Honey mushrooms are types of edible and poisonous mushrooms. How to distinguish a false honey mushroom from a real one

Honey fungus translated from Latin into Russian means “bracelet”. This name is not at all surprising, because if you look at the stump on which honey mushrooms are most often comfortably located, you can see a peculiar form of mushroom growth in the form of a ring.

A small mushroom with a stalk up to 7 cm high and a diameter of 0.4 to 1 cm. The top of the stalk is light, smooth, the bottom of the stalk is covered with dark scales. The “skirt” is narrow, membranous, may disappear over time, and turns brownish due to falling spores. The diameter of the mushroom cap is from 3 to 6 cm. Young summer honey mushrooms are distinguished by a convex cap; as the mushroom grows, the surface flattens, but a noticeable light tubercle remains in the center. The skin is smooth, matte, honey-yellow with dark edges. In damp weather, the skin becomes translucent, and characteristic circles form around the tubercle. The pulp of the summer honey mushroom is tender, moist, pale yellow, pleasant to the taste, with a pronounced aroma of living wood. The plates are often located, light, and become dark brown over time.

Summer honey fungus is found mainly in deciduous forests throughout temperate zone. Appears in April and bears fruit until November. In areas with a favorable climate it can bear fruit without interruption. Sometimes summer honey mushrooms are confused with the poisonous galerina fringed (lat. Galerina marginata), which is distinguished by the small size of the fruiting body and the absence of scales at the bottom of the stem.

• Autumn honey fungus, aka real honey fungus(lat. Armillaria mellea)

The height of the leg of the autumn honey mushroom is from 8 to 10 cm, the diameter is 1-2 cm. At the very bottom, the leg may have a slight expansion. The leg is yellowish-brown at the top and becomes dark brown at the bottom. The cap of the autumn mushroom, with a diameter of 3 to 10 cm (sometimes up to 15-17 cm), is convex at the beginning of the growth of the mushroom, then becomes flattened, with a few scales on the surface and a characteristic wavy edge. The ring is very pronounced, white with a yellow border, located almost under the cap itself. The pulp of autumn honey mushrooms is white, dense, fibrous, aromatic in the stem. The color of the skin on the cap varies and depends on the type of trees on which the mushroom grows.

Autumn honey mushrooms of honey-yellow color grow on poplar, mulberry, and black locust. Brown ones grow on, dark gray - on elderberry, red-brown - on the trunks of coniferous trees. The plates are sparse, light beige in color, darken with age and dotted with dark brown spots.

The first autumn honey mushrooms appear at the end of August. Depending on the region, fruiting occurs in 2-3 layers, lasting about 3 weeks. Autumn mushrooms are widespread in swampy forests and clearings throughout the Northern Hemisphere, except in permafrost areas.

• Winter honey fungus(flammulina velvetypod, collibia velvetypod, winter mushroom)(lat. Flammulina velutipes)

The leg, with a height of 2 to 7 cm and a diameter of 0.3 to 1 cm, has a dense structure and a distinctive, velvety-brown color, turning into brown with yellowness towards the top. In young mushrooms, the cap is convex, flattens with age and can reach 2-10 cm in diameter. The skin is yellow, brownish or brown with orange. The blades are planted sparsely, white or ocher, different lengths. The pulp is almost white or yellowish. Unlike the bulk edible honey mushrooms, the winter honey fungus does not have a “skirt” under the cap.

Grows throughout the temperate part of the forest park zone northern hemisphere from autumn to spring. Winter honey fungus grows in large, often fused groups and is easily found in thawed areas during thaws. According to some reports, the pulp of the winter honey mushroom contains a small dose of unstable toxins, so it is recommended that the mushroom be subjected to more thorough heat treatment.

• Honey fungus (meadowweed, meadow rotten mushroom, clove mushroom, meadow marasmius)(lat. Marasmius oreades)

Edible mushroom of the non-rotting family, genus non-rotting. A typical soil saprophyte growing in fields, meadows, pastures, summer cottages, along the edges of clearings and ditches, in ravines and forest edges. It bears abundant fruit, often grows in straight or arched rows, and sometimes forms “witch circles.”

