Mushrooms are twins. Summer mushrooms: description, dangerous twins

Description of honey agaric summer

Summer mushrooms are harvested in deciduous forests. The species grows in whole families on deadwood or stumps. The harvest is from mid-April to November.

The description of the species is as follows:

• The size of the mushroom caps reaches 6-7 cm. In young mushrooms, it has a neat convex shape, in old ones it acquires a flat shape with a small tubercle at the top.
• The color of the summer honey agaric depends on the level of humidity. If the forest is dry, the mushrooms will have a matte golden yellow color, small grooves along the edge. If the forest is humid, the mushrooms will have a brown or ocher hue, slightly translucent in the light.
• The cap of the honey agaric is slightly slimy, smooth, moist to the touch. The leg is strong, thin, grows up to 7 cm. Under the cap on the leg there is a ring of white or yellowish color, scales are located below the ring. The plates are firmly attached to the hat.
• Spores are dark brown with a brown tint.
• The flesh is thin, dry, fibrous in the stem, watery in the cap.
• When broken, the mushroom has a pleasant woody smell.

Beneficial features

Summer mushrooms are a storehouse of useful substances. It contains vitamins E, C, PP, some B vitamins. Mushrooms also contain valuable trace elements: phosphorus, iron, magnesium, copper, zinc, sodium, potassium and calcium.

The fungus has an antibacterial effect, preparations based on it successfully treat a number of bacterial diseases. The special properties of this fungus allow you to treat staphylococcus aureus.

These mushrooms practically do not accumulate heavy metals in themselves.

In addition to the above, regular consumption of mushrooms contributes to:

• normalization of the work of the heart;
• improving performance;
• increase immunity;
• elimination of intestinal infections;
• elimination of constipation;
• elimination of stress;
• memory improvement;
• resorption of thrombi.

Harm and contraindications

Honey agaric does not harm if you choose high-quality and edible fruits. But there are still contraindications:

• These mushrooms should not be given to children under 7 years old: the children's stomach is not able to digest mushrooms at all.
• They are contraindicated in people with serious diseases of the stomach and intestines.

Dangerous doubles

The honey agaric has dangerous twins, so poisonous that they can be fatal.

False summer fungus

False summer mushroom is the most dangerous false brother of an edible mushroom, it is also called a sulfur-yellow poisonous mushroom. In the central part of Russia, the false summer honey agaric will have a red-brown hat, in the south - sulfur-yellow.

According to the description, the pulp of the mushroom, when broken, has a sulfur-yellow color. The leg is thin, it does not have a ring characteristic of edible mushrooms. The plates are yellow-green. The taste of the mushroom is bitter.

Galerina fringed

Galerina bordered is similar to edible mushrooms, but it has a number of differences:

• the cap of the bordered galerina has a red color with a transition to yellow along the edges;
• leg with a ring, but without scales;
• when broken, the mushroom has a mealy smell;
• does not form ridges.

Galerina chooses to grow coniferous forests.

Inedible false foam brick red

Based on the name, the mushroom has an orange, almost red color. There is no ring characteristic of this species on the stem. The flesh is light yellow, bitter.

On young mushrooms, the plates are gray, as the fungus matures and ages, they acquire a brown or yellowish-olive hue.

How to distinguish edible mushrooms from poisonous

It is easy to distinguish false hoars from edible ones, you just need to take a closer look:

• poisonous mushrooms do not have a white “skirt” on the leg;
• the pulp of pseudo-honey mushrooms is bitter and has an unpleasant, specific smell;
• the plates on poisonous plants are dark, closer to brown and olive, on edible plants they are always white or cream in color.

According to the description, the harvest is carried out the next year after sowing. Honey mushrooms grown at home will produce a crop of 3-6 years. On hardwood stumps, the mycelium will yield longer.

Cultivation of this type of mushrooms on personal plot can lead to infection fruit trees. The mushroom picker destroys the wood of the tree, and it dies.

Conclusion

Honey mushrooms are one of the most popular mushrooms eaten. Unfortunately they have insidious twins, which are similar to edible counterparts, but they are easy to distinguish. This type of mushroom is easy to grow at home, plants do not require special rooms, they do not care about the degree of illumination.

Summer mushrooms are very common mushrooms that are delicious both fried and pickled. Spicy snacks are often prepared from them, and a fragrant mushroom pie is the best addition to freshly brewed tea. Unfortunately, the edible representatives of this fungus can be confused with their poisonous twins. How to avoid this, when you need to collect mushrooms and where it is best to look for such mushrooms - more details in the article.

