to the touch, the lower part is light brown in color, and the upper part is white, powdery with a powdery coating |
| Hat | 2-5 cm in diameter, has the shape of a bell, which then opens and becomes a flat plate with a tubercle in the center and cracking edges, the surface is smooth, dark brown and yellow-brown in color, the remains of the bedspread hang over the edges |
| Pulp | brown, thin and watery, tastes bitter or soft, odorless |
| Records | frequent, overgrown, first light brown, and then dark brown, give off droplets of juice in wet weather |
Conditionally edible
This group includes those false hemp mushrooms that are not harmful to health. They are edible, but inferior to ordinary mushrooms in taste. They can be eaten, after boiling and draining the broth. From them you can prepare delicious and nutritious mushroom dishes.
Seroplate
False foil seroplate, or poppy, loves coniferous stumps and trees. Its season begins in August and ends in October. It is harmless, considered edible.
Features of appearance:
| Leg | up to 10 cm in height and about 0.5 cm in diameter, straight or curved, without a ring, hollow, yellow, and brown below |
| Hat | at first it has the shape of a hemisphere, and with time it straightens and becomes flat, its diameter is up to 8 cm, its color is from yellow and orange to brown and brown, the middle of the hat has a brighter color than the edges |
| Pulp | white or light yellow, smells like mushrooms or damp |
| Records | adhered to the leg, first white or yellow, then sulfur |
Brick red
The brick-red false foil is also quite edible, although not as tasty as the autumn honey agaric. Before use, it must be boiled. It feels comfortable on deciduous and coniferous tree species. Groups of brick red false ducks can be seen in the forests from August to September.
Brick-red false foam contains substances that are beneficial for the skin, hair and teeth. In Japan and South Korea, they are used to make shower gels and toothpastes that restore tooth enamel.
They are recognized by the following signs:
| Leg | straight, up to 10 cm in height and up to 1.5 cm in diameter, narrowed below, the base is red-brick shade, and the upper part is yellow, empty inside |
| Hat | first spherical, then semicircular, and as it ripens, it spreads, the color varies from red-brown to brick and red-brown, the edges are lighter than the middle |
| Pulp | yellow, bitter, odorless |
| Records | dense, overgrown, dirty yellow or light gray in color, eventually acquire an olive or brown hue |
Poisonous
Of all the false mushrooms, only one species is poisonous. This is a sulfur-yellow false shrimp. Its poison is very toxic, but not fatal.
Within 1-6 hours, the following symptoms of poisoning may occur:
- dizziness and weakness;
- nausea and vomiting;
- sweating
- loss of consciousness.
Important! Not only poisonous mushrooms harmful to health, but also edible if stored for a long time and incorrectly.
The poisonous false foil grows in large families, starting in June and ending in October. It can be found almost everywhere. He prefers stumps and trunks of not only deciduous, but also conifers, as well as the root zone around them.
A poisonous enemy can be identified by the following signs:
| leg | thin and high (up to 10 cm in height), the surface is fibrous, light yellow, inside is empty |
| hat | bell-shaped in young mushrooms and flat in old ones, diameter - up to 7 cm, color - yellow, yellow-brown and sulfur-yellow, the center is bright and the edges are lighter |
| flesh | white or light yellow, bitter, has an unpleasant odor |
| records | grown, frequent, sulfur-yellow, ripening, acquire a greenish and dark olive shade |
Differences between honey mushrooms and false honey mushrooms
Finding a mushroom in the forest, it is immediately difficult to determine whether it is edible or not, since honey mushrooms and their false relatives are very similar in appearance and grow under the same conditions. With experience, you can learn to recognize even conditionally edible among false mushrooms.
But it is better for a beginner not to take risks and adhere to the main rule of the mushroom picker: if in doubt, do not take it. A novice mushroom hunter must first learn the signs of real edible mushrooms, described below.
Film ring
The main difference between an edible honey agaric and a false honey agaric is the presence of a membranous ring under the hat, which resembles a skirt or collar. In fact, these are the remains of the bedspread that protects the fruiting body of the young fungus. With the growth of the hat, the film breaks, forming a skirt.
But over time, and it disappears in old mushrooms, so it is best to collect young mushrooms with a “collar”. By the way, the young false-film also has a protective film. But when it breaks through, it does not form a skirt, but a poorly visible collar and shreds hanging from the edges of the hat.
Smell
The smell of a mushroom picker can tell him what kind of honey agaric he holds in his hands: edible, false or poisonous. Honey mushrooms produce aromatic oils, especially in rainy weather and during breeding. These substances give them such a pleasant mushroom aroma. False honey agaric is usually odorless or smells of damp, which becomes apparent when cooking. Poisonous mushrooms initially have an unpleasant odor.
Hats
If the mushroom family stands out for its bright colors against the background of a plain forest landscape, then most likely you will see false mushrooms. Their hats are painted in beautiful colors (yellow, red, brick), which can be attractive to the artist.
But an experienced mushroom picker knows that edible autumn and summer mushrooms look more modest and have a dull color. They are characterized by cream and brown tones.
Another recognizable sign of edible fruiting bodies are small scales on hats that are not found in inedible mushrooms.
When cleaning, they are easily washed off. But only young mushrooms can be recognized by the scales, because with age they smooth out and disappear.
Important! The only edible mushroom without scales on the hat is a winter honey agaric, which is difficult to distinguish from a false foil. But this is not important, since it only grows in the cold season, when there are no inedible mushrooms.
Records
The last criterion that you should pay attention to when collecting mushrooms is the color of the plates under the hat. In good young mushrooms they are light shades, yellowish-white or cream, but when ripe, they darken. In false fruiting bodies, the plates may be white, yellow, gray, olive and brown. In poisonous mushrooms, they are sulfur-yellow and dark olive.
Knowing the main differences between good mushrooms and false mushrooms will help you to be careful when collecting them, so that you can only fill your basket with useful gifts of the forest. And over time, you can learn at a glance to identify edible and inedible mushrooms. Then mushroom hunting will bring even more joy.