The leg of the meadow grass is long and thin, sometimes curved, up to 10 cm in height, and from 0.2 to 0.5 cm in diameter. Dense along the entire length, widened at the very bottom, the color of the cap or slightly lighter. In young meadow mushrooms, the cap is convex, flattens over time, the edges become uneven, and a pronounced blunt tubercle remains in the center. In wet weather, the skin becomes sticky, yellow-brown or reddish. IN good weather the cap is light beige, but always with a center darker than the edges. The plates are sparse, light-colored, darker in rain, and there is no “skirt” under the cap. The pulp is thin, light, tastes sweet, with a characteristic odor of almonds.

Meadow grass is found from May to October throughout Eurasia: from Japan to Canary Islands. It tolerates drought well, and after rains it comes to life and is again capable of reproduction. Honey fungus is sometimes confused with wood-loving collibia (lat. Collybia dryophila), a conditionally edible mushroom with biotopes similar to meadow grass. It differs from the meadow grass by a tubular, hollow inside leg, more densely spaced plates and an unpleasant odor. It is much more dangerous to confuse the meadow grass with the furrowed talker (lat. Clitocybe rivulosa), a poisonous mushroom, distinguished by a whitish cap, devoid of a tubercle, often seated plates and a powdery spirit.

• Honey fungus thick-legged(lat. Armillaria lutea, Armillaria gallica)

The leg of the thick-legged honey mushroom is low, straight, thickened at the bottom like an onion. Below the ring the leg is brown, above it is whitish, and at the base it is gray. The ring is pronounced, white, the edges are distinguished by star-shaped breaks and are often strewn with brown scales. The diameter of the cap is from 2.5 to 10 cm. In young thick-legged honey mushrooms, the cap has the shape of an expanded cone with rolled edges, in old mushrooms it is flat with descending edges. Young thick-legged honey mushrooms are brownish-brown, beige or pinkish. The middle of the cap is abundantly strewn with dry conical scales of gray-brown color, which are also preserved in old mushrooms. The plates are planted frequently, light in color, and darken over time. The pulp is light, astringent in taste, with a slight cheesy smell.

• Honey fungus mucous or udemanciella mucosa(lat. Oudemansiella mucida)

View edible mushrooms family Physalacriaceae, genus Udemanciella. Rare mushroom, grows on the trunks of fallen European beech, sometimes on damaged trees that are still alive.

The curved leg reaches 2-8 cm in length and has a diameter of 2 to 4 mm. Under the cap itself it is light, below the “skirt” it is covered with brown flakes, and at the base it has a characteristic thickening. The ring is thick and slimy. The caps of young honey mushrooms have the shape of a wide cone; with age, they open up and become flat-convex. At first, the skin of the mushrooms is dry and olive-gray in color; with age, it becomes slimy, whitish or beige with yellowness. The plates are sparsely located and have a yellowish color. The pulp of the mucous honey fungus is tasteless, odorless, white; in old mushrooms, the lower part of the stem turns brown.

Slimy honey fungus is found in the broad-leaved European zone.

• Spring honey fungus or wood-loving collibia(lat. Gymnopus dryophilus, Collybia dryophila)

A species of edible mushrooms of the non-gnacaceae family, the genus Gymnopus. Grows in separate small groups on fallen trees and decaying foliage, in forests dominated by oak and.

The elastic leg, 3 to 9 cm long, is usually smooth, but sometimes has a thickened base. The cap of young honey mushrooms is convex, and over time it acquires a broadly convex or flattened shape. The skin of young mushrooms is brick-colored; in mature individuals it becomes lighter and becomes yellow-brown. The plates are frequent, white, sometimes with a pink or yellow tint. The pulp is white or yellowish, with a weak taste and smell.

Spring honey mushrooms grow throughout the temperate zone from early summer to November.

• Common garlic mushroom (common garlic mushroom) (lat. Mycetinis scorodonius, Marasmius scorodonius)

An edible small mushroom of the non-rot family, genus garlic. It has a characteristic garlic smell, which is why it is often used in seasonings.