Other name

These are the mushrooms that can boast of an abundance of synonyms: people call honey mushrooms representatives of non-rotten (marasmius), garlic,.

The summer honey agaric belongs to the Strophariaceae family and is called kyuneromyces variable. Also, the mushroom received synonyms thief, linden honey agaric.

Did you know? Literally translated from Latin The genus name Armillaria means "bracelet". The fungus got this name because of its characteristic feature - to stick around old stumps with a bracelet, a semicircle or rings.

Edibility

This summer mushroom classified as , but without heat treatment it is better not to use it - the honey agaric has the ability to absorb toxic substances from the outside, and if some kind of mushroom grows next to it (for example, a false honey agaric), then an edible honey agaric can absorb some of the harmful substances from its poisonous relative. In this case, using such a mushroom in its raw form, it is possible to cause irritation of the mucous membrane of varying severity and, as a result, intoxication.

Important! The polluted environment and the emergence of a wide variety of false and poisonous mushrooms led to the fact that WHO today strongly recommends not to consume edible mushrooms without their heat treatment (even if these are species that, according to the classification of edibility, belong to species I - absolutely edible). Poisonous substances have the ability to penetrate into a edible mushroom, so in order to protect yourself, always boil, fry, mushrooms - but in no case eat them raw.

What does summer honey fungus look like

Feature- a wide dark hat on a thin, often straight stem, as well as a fragrant aroma with a hint of honey.

Hat

This fragrant fragrant honey agaric has a wide (up to 9 cm) hat in two shades - honey and brown. And more dark color present on the edging (on which, by the way, small furrows sometimes appear - this gives a feeling of “torn” edges), and thanks to a light tubercle in the center of the cap, it seems that its edges are wet. In young specimens, the edges of the cap may turn slightly inward.

The "headdress" of the fungus also has the ability to be hygrofan - absorbing moisture and slightly increasing in size (up to 3 cm). In this case, the surface of the cap becomes sticky, sticky and slightly rough. After a summer rain, you can find very large mushrooms saturated with moisture, but after complete drying, they will again return to their original size.

pulp

The pulp is several shades lighter than the color of the cap - from sandy to brown-brown, and in the lower part of the mushroom and at the base it is darker in color, and in the upper part and the cap it is lighter. It has a thin, watery texture and a very pleasant taste. The pulp smells of honey and fresh wood.

Records

Summer honey agaric belongs to the order Agariaceae - agaric. Honey agaric plates are pronounced, frequent, slightly descending on the leg. In young representatives of the genus, the plates are light in color, often yellow, but in adults they darken to a rusty or brown hue.

Leg

The stem of the mushroom is always thin (up to 1 cm in diameter), and the length can be from 5 to 9 cm. It has a dense and even rigid structure (the stem is hollow inside), and under the influence of gravity, the cap can bend. The main color is dark brown. It has a characteristic "fennel" ring - a membranous rim, under which small spore scales appear. With age, such a ring practically disappears, but in young specimens it is clearly visible.

Where does it grow and when can it be harvested

The name "summer mushroom" speaks for itself: these mushrooms form and grow only in the warm season - from late May to early September. At the same time, in terms of the amount of harvest, this species, in comparison with autumn and winter honey agarics, is the most prolific. Lime mushrooms love moisture, so favorite places their growth - old rotten stumps, clearings near reservoirs, rotting wood.
In this they differ, for example, from the autumn representatives of the same genus, who love living trees (which they destroy later). You can meet summer specimens in temperate and warm latitudes, where there are deciduous or coniferous forests - therefore, these mushrooms are distributed almost everywhere. The peak of their fruiting occurs at the end of July and August, so mushroom pickers open the picking season precisely in last month summer.

twin mushrooms

It is also the poisonous twin of lime honey agaric - it can be distinguished by a sticky orange-yellow hat and bright red plates under the hat.
Also an inedible twin. She has a characteristic red-brown hat - this is her main hallmark.
In order not to collect poisonous mushrooms, when collecting, you need to be extremely careful: it is good to inspect each plucked specimen, to know the distinctive characteristics real honey agaric summer, as well as the most likely places of its growth. If any particular instance seems suspicious to you, it is better not to rip it off.

