5 Spring Mushrooms - Familiar And Not So Familiar. Description, Photo

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5 Spring Mushrooms - Familiar And Not So Familiar. Description, Photo
5 Spring Mushrooms - Familiar And Not So Familiar. Description, Photo

Video: 5 Spring Mushrooms - Familiar And Not So Familiar. Description, Photo

Video: 5 Spring Mushrooms - Familiar And Not So Familiar. Description, Photo
Video: Top 5 Easy Mushrooms you need to Forage in Ohio 🍄 2024, March
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I have a somewhat reverent attitude towards mushrooms: during the war, when my father was a kid, it was the mushrooms that saved him from starvation. He began to take me with him on a quiet hunt, when I still did not go to school. He taught me how to navigate the forest, find and distinguish mushrooms, love the forest and its inhabitants, not bother them unnecessarily. This happened in the mushroom-rich Yegoryevsky district of the Moscow region, from where, according to my grandmother, before the revolution, porcini mushrooms were transported to Moscow by carts. Since childhood, I have a reverent attitude towards the forest and its life. And the ability to navigate the forest, which came in handy more than once. And the most important thing is the ability to see what is in the forest. This article is about spring mushroom finds.

5 spring mushrooms - familiar and not so
5 spring mushrooms - familiar and not so

1. Romantic sarcoscith

Now my dog and I are walking through the woods in the foothills of the Caucasus, in the vicinity of Goryachiy Klyuch. There is a forest behind our house, therefore part of the plot has both garden and undergrowth vegetation. It was there, at the end of February, not far from the flowering cyclamenchiks, remarkably bright red "cups" began to appear. Among the first green leaves in the fallen leaves, they look very touching.

Sarcoscypha coccinea (Sarcoscypha coccinea), or Scarlet elfova bowl (a fittingly poetic name for the fungus the size of a coin dvuhrublovuyu!). An edible mushroom that grows exclusively in ecologically clean places (balm for the soul of the owner of the site). Very similar to the Austrian elven cup, but it grows to the north.

One or the other, or even both at once, are found in early spring almost throughout the country. The difference between the species is seen, as a rule, by specialists; simple mushroom pickers do not pay attention to the shape of the hairs of the outer surface. Moreover, you can only see them under a magnifying glass.

In fact, these mushrooms grow up to 7 cm, but I have not come across such. And although they are edible, their structure is rubbery-cartilaginous and there is no particular taste. Stew in sour cream or bake with cheese.

But this mushroom has remarkable decorative qualities. In Europe, in early spring, they make small gift baskets with green moss and sarkoscifs. A good alternative to flowers that are no longer in short supply. It is impossible to confuse sarcoscifa with other mushrooms.

Sarcoscif scarlet, or Scarlet elf bowl (Sarcoscypha coccinea)
Sarcoscif scarlet, or Scarlet elf bowl (Sarcoscypha coccinea)

2. Curly shiver

On rotting wood, strange lacy formations of all shades of yellow are often found. Moreover, all year round. This is an orange shivering mushroom (Tremella mesenterica). These tremors have an interesting property: when it is dry, they become like sloppy rags, and after the rain they swell, acquiring the usual jellyfish-like appearance.

The fungus turned out to be not so simple - it does not grow on rotting wood, but parasitizes on another fungus, actually tinder fungus, which destroys wood. Shivers also grow everywhere - in the north and south, in Europe and Asia.

If you meet brown shivers on a rotting tree, you do not need to take them - they are inedible. You can eat only orange and fucus. But that is found only in Primorye, otherwise it is called white and looks like freakishly frozen water.

Fresh or dried mushroom is good in soups, in China it is considered a delicacy. Shiver has long been actively used in Chinese medicine, due to its immunostimulating, radioprotective, antidiabetic, antiallergenic and hepatoprotective properties. So it is very useful to eat it. Moreover, it can be dried, pickled, fried, boiled, eaten raw and even made into jam.

The fucus tremor is used even more actively in Chinese, Korean and Japanese medicine than orange. There are no poisonous among the tremors, there are simply inedible ones, which have neither taste nor smell.

Orange tremor (Tremella mesenterica)
Orange tremor (Tremella mesenterica)

3. Strange sarcosoma

Mushrooms in the form of bowls (sarcoscith, petsitsa) are often found in spring, but the mushroom in the form of a closed pot was only seen once. Globular sarcosoma (Sarcosoma globosum) does not particularly apply to edible, to a much greater extent - to medicinal. Although there is information that young mushrooms are delicious stewed with potatoes, and the dish is called sarcos. This, apparently, in those places where there is a lot of it.

The fungus is a container with a transparent gelatinous liquid, closed on top by a leathery disc on which spores develop. The fruiting body, together with its contents, can weigh 300 grams. People call the sarcosoma liquid "earth oil" and are used in a variety of ways:

  • for rejuvenation - rubbed into the skin;
  • to enhance mental activity - take fresh liquid on an empty stomach;
  • to enhance hair growth - rubbed into the scalp;
  • for diseases of the joints - rubbed into the sore spot;
  • as a biostimulant - also fresh liquid on an empty stomach.