The cap is slightly convex or hemispherical, and can reach 2.5 cm in diameter. The color of the cap depends on humidity: in rainy weather and fogs it is brownish, sometimes a rich red hue, in dry weather it becomes creamy. The plates are light, very rare. The leg of this honey mushroom is hard and shiny, darker below.

• (lat. Myc etinis allia ceus)

Belongs to the genus garlic of the non-rot family. The mushroom cap can be quite large (up to 6.5 cm), slightly translucent closer to the edge. The surface of the cap is smooth, yellow or red in color, brighter in the center. The pulp has a pronounced garlic aroma. A strong leg up to 5 mm thick and 6 to 15 cm long, gray or black, covered with pubescence.

The mushroom grows in Europe, preferring deciduous forests, and especially rotting leaves and twigs of beech.

• Pine honey fungus (yellow-red row, reddened row, yellow-red honey fungus, red honey fungus) (lat. Tricholomopsis rutilans)

A conditionally edible mushroom belonging to the family Aryadorova. Some consider it inedible.

The cap is convex; as the mushroom ages, it becomes flatter, up to 15 cm in diameter. The surface is covered with small red-purple scales. The flesh of the honey mushroom is yellow, its structure in the stem is more fibrous, and in the cap it is dense. The taste may be bitter, and the smell may be sour or woody-putrid. The leg is usually curved, hollow in the middle and upper part, thickened at the base.

“Well, who doesn’t know what honey mushrooms look like?” - you say. Really! Sometimes even scientists who study mushrooms find it difficult to determine their species. And honey mushrooms, by the way, are very different, different from each other, and also deadly poisonous.

Such different experiences...

Honey mushrooms are one of the most common mushrooms in the world. From a scientific point of view, the Honey fungus group of mushrooms is the most “variegated”. For non-biologists, these are mushrooms that grow on stumps or trees (hence the name), but for scientists this group is much broader. It includes mushrooms from the forest floor and those growing in the grass.

But these mushrooms have another more exciting ability - they belong to bioluminescent organisms. This means that honey mushrooms glow in the dark. But these greenish reflections are so weak that under normal conditions, even on a moonless night in the middle of a forest, it is practically unnoticeable.

Different types of mushrooms can have different shapes and colors. Their smooth caps range from red-brown to yellow-brown. The shape is small round, bell-shaped or flat. And the mushrooms themselves can appear either singly or in families, which sometimes consist of several dozen mushrooms.

There are different opinions about edibility again. Some consider them unfit for consumption, although mycologists say there are some that are good and some that are inedible. True, people of science, having analyzed nutritional value, classified them as category 3-4 products. However, for many mushroom pickers they remain the best for pickling. And it is with honey mushrooms that lovers of “quiet hunting” open the season, as these mushrooms appear early spring, long before boletus, boletus, boletus, porcini mushrooms or saffron milk caps.

Beginning mushroom pickers have probably heard about false mushrooms, which, although they resemble real ones, are poisonous. However, not everything is so simple: even researchers find it difficult to determine which category to classify a particular specimen into. These are such diverse and unique organisms that some do not resemble honey mushrooms at all. But the most interesting thing is that some representatives of the species are able to change their appearance, depending on weather conditions or the characteristics of the wood they feed on. Experienced mushroom pickers and mycologists are ready for such transformations of mushrooms, but for beginners it is difficult to determine edible and inedible ones only by typical external characteristics.

Inedible and conditionally edible honey mushrooms are considered to be “false.”

But the danger is that even conditionally edible ones have poisonous counterparts. If “false” mushrooms are lost among the collected mushrooms, then after thorough soaking and proper preparation they will not cause poisoning. Doppelgängers are just as dangerous as pale toadstools. But the dangers do not end there. You can also be poisoned by real mushrooms, especially older representatives of the “family”. Poorly washed or undercooked ones cause dizziness, nausea and vomiting. For some, poisoning is accompanied by an increase blood pressure, tachycardia, nosebleeds, and in severe cases, hemorrhages in brain tissue.

Poisoning by poisonous gifts of the forest manifests itself differently. The first signs are a sharp decrease in blood pressure, a subsidence of the pulse, and loss of consciousness. Up to 6 hours after eating a poisonous mushroom, vomiting, diarrhea, and intestinal colic appear, which cannot be eliminated with medication. Most cases of poisoning by false honey mushrooms are fatal. As a rule, up to 10 days after eating.