Here comes the summer. There are bright June days. On such a bright day, you will enter the refreshing shadow of the forest, and the sharp, slightly sweet, with unique nuances, the smell of mushrooms will literally envelop you. Where is he from? After all, there are still a few mushrooms in the June forest. The fertile smell comes from the mycelium penetrating the forest floor, rotting stumps, fallen tree trunks, boughs and the soil itself. It is warm and damp in the forest, thanks to the abundance of heat and moisture, the mycelium grows especially intensively, gaining strength. But for mushroom pickers, June is also a good time. There is something golden on an old birch stump: a lot of bright yellow mushrooms covered it like a hat. These are summer mushrooms. I found two or three such hemp - and the basket is full. Honey mushrooms are one of the first summer mushrooms. Yes, this is not surprising. The wood of stumps and fallen trunks warms up faster than the soil, and retains spring moisture for quite a long time - and mushrooms appear and grow on it. But take a closer look. Among the yellow-golden, as if water-saturated hats of the summer honey agaric, a hat flashed even brighter, but not golden, but with a reddish tint, a cautiously poisonous false sulfur-yellow honey agaric.

Honey agaric summer

A connoisseur of Russian nature S. T. Aksakov wrote about such dangerous twin mushrooms: "It is noteworthy that many varieties of edible and good mushrooms, as they are sometimes called, have, as it were, accompanying toadstool mushrooms, somewhat similar to them in formation and color." Poisons of false mushrooms and cause very serious poisoning. Summer honey agaric sulfur-yellow false honey agaric often grow on the same stumps. The main difference is the plates. In summer, they are yellow-brown, and when the mushroom is completely ripe, they are brown.

False foam gray-yellow

In the sulfur-yellow false foam, they are first greenish, then yellow-green, the color of sulfur, and when the mushroom grows old, they are lilac-brown. The autumn honey agaric, whose reign is in September, and the winter honey agaric, which replaces it in October-November, also have twins. The yellowish-brown caps of these edible mushrooms often take on a reddish tint, and then they can easily be confused with the brick-red false mushroom that appears at the same time. You can distinguish mushrooms again by the plates.

Autumn honey agaric

In edible autumn and winter mushrooms, even in overripe ones, they are always light white, creamy, yellowish. In brick-red false foam, at first they are also light, whitish, but as the mushrooms ripen, they quickly become lilac-brown or even black-olive. And edible mushrooms and false mushrooms usually grow large groups, in each such group you can always find a mature mushroom with clearly colored plates.

False foam brown-red

Along the edges of gardens, on pastures, on the manured soil of gardens and parks, champignons appear in June - ordinary and field. In our middle lane, their poisonous counterparts have not yet grown - the pale grebe and some fly agarics. In June, champignons can be safely harvested. But from July and later, field champignon, which also grows on the edge of the forest, as well as forest champignon, can be easily confused with pale grebe - one of the most dangerous mushrooms. There is no antidote for the poison of the pale grebe.

The ominous glory of the pale grebe is deadly poisonous mushroom known for a long time.

Champignon ordinary

From the time of Ancient Rome, a legend has come down to us that the Roman emperor Claudius was poisoned with a pale toadstool. The emperor liked the delicate taste of the toadstool so much that he managed to issue a decree that only this mushroom should be served at his table. Claudius was probably the only person to report the taste of pale toadstool. Its poisons - phalloidin, phalloin and amanitin are especially insidious. They act slowly. The first signs of poisoning appear only after six to twelve hours, and sometimes even after a day, when the poisons have already penetrated into the blood and managed to act on all the most important organs: the hematopoietic, digestive, nervous system, and when it is no longer possible to help the victim. That is why it is so important to know well all the signs of this mushroom. The pale grebe belongs to the family poisonous fly agaric. Fly agaric panther, grebe and smelly appear simultaneously with it. With its grayish-green and whitish-yellowish hat and stem ring, this poisonous family resembles edible champignons. But they are betrayed by the color of the plates. Their plates are always white or slightly creamy, while in mushrooms they are first whitish or dirty pink, and then dark brown or even black-brown from ripening dark-colored spores. In addition, the base of the leg of fly agaric and pale grebe is swollen, and on it is a collar of large scales or warts. Poisonous fly agaric - grebe-shaped and smelly - can still be confused with russula, which have a greenish or grayish hat, since russula and fly agaric have always white plates. You can confuse the fly agaric with edible greenfinch. Here, in order not to be mistaken, you need to carefully examine the leg of the mushroom. A fly agaric must have a ring on it, or at least traces of it and a thickening at the base. The legs of russula and greenfinch without a ring, slender, smooth. We have another good edible mushroom, a float, with which fly agarics are similar. It appears in July - August in glades in various forests. Like many fly agarics, the base of the stem of the float is thickened, but there is no ring on it. The color of the cap is very different: from white to yellow-brown or saffron.