Sarcosoma also has a tonic, calming effect, and is used in the fight against cancer. It's a pity that I only got one mushroom!

For growth, sarcosoma prefers a coniferous forest and deftly hides in moss and coniferous litter, it is not so easy to find it. Young mushrooms are smooth brown balls with caps. With age, the mushrooms become more and more wrinkled until they dry completely, turning into a crumpled plate.

It is problematic to confuse sarcosoma with other mushrooms: the liquid and the top cap are the most striking distinguishing features.

Sarcosoma globular (Sarcosoma globosum)
Sarcosoma globular (Sarcosoma globosum)

4. Such different morels

And here is an old friend - morel (Morchella)! That is, as if an old acquaintance, but changed. Here, in the Kuban, I often come across at first morel caps and a little later - conical morels, but in the Moscow region, I remember, they were mostly real.

In general, morels and morel-like mushrooms are of several types.

Morel cap (Verpa bohemica)
Morel cap (Verpa bohemica)
Conical cap (Verpa conica)
Conical cap (Verpa conica)

Morel cap and conical cap

I would call a morel cap (Verpa bohemica) a morel bell - its cap is conical, it grows to the stem at the very top, it seems that it even dangles. Otherwise, it looks like a morel.

The conical cap (Verpa conica) may have a smooth cap. The mushroom itself is rather miniature, it looks like a finger with a thimble on. The legs of the mushrooms are hollow, although morels at a young age have loose flesh inside. You can confuse hats with morels when viewed from above. Beanies prefer wet places. Mushrooms are quite edible, not the lowest category, but not the highest either.

Steppe Morel (Morchella steppicola)
Steppe Morel (Morchella steppicola)
Edible morel (Morchella esculenta)
Edible morel (Morchella esculenta)
Morel semi-free (Morchella semilibera)
Morel semi-free (Morchella semilibera)

Morels

With morels, it's not so simple. Behind the morels has long and thoroughly been trailing a trail of information about "conditional edibility", although these are delicious edible mushrooms that are not noticed by mycologists in any unhealthy manifestations, and in Europe and America, in general, these mushrooms are considered a delicacy.

Another thing is that inexperienced mushroom pickers often confuse it with a poisonous line, collecting both together - here, of course, you need to carefully study each mushroom and throw out everything suspicious.

The steppe morel (Morchella steppicola) is radically different from all - a squat mushroom on a short or very short stem, sometimes reaching a size of 25 cm and a weight of 2 kg. And his hat is wrinkled, grayish-brown. Grows in wormwood steppes or forest-steppe. Included in the Red Book of Kalmykia, Rostov, Saratov and Volgograd regions.

The most common in Russia is the edible morel (Morchella esculenta) - a mushroom on a long stem with an ovoid or rounded cap that is tightly attached to the stem. If cut, it is hollow inside, one skin. Therefore, mushrooms are quite light. You can fill a basket, but it is easy to carry. When you start frying, you immediately feel that 30% of the forest air is brought home.

An even void inside the morel is a significant difference from a line containing poisonous compounds. The line has a sinuous pulp inside, rather randomly intertwined. Morel is somehow more harmonious, in my opinion.

Cutting morels is a mandatory operation not only to identify the mushroom, but also to drive slugs out of the warm edible place. Or other living creatures that use the morel cavity for their, not always harmless, purposes.

The lines are most often hidden in the litter, and a curly hat sticks out of them, while the morel's leg rises above the litter and the mushroom is visible entirely.

It is quite easy to identify the semi-free morel (Morchella semilibera): its cap grows to the stem at half the height, and the bottom is free. It also doesn't smell very good. But it is quite edible, however, it is not often found.

There is also a thick-legged morel (Morchella crassipes) with thick, long and somewhat corrugated legs, a rare mushroom.

The conical morel (Morchella conica), the cap of which may not even be conical, but rounded, is similar to the gourmet morel (Morchella deliciosa), but is more common.

Morels grow almost everywhere. In the forest, where there is a lot of last year's dry grass, you need to get used to looking for them, you cannot immediately see them. But on burned-out areas, not old clearings, in pine forests they can be seen well and they grow there willingly.

Since ancient times in Russia, morel tincture has been used for eye diseases: myopia, hyperopia, lens opacity and cataract. Morel preparations also have antitumor, immunomodulatory, antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity.

Giant line (Gyromitra gigas)
Giant line (Gyromitra gigas)

5. Lines

A few words about the lines (Gyromitra). From time immemorial in Russia, they ate lines with preliminary boiling and draining of water. And our family as well. But the Europeans manage to poison themselves with them, and a fatal outcome has also been recorded. Mycologists associate poisoning with gyrometrins toxins, which accumulate in the lines in different ways: somewhere more, somewhere less.

If you have no experience of using lines, it is better not to risk it. If there is any doubt about the definition of a mushroom, it is better to leave it in the forest - forest dwellers will figure it out. And the most important thing is not to be greedy: you do not need to eat a frying pan of fried mushrooms at a time. You can try a little and postpone the rest until tomorrow. A frying pan with mushrooms will not run away. Checked!

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