To " silent hunt“doesn’t end in disaster, first you have to learn as much as possible about mushrooms. But we hasten to reassure you: this does not mean that novice mushroom pickers will have to become a mycologist. There is no need to study the characteristics of all known to science mushrooms and their doubles, just focus on those that are found in local forests. And which ones are “found” - this will already be suggested by more experienced “mushroom hunters”. But the truest rule is best advice: If you doubt it, don’t take it! So, the most common and most recognizable honey mushrooms are winter, summer and autumn. Let's talk about them in detail.

Winter honey fungus, or Flammulina velutipes

Fruiting of this species begins at the end of September, and if weather conditions allowed, it will produce a harvest during the winter. You can find this mushroom on the remains of deciduous trees. We recognize it thanks to its smooth honey-brown cap (hemispherical for young mushrooms and flat for old ones). When air humidity is high, the cap becomes slippery. The plates underneath are creamy, as is the flesh when cut. But there should be no scales or rings on the leg - this is a sign of poisonous doubles.

Scientists classify this mushroom as a conditionally edible one, and mushroom pickers classify it as the most delicious representatives of honey mushrooms. Some people grow them in summer cottages or on the balcony. They say they are homemade winter mushrooms even tastier than forest ones. Moreover, they are definitely safe.

Spring honey fungus, or Collybia dryophila

Appears in forests in spring or early summer. These mushrooms love rotten wood and forest floor. The spring honey fungus is recognized by its two-color cap (dark in the center and light at the edges); there is no ring or scales on the stem. And even in scientific literature it is called conditionally edible; mushroom pickers welcome it and love it for its bright aroma and “meatiness.”

White slimy honey fungus, or Oudemansiella mucida

These are also spring and summer mushrooms. White slimy honey mushrooms “settle” on fallen trees, living beech and maple trees, the trunks of which they can “stick” to the very branches. They are creamy-gray, sticky in any weather, and have a ringed leg but no scales. Mushroom pickers and mycologists agree that this is a safe, tasty and aromatic mushroom.

Summer honey fungus, or Kuehneromyces mutabilis

Grows on birch stumps, and in mountainous regions - on the remains coniferous trees, in August-October. Easily recognizable in rainy weather, when its 8-centimeter sticky cap attracts moisture and becomes bicolored (light brown in the center, dark brown or brown at the edges). In sunny weather, the mushrooms are monochromatic, honey-yellow. The young ones have a convex cap, while the old ones have a flat-convex cap. Distinctive Features: leg with small scales and a ring, brown-cream plates under the cap.

Autumn honey fungus, or Armillaria mellea

Garlic

This is the so-called atypical representative of honey mushrooms, characteristic feature which has a pronounced odor. It never grows on wood, and it does not have the characteristic ring on the stalk of the honey mushroom. Garlic grows on dry forest floors in late summer and fall. This is a small mushroom, its cap is no more than 5 cm in diameter (in older representatives it is spread out or even slightly inverted), and its stem is no thicker than half a centimeter. Garlics range in color from brownish to white, and have stiff legs that are brownish-black. Garlic mushrooms are used in fresh, they are good for pickling, as well as for making seasoning from dried mushrooms.

Honey fungus

Also an atypical honey fungus, growing among the grass in meadows, clearings, pastures, in gardens, near roads. Usually meadow mushrooms appear in the first days of summer and bear fruit until October. But they grow in a very specific way - forming rows or circles in the grass, which are popularly called witches' rings. This type of mushroom is recognized by the absence of a ring on the stem, a small (up to 5 cm) cap, light at the edges and brown in the center, as well as a pleasant taste and smell. It is thanks to these gastronomic characteristics that the small meadow honey fungus is very popular among mushroom pickers.

IN summer period inexperienced mushroom pickers sometimes confuse edible mushrooms with false mushrooms - gray-plastic and sulfur-yellow. The first ones resemble summer ones in many characteristics. They will find out poisonous mushroom by the absence of a ring and scales, as well as by gray plates under a rusty-brown cap. Appears exclusively in coniferous forests in mid-July. Despite the fact that “false” appears in the name, sulphurous honey mushrooms after careful heat treatment can be consumed, although older ones have a rotten taste.