There is one exception among this genus of fly agaric mushrooms, which is hostile to humans. In the southern regions of our country and in the Carpathians, the Caesar mushroom is occasionally found. In the countries of Central and Western Europe there is a lot of it. On the streets of Sofia on Sunday. on an August evening, you can see the townspeople returning from the forests. Mesh bags and transparent bags are full of mushrooms, just looking at them makes you shudder! Bright red-orange "fly agarics" stick out from there, with a thickened leg, only without white scales on the hat. This is the famous royal, or Caesar, mushroom, which was served in Ancient Rome only to the table of the emperor and the most distinguished patricians.

Death cap

In August, when there are quite a lot of porcini mushrooms, gall fungus, or false porcini, is often found. It is bitter, but is not considered poisonous in the literature. However, the gall fungus, caught in the roast of the whites, my cause serious poisoning. This double of white grows in pine trees spruce forests, advantage on sandy soil, common. It is very similar to white in its shape and brown or brownish hat. But it is given out by the color of the tubules, dirty pink, as well as the flesh, turning pink at the break. The porcini mushroom is called so because both the pulp and the tubules are white. Only with age, the tubes turn slightly yellow or green. There is another difference - a mesh pattern on the leg. At white fungus it is white, and in the bile it is black-brown, clearly visible on a light stem. gall fungus usually accompanies white whole September. AT recent times mushroom pickers fell in love with young raincoats. And not in vain! These mushrooms are surprisingly fragrant, although their flesh is less tender. Raincoats are edible as long as they are pure white both inside and out. With age, as they mature, their insides darken, turning into a powder of brown spores. Their twins - false raincoats - are easy to distinguish. Even when young, they are purple-black with white streaks inside and are quite tough. Pick mushrooms with care and only those you know well. It doesn't matter if your cart contains fewer mushrooms. The trouble is, if even one poisonous one gets there.

Origin of mushrooms

Scientists suggest that mushrooms originated from primitive flagellar organisms that live in water - flagellates. This was even before the divergence of the main line of living organisms into plants and animals.

Mushrooms - ancient inhabitants Earth. Geological evidence suggests that they are peers of primary fern plants and lungfish. Fungi already existed approximately 413 million years ago during the Devonian period. Paleozoic era. They "very quickly" adapted to the environment and reached their full development in about 220-240 million years, during the Tertiary period. cenozoic era when a variety of mammals, birds, insects, trees, shrubs, and grasses already lived on Earth.

Along with plants and animals, mushrooms are an independent kingdom of living organisms - this is the point of view of most scientists. The nature of metabolism, the presence of chitin in cell membranes brings fungi closer to animals, however, in terms of nutrition and reproduction, in unlimited growth, they are more akin to plants. To solve the question - what are mushrooms - one of the most interesting tasks of mycology - the science of mushrooms.

Cap mushrooms grow in 3-6 days, die in 10-14 days. But there are also long-livers among them. These are fungi that are part of lichens that live up to 600 years. Woody fruit bodies of tinder fungi live on trees for 10-20 years. As for the mycelium, in most mushrooms it is perennial, as they say, in particular, "witch's rings".

During the period of growth of the fruiting bodies of fungi, the pressure of the contents of the cells on their membrane (turgor pressure) sharply increases. It has been established that the pressure exerted by such elastic cells and tissues on neighboring cells, tissues or on surrounding objects can reach seven atmospheres, which corresponds to the pressure in the tires of a 10-ton dump truck and is more than three times higher than the pressure in the tires of a Zhiguli car . That is why it is often necessary to observe how mushrooms break through asphalt, cement and even concrete or the crust of desert takyrs, which is not inferior in hardness to them.

some mushrooms

Sheep - this is the name of two edible mushrooms from the genus of tinder fungus - branched umbrella. Mushrooms are very large, up to 4-6 kilograms. They consist of numerous hats (from several tens to two or three hundred, and sometimes thousands) sitting on one thick leg. A ram grows at the foot of the trunks wide deciduous trees in August-September.

Blagushka - forest champignon. It got its name from the word “good”, that is, good, edible. Unlike its relatives - champignon, lovers of open spaces - meadows, pastures, steppes, the blessing grows in the forest and often in an unusual place - on anthills! It is assumed that our ants, like tropical ones, feed on its mycelium.