Sulfur-yellow honey mushrooms appear in spring on rotting stumps of deciduous trees. Their rounded yellow-olive caps and yellow-green or purple-brown plates are a clear sign of toxicity. The taste and smell of the pulp is bitter.

Due to inexperience, Candolle's false honey mushroom can also be confused with summer honey mushrooms. Groups of these organisms “populate” stumps and living deciduous trees(mostly in the shade, from May to September). They are recognized by almost white color, absence of a ring on the stem and grayish or dark brown plates. After prolonged soaking and several hours of cooking, they are quite acceptable as food.

Extremely dangerous double summer mushrooms - bordered gallery. This mushroom is slightly smaller than summer honey fungus(cap up to 4 cm), the leg is not scaly, but fibrous, but otherwise very much resembles an edible mushroom. Appears in different forests from June to October, most of all loves rotten coniferous stumps and ignores birch ones. By content toxic substances equivalent to pale grebe.

Honey fungus thick-legged resembles autumn mushroom, and some mushroom pickers consider both specimens to be a variety of the same species. The main signs of false autumn mushrooms: they “live” on the litter, bear fruit constantly, and not in waves, the lower part of their stem is thicker. But even if such a mushroom ends up in the basket, there is no need to worry - it is edible. But it is recommended to use only the caps for food, since the legs are very hard.

Yellow-red honey fungus appears at the end of August on coniferous wood. It differs from its autumn edible “brother” in its excessively bright color, smaller size (caps up to 7 cm), lack of a ring and bitter taste of the pulp.

The brick-red honey fungus, which appears at the height of the autumn mushroom season, is called poisonous. Identified by its red velvety cap, absence of scales and ring on the stem. More common in deciduous forests where there is a lot of sun and fresh air, less often - in forests.

An equally dangerous twin of the garlic and meadow honey fungus is the whitish talker (deadly dangerous mushroom). Her main feature– grayish-white color of the cap, which, unlike meadow mushrooms, is flat.

The benefits and harms of mushrooms

Honey mushrooms are a low-calorie product: 100 grams contain no more than 22 kcal. But at the same time, mushrooms remain a good source, as well as, and. Like other representatives of the mushroom family, honey mushrooms are rich in... Interestingly, the concentrations of calcium and phosphorus in these small mushrooms are close to those in fish. Honey mushrooms also contain a lot of iron, which makes them an indispensable product for people with low hemoglobin.

Researchers have proven the antimicrobial and anticancer abilities of these mushrooms. They are useful for getting rid of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, and also as a healing food for thyroid dysfunction. Honey mushrooms rich in phosphorus are good for strong bones, healthy teeth and adequate work of the central nervous system. Copper and zinc make the product important for the peripheral nervous system, as well as for maintaining spinal health. Some members of the mushroom family contain a lot of , which makes them useful for visual acuity, skin elasticity and strong hair. Thanks to vitamins E and C, these mushrooms have a beneficial effect on the immune and hormonal systems.

But for people with diseases of the digestive system, it is better to avoid this product. Another point that is important to know: honey mushrooms are not the best source. The digestibility of proteins from honey mushrooms is several times lower than from porcini mushrooms. Even a healthy body does not digest honey mushrooms well in combination with dough. And when frying, the mushroom pulp absorbs fat very quickly and in large portions. Pickled or salted mushrooms, beloved by many, can cause swelling, and large portions of autumn mushrooms can cause diarrhea. Boiled mushrooms are considered the most useful.

This is perhaps the only mushroom that can be grown not only on garden plot, but also on the balcony or windowsill.

The first way is to place the mycelium in a jar, which is placed on the windowsill. Another method involves preparing a substrate from 3 parts sawdust and 1 part bran (as an option: mix sawdust and vegetable additives in the form of husks, sunflower husks, etc. one to one). Pour this substrate for 24 hours, squeeze it out and transfer it to 3-liter jars (fill halfway). Then sterilize the containers with the substrate for 2 hours. The next day, repeat the procedure. When the contents of the jars have cooled to 25 degrees, close with nylon lids, in which holes are made (about 2 cm in diameter). Pour mycelium through them (approximately 7% of the substrate weight). Place the “seeded” jar in a warm (not lower than 20-24 degrees), but dark place for 30 days. When the first “sprouts” appear, transfer to the northern window sill and then to the balcony (keep the temperature at least 10 degrees). When the honey mushrooms reach the lid, open the jar and wrap a wide strip of cardboard around the neck. On the 10th day after the emergence of “shoots”, you can harvest. Cut off the mushrooms, remove the stems from the substrate and return the closed jar to a dark and warm place. The next harvest will appear in 2 weeks. One jar can “give birth” to 1-2 kg of tasty, healthy and, most importantly, safe winter mushrooms.

Despite the fact that Europeans do not really like these mushrooms, they remain tasty and healthy. The main thing is to know which ones are edible and which ones you should stay away from. And every housewife knows what to cook from fragrant mushrooms.

I’ll say right away that the “honey agaric” group contains artificially collected very, very distant mushrooms from 5 genera of three different families. They are united only by some similarity in appearance, and the predilection of most of them to grow near stumps, which is reflected in the name - growing “about the stump,” or in modern terms, by the stump.

Most of them have a medium-sized elastic plate-like cap and a long thin stem. They somewhat resemble “toadstools”, as some mushroom “experts” imagine them to be. Nevertheless, since they were united by our people together, we will consider them all together here. Although the description of each of them will be completely independent.

This is a saprophytic fungus, that is, it lives only on dead wood; Unlike those in autumn and winter, it does not settle on living trees. The cap is up to 5 cm in diameter, thin, convex, later almost flat with a tubercle, light brown; along the edge with a darker rim, as if saturated with water. The plates are sparse, the color of the cap, but slightly lighter (fawn). The young hat is covered with a blanket at the bottom. The stalk is thin, 0.5 cm in diameter and up to 8 cm long, hollow, with a ring, fibrous; Light at the top and dark brown at the bottom, tapering towards the bottom.

In June – September, the fungus is often and quite abundantly found on the stumps of deciduous trees: aspen, birch, linden, etc.; it almost does not grow on coniferous trees. Since it forms large colonies, despite its puny structure, you can collect quite a lot of them. The pulp is grayish-whitish, the taste is pleasant, the smell is moist, woody. The legs, due to their stiffness, are often not taken.

Suitable for all types culinary processing, however, when dried, it becomes very tiny and thin, like paper, and also crumbles easily. Therefore, dried honey mushrooms are usually ground into powder, which is added to sauces to give them a mushroom aroma. The Germans believe that this honey mushroom is especially good in soup. It is therapeutic, normalizes metabolism. Has several varieties. Very rarely wormy. However, many of our mushroom pickers do not take it - some out of ignorance, others simply neglect it, but in vain.

Honey mushrooms grow like wildlife, and in households. Growing mushrooms is a profitable business, as farmers have long noticed. Myceliums multiply very quickly and live for more than one year, and are unpretentious in care. Homemade mushrooms are safe to eat. Wild mushrooms are very hardy in nature, easily endure winter and already in April welcome the arrival of spring. How to find out honey mushrooms are false and edible photos will help everyone. The main thing in mushroom business is not to rush and pay attention to appearance and the smell of mushrooms.

It is easy to distinguish an inedible mushroom from an edible one if you look closely and smell well.

• In false mushrooms no ring with skirt on a cylindrical leg, and the hat is painted bright, not pleasing to the eye color.
• It also matters record color. In false mushrooms the plates under the cap are yellow or greenish, sometimes dirty - brown.

By smell false honey mushrooms, how to distinguish Mushroom pickers who have tried edible mushrooms and remembered their taste will tell you.

• The smell of edible honey mushrooms is pleasant, and false mushrooms smell like rotten grass or earth. They repel people with their entire appearance and seem to shout “don’t touch me.”