Veselka is a fungus from the group of puffballs or nutweeds, with a strong, unpleasant odor that attracts flies that carry its spores. They also call him "stinky morel" for a folded hat, like a morel's, the record holder for growth rate is five millimeters per minute. Young egg-shaped mushroom, white - edible. The mucous membrane of a young fungus is used in traditional medicine for rheumatism ("earth oil"). grows in deciduous forests in July - September.

Oyster mushroom is an edible agaric that grows on dead wood or weakened deciduous trees. Appears in May, hence - "spring mushroom", "oyster mushroom". In the Caucasus, this mushroom is called "chinariki", probably because it grows there on the trunks of broad-leaved trees, including the eastern plane tree, or plane tree. The mushroom is successfully grown under artificial conditions from a specially prepared mycelium. It can be grown on waste wood throughout the country.

Smooth, spurge - an edible mushroom with abundant milky juice, hence its second name. The reddish-yellow hat is very dense, fleshy, smooth, which is why they called the mushroom - smooth. In salting, it will not yield to camelina. Grows in broad-leaved and mixed forests in August - September.

Mushroom cabbage is an edible fungus from the horned family with a taste of morels and a hazelnut smell. Reminds me of a loose head of cabbage. Grows on soil in pine forests in August - September, is very rare.

Autumn mushrooms begin to appear in the forests towards the end of August. You can collect them throughout the first half of September. Autumn mushrooms grow in waves. Depending on the weather conditions in each year there can be 2-3 waves of these mushrooms, the first of which is usually the most abundant. Another feature of the growth of autumn mushrooms is that they appear quickly and abundantly, and then disappear just as sharply. Therefore, lovers silent hunting» It is important not to miss the start of the collection.

In what forests is this species found?

Autumn can be considered a cosmopolitan of our latitudes. It can be found in almost any forest that is over 30 years old. Honey mushrooms grow on more than 200 types of trees. As a rule, these fungi appear in colonies on dry trunks, deadwood, stumps, roots and trunks of living plants. Most often, mushrooms are found on spruce and birch trees, a little less often they can be found on pines, aspens and oaks. - moderate band. Settling on dead wood, they destroy it. At the same time, in biological cycle substances return the valuable elements of which it consists. In the same place, autumn mushrooms can be collected up to 15 years in a row. After this period, the wood is completely destroyed by the mycelium.

Video: Edible mushrooms - Autumn mushroom

Colonies of autumn mushrooms grow very abundantly. From one stump, you can collect several liters of these valuable mushrooms. Young mushrooms with an unopened hat are collected together with a leg. In grown mushrooms, only caps are cut off. Their legs nutritional value Dont Have.

There are many recipes for the preparation of these mushrooms. Honey mushrooms can be boiled, pickled, dried and salted, and also fried. When picking mushrooms, you do not need to pull out their legs “with the root” from the wood, so as not to damage the mycelium, which will delight you with a bountiful harvest next year.

Precautionary measures

However, when going to the forest, it is important to remember the precautions. Many have poisonous counterparts, so not a single year passes without poisoning. Before going into the forest, it is important to study the signs not only of the species that you plan to collect, but also similar to them, which are better to miss. If you're unsure if this particular mushroom is definitely edible, don't risk your health and leave it in the woods!

Myths about edible and poisonous mushrooms

You should not listen to "grandmother's" advice on how to distinguish a poisonous mushroom from an edible one. For example, some people seriously believe that poisonous species are not eaten by forest animals or snails. You can see for yourself the fallacy of this statement - even fatal for people. pale grebe slugs and insects eat without problems for their lives. Another "unmistakable" way to make sure that the gifts of the forest are edible is to heat a silver spoon (or onion) with them when cooking them.

Video: Unknown edible mushrooms

They say that if they do not darken, then this means that among the mushrooms there is not a single poisonous one. Of course, this is not true. Silver can darken, for example, from boletus, but it will not change its color when heated with the same one. You can check it yourself, but it’s better not to make such experiments. There are also myths among the people that mushrooms become poisonous if they grow near rusty iron or snake nests. Such stories should be treated as folklore, interesting as folklore but of no practical value.

Do I need to know the signs of poisonous mushrooms?

No less ridiculous and dangerous are the beliefs of some optimistic people who believe that poisonous mushrooms are rare, so you should not bother yourself with their distinguishing features. In fact, about 90 of these species can be found in our forests, and about 10 of them are fatal to us.

Of course, this does not mean that in order to avoid mushroom poisoning, you need to buy them only in grocery stores. The purpose of this article is to show the reader the importance of knowing not only tasty and edible species, but also the signs by which they can be distinguished from poisonous counterparts.

Mushrooms-twins of autumn honey agaric

In some ways, edible species may resemble poisonous ones. And there are quite a few similar cases. Among the mushroom pickers, a pair of "autumn mushrooms is a dangerous double" is known. The name of an inedible relative is a false honey agaric. This is a generalized name for several species that have some resemblance to the autumn honey agaric. These mushrooms belong to the genera Hyfoloma and Psalitrella. Some of them are considered simply inedible, some are poisonous. Regarding individual species, there are still discussions about whether they can be considered conditionally edible. But there is no clear evidence that a person who eats them will not harm himself. Therefore, it is better not to take risks and limit yourself to collecting only autumn mushrooms. Moreover, there are a lot of them in the forest during the season.

Where do inedible and poisonous twins grow?

They grow in the same places as edible ones - on stumps, deadwood and living trees, so a novice mushroom picker can make a mistake. In order to be sure that the gifts of the forest you have collected can be eaten, you need to know the signs of edible mushrooms and their dangerous counterparts.

Differences between false honey agaric and autumn honey agaric

A dangerous double can be easily distinguished from its edible counterpart.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the color of the hat. In edible honey agaric, it has a color from beige to yellowish-dark brown. Moreover, old mushrooms are usually darker compared to young ones. Parts of hats that are closed from the sun are usually much lighter. The dangerous double of the autumn honey agaric often has a bright defiant color.

Video: winter mushroom grows in winter from November to April

The second distinguishing feature is the color of the spores. In edible mushrooms, they are white, so on the hats of old mushrooms you can see white coating. This is the controversy. With their help, mushrooms are settled. The third thing to check is the presence of a membranous “skirt” on the leg of the honey agaric. False honey agaric autumn does not have it. This feature is the most important difference to pay attention to. The “skirt” of the autumn honey agaric is the remnant of a protective cover that envelops a young mushroom. The dangerous twin of the autumn honey agaric does not have such a coverlet.

The fourth difference that helps to highlight the dangerous double of the autumn honey agaric is the color of the plates on the inside of the mushroom cap. At inedible species, with which it is better not to deal with, the plates are yellow if the mushroom is young, and greenish-olive in old ones. Autumn mushrooms are characterized by cream, beige or light yellow coloring of the plates.

The fifth difference is the surface of the mushroom cap. In autumn mushrooms, it is covered with small scales. Moreover, their color is usually darker than the hat itself. But old mushrooms lose their scales and become smooth. True, such overgrown mushrooms no longer have nutritional value, so they are not interested in mushroom pickers.

The sixth sign that will help distinguish an edible mushroom is its smell. Autumn mushrooms smell pleasant, and the smell of false ones gives off mold.

Conclusion

Knowledge of these signs will be enough to be able to distinguish the autumn honey agaric. A photo of a mushroom will help you not to make a mistake. But it’s even better to take an experienced connoisseur with you who will show you what autumn mushrooms look like. Once you see them with your own eyes, it will be difficult for you to confuse them with any other species. But there is a hole in the old woman, so do not forget the main rule of mushroom pickers: "If you're not sure - don't take it."

As a rule, by the word "honey mushrooms" we mean autumn mushroom, which is called real honey agaric or autumn honey agaric. Any novice mushroom picker knows how, where and when to look for it. Summer mushrooms are known a little less, but they are still very popular even among beginner mushroom pickers.

The summer honey agaric is a good edible mushroom belonging to the Strophariaceae family. Thus, it is in a rather distant relationship with the autumn honey agaric, which belongs to the family of Physalacrian mushrooms. However, higher in the classification, they already belong to the same biological groups.

As you can see in the photo, summer mushrooms in general have much in common with the appearance of their autumn "cousin". The diameter of the cap is from 3 to 6 cm. While the fruiting body is young, the shape of the cap is convex, but as it ages, it acquires a flat shape with a clearly visible wide tubercle in the center.

Hat color in rainy weather brown, in a clear - matte honey. The edges of the cap are often several tones darker than the central part. Distinct grooves are clearly visible along the edges of the cap. The skin is always smooth and slightly slimy.

On the underside of the cap there are many thin plates, adherent or slightly descending. In young mushrooms they are light, in old ones they are darker.

The height of the stem rarely exceeds 7 cm with an average diameter of about half a centimeter. The leg is quite dense, although not rigid. Closer to the top, it is lighter than the cap, below it is darker. Below the level of the ring on the stem, small dark scales are often clearly visible.

In the description of summer mushrooms, it is also indicated that while the mushroom is young, the remnants of the bedspread in the form of a thin membranous ring are almost always clearly visible on the stem. However, mature and old mushrooms, as a rule, no longer have it. There are no remains of the bedspread on the hat at all.

The flesh in the cap is very thin and rather watery. Color pale yellow-brown. The flesh in the stem is always slightly darker and rougher. The taste is soft and pleasant, often with a subtle aroma of fresh wood.

The summer mushroom, like its autumn relative, grows in dense groups on dead, decaying wood, less often on diseased, but still living trees. It is found everywhere on hardwood, but in mountainous areas it can also settle on spruces. The fungus is ubiquitous in deciduous and mixed forests. temperate zone northern hemisphere. At the same time, in arid regions, its population is an order of magnitude smaller than in humid ones.

Summer mushrooms grow throughout the warm season, that is, from April to November. In regions with mild winters, for example, in coastal areas, they can grow year-round.

Summer honey agaric and its dangerous counterpart

For an inexperienced mushroom picker, a problem may arise in distinguishing the summer mushroom from the dangerous poisonous mushroom of the bordered galerina. Galerina is a fairly close relative of the summer honey agaric, so difficulties in distinguishing them are indeed possible.

Galerina is also widespread throughout northern hemisphere including Europe and northern Asia. Like honey mushrooms, it grows on rotting wood, but prefers conifers over deciduous trees. The fungus is extremely poisonous and, in terms of the toxins it contains, is similar to the main killer mushroom in Russia - pale grebe. Eating galerina causes severe liver damage up to lethal outcome. Signs of poisoning are classic: vomiting, diarrhea, hypothermia.

Now about how to distinguish summer mushrooms from false, that is, from the gallery. The mushroom picker must always remember that the gallery:

• grows on softwood, not hardwood;
• in its bulk, it is slightly smaller in size;
• on the lower part of the leg, it lacks scales characteristic of mushrooms.

The differences are most difficult to notice on old mushrooms, so experienced mushroom pickers strongly recommend collecting only young mushrooms, whose species are much easier to establish.

Summer mushrooms are considered good edible mushrooms that are edible even when raw. They are classified as the fourth category, that is, in terms of their nutritional characteristics, they are close to oyster mushrooms, rows

and raincoats. AT domestic literature it is noted that the taste qualities of summer mushrooms are best manifested in boiled and lightly salted form. But most mushroom pickers willingly use other types of processing, including frying. In other words, there is not much difference how to cook summer mushrooms - it will always be delicious.

As with most wood-growing mushrooms, the cap is the tastiest and most tender part of the fruiting body, while the stalk is much stiffer and more fibrous. Young mushrooms are usually eaten whole, while the stems of older mushrooms are often discarded. However, this approach is wasteful, because the legs can be twisted in a meat grinder and make an excellent mushroom sauce for meat and other dishes.

Summer and autumn mushrooms are rich in vitamins, amino acids, proteins and trace elements. Mushrooms also have a reputation as a natural antiseptic, equal in strength to garlic and even pharmaceutical antibiotics.

Regular consumption of summer mushrooms helps prevent cardiovascular diseases, liver pathologies, and even cancer.

Growing summer mushrooms at home

While in Russia, summer mushrooms come to the table almost exclusively from the forest, in some European countries This mushroom is grown commercially. In our country, entrepreneurs do not grow mushrooms due to the fact that this mushroom deteriorates too quickly and is not as convenient for commercial cultivation as tasteless against the background of mushrooms, but stored for a long time champignons.

Fortunately, the Internet has given us a lot of opportunities to exchange ideas and goods, so today anyone can purchase honey agaric mycelium in specialized online stores. Well, in some major cities you can also buy a mycelium in a regular offline store selling seeds and seedlings of cultivated plants.

On sale you can find mycelium in different "packaging" - both in the form of grain infected with mycelium, and in the form of infected wooden sticks. If, for some reason, you cannot purchase ready-made mycelium, then you can always use spores of mushrooms personally collected in the forest.

If after clearing the garden you have a few stumps, then it is not at all necessary to uproot them. They can be an excellent "bed" for growing summer mushrooms. Of course, stumps of wild trees - aspen, alder or birch - are better suited for these purposes. But, given that we are talking about garden trees, you can try to do this number with apple or pear trees. By the way, if your site is located next to a grove or even a forest, then you can try to plant edible summer mushrooms there.

Planting, or rather inoculation (a term more suitable for mushrooms), occurs by introducing pieces of wood (sold in stores) infected with mycelium into holes previously drilled in the stumps. These holes with a diameter of not more than a centimeter are made both on the side surface of the stump and on the cut. The introduced mycelium is sealed with moss, and it is desirable to cover the stump itself with branches for a while. Also, if possible, the ground around the stump should be moistened from time to time.

The inoculation procedure is best done in autumn or spring. The first harvest should be expected in the next or second year after planting. Fruiting, depending on the size of the stump and the type of tree, lasts from 4 to 7 years.

In fact, this method is fundamentally no different from the above. However, it is convenient because your "bed" is not tied to a specific point on the ground and you can grow mushrooms anywhere on your site that you consider convenient for these purposes. In addition, having the ability to move the chocks indoors, you will also be able to better control the time when to collect summer mushrooms.

Chocks of deciduous trees (preferably birch) are chosen for inoculation. Moreover, it is strongly recommended to take freshly sawn trees, since it will be much more difficult to grow a mycelium in dried wood.

You can choose the size of the chocks yourself, as you like. The main thing is that they should be no less than 15 cm in diameter and 25 cm long. The inoculation procedure takes place exactly according to the same scheme as on the stumps. However, after the mycelium has been introduced into the chocks, it is advisable to place them for 3-4 months in a dark, cool (15-20 degrees) room with good air humidity (about 85%). For these purposes, a basement or cellar is perfect. Under such conditions, the chances that the mycelium will take root are significantly increased.

When summer mushrooms grow, they need a lot of water, so it is recommended to cover the chocks stacked in the basement with reeds or reeds to maintain humidity and, if indoors insufficient level humidity, the floor around the chocks is recommended to be watered from time to time. At the same time, it is very important to monitor the temperature of the room and the chocks themselves, preventing them from heating above 30 degrees. At high temperature mycelium may die.

It is best to start all these works in the fall, in order to move the chocks to the garden at the end of March - beginning of April. The scheme of their location can be any, the main thing is that they are not closer than 30 cm from each other. Chocks themselves need to be buried in a vertical position, deepening 10 - 12 cm into the ground.

It is very important that the mushroom bed in the garden is constantly in the shade and in no case falls under the direct rays of the sun, which will simply dry the chocks along with the mycelium. And even in the shade, the chocks still need to be protected from drying out, constantly moistening the soil around them.

The optimum temperature at which honey agaric and its mycelium grows is 18 - 25 degrees with an air humidity of at least 80%. If all conditions are met, the first harvest should be expected within 3 - 4 months after inoculation. That is, in the beginning - the middle of summer. Fruiting lasts an average of 3-4 years, and then the chocks are depleted. You can extend this period using logs bigger size and diameter.

By the way, a kind of special case of this method is the instillation of large logs inoculated with mycelium not in a vertical, but in a horizontal position. Dropping is performed at half the diameter of the log. For the rest, everything is exactly the same.

It is important to note that summer and autumn mushrooms spread their mycelium beyond the wood over time, drawing nutrients from the adjacent soil. For this reason, after a few years the chocks / logs are completely depleted, a new batch should be dug in another place, or the topsoil should be completely replaced.

Despite the simplicity of growing mushrooms on stumps and chocks, this method, unfortunately, is completely unsuitable for the south and central Russia, since the summer in these regions is too hot and such mushrooms simply cannot survive outside the forest biome. Fortunately, there is an alternative method that allows you to grow mushrooms in any region and all year round. It's about about greenhouses.

For growing mushrooms, instead of solid wooden chocks or logs, sawdust, which are mixed with small chips in a ratio of 2 to 1. To increase the nutritional value of the substrate, 7.5 g of starch and 25 g of corn and oatmeal are also added per 1 kg of this mixture. First, sawdust with chips is scalded for a short time in boiling water, and only then mixed with the indicated additives. The resulting mixture is sent to glass jars, flower pots or other suitable container, which must also be sterilized first. Mycelium is introduced into the cooled substrate in the form of inoculated grains or sticks.

Then the container with the substrate and mycelium is sent to a cool (15 - 18 degrees) humid (85%) room for 1 - 3 months. Lighting is not required. Later specified period jars are transferred to a lighted room with the same temperature and slightly drier air (75%). When the summer mushrooms go, it will be possible to collect several waves of the harvest, but in this case there is no need to talk about several years of fruiting. At the end of the season, the containers must be filled with fresh substrate.