On a subtle level, you can feel that such a mushroom is not suitable for food and it is better to stay away from it. The whole trick false mushrooms the fact that they grow in the same places where edible ones do, and sometimes intertwine: on stumps, trunks of old trees, from spring to the first month of winter. Anyone who goes to pick mushrooms in the forest or forest belt can make a mistake. It is much safer to grow mushrooms at home and be sure to check them before eating.

Honey mushrooms edible photos

The edible mushroom exudes a delicious aroma. You could say it smells like protein. And appearance edible honey mushrooms They have a nice cream-colored cap and plates under it, and a ring with a skirt on the leg. Edible honey mushrooms with a flat bare cap - mature mushrooms. In the middle of the hat there may be a tubercle or, as people say, a navel. Young mushrooms have a convex cap. The pulp of the mushrooms is pleasant to the taste, but before you taste the mushrooms, there is one simple way check them out.

• If you throw an onion into a pan with boiling mushrooms, it will turn black in poisonous mushrooms, and very quickly.
• In edible mushrooms, the onion remains its natural color.

Before eating, all mushrooms must be washed and lightly boiled with onions, checked, then you can cook various dishes with mushrooms.

The most difficult thing for mushroom pickers is when the mushrooms are dried and stored for the winter without pre-processing. If you dry a poisonous mushroom, it will be difficult to distinguish it from an edible one.

Also, you should not collect mushrooms in fields and near roads, large cities, since mushrooms tend to collect toxic substances. Edible honey mushrooms They grow quickly even in a bag if you buy good mycelium and prepare the substrate yourself. If you have a household plot, then there is ample space for mushrooms, there is enough space for everyone. In winter, honey mushrooms will decorate the table and diversify dishes.

Sometimes during the mushroom season, dubious specimens end up in mushroom pickers’ baskets, which cause bewilderment among novice pickers.

False honey mushrooms are sometimes very similar to, they grow in similar conditions and their fruiting period is at the same time.

Types of mushrooms

The favorite place of settlement is on tree stumps. It is because of this that they were nicknamed honey mushrooms (popularly called honey mushrooms).

In total, more than 30 species of honey mushrooms are known, of which 22 species have been studied and described in detail. However, this has more scientific than practical significance.

Usually only 3 types of edible honey mushrooms are collected, known to any mushroom picker:

• summer honey mushrooms;
• autumn honey mushrooms;
• winter mushrooms.

And among the false mushrooms, the following are worthy of attention:

• seroplate (edible);
• brick-red (conditionally edible);
• sulfur-yellow (poisonous).

This deadly mushroom is often confused with the summer mushroom.

Indeed, it can be quite difficult to distinguish them. Sometimes this can only be done in the form of a spore. Therefore, it is not recommended to collect summer honey fungus on stumps and remains of coniferous trees.

Autumn honey mushrooms and galerina are not at all similar in appearance. The autumn honey fungus is more substantial, it has a thick leg covered with scales and flakes, thick flesh and a round scaly cap. Such honey mushrooms grow in large colonies, while Galerina is a solitary species.

The winter honey fungus bears fruit at a completely different time than the fringed galerina and is almost never confused with it. In isolated cases it was found among colonies edible honey fungus during warm winters.

Signs of edible honey mushrooms

In order not to confuse edible fungi with poisonous ones, it is useful to remember the following differences:

1. The most noticeable sign is that twin honey mushrooms do not have a membranous ring on their stem, a remnant of a protective blanket.
2. The cap of a real honey mushroom has a creamy-brown or yellowish-ocher color, while false honey mushrooms always come in richer tones: from yellow to reddish-brown.
3. The cap is covered with small light scales, while the false ones have smooth caps. The exception is large specimens of real mushrooms; as they age, they often lose their scales.
4. The plates at the bottom of the cap of edible honey mushrooms are usually light and yellowish. And false ones can be bluish, gray or olive-black.
5. Edible mushrooms have a pleasant mushroom smell, while false mushrooms have a musty, earthy smell, sometimes quite pungent and persistent.

Take note: The main condition for safe mushroom picking is caution and prudence.

Don’t get excited when you see delicious colonies of mushrooms. You should calmly inspect them, and if in doubt, it is better not to risk it.

How to recognize false mushrooms in the forest, see the following video: