Mushrooms are one of the most colorful and intriguing organisms in the world, sharing similarities with both animals and plants, and are valued by humans for their nutritional composition and various medicinal properties. Mushrooms come in various forms and have medicinal, nutritional and nutritional properties, but among them there are many poisonous and deadly species.

Mushroom picking is a hobby that many people in the world do, some collect them as entertainment, some for food, some for other entertainment.

In the world, mushrooms are divided into two categories, edible and poisonous mushrooms; in Russia and the CIS countries there is another category, these are conditionally edible mushrooms.

Edible mushrooms are those that, when consumed, do not create any health problems for humans, that is, they do not contain poisons or toxins.

Conditionally edible mushrooms include mushrooms that do not contain poisons, but they taste terrible and are not suitable for food, for example, some tinder fungus or gall fungus. Also included in this category are mushrooms that are poisonous or toxic in their unprocessed form.

Poisonous mushrooms are those that, when ingested, cause serious health complications, including death. There are certain types of mushrooms containing toxins that do not kill immediately, but have a cumulative effect and accumulate in the organs, and gradually destroy the body.

For example, the once popular thin pig mushroom contains a toxin that is not destroyed by heat treatment, and over time causes the destruction of red blood cells, kidney failure and other serious complications.

Very often, the poisons contained in mushrooms do not act immediately, but within 3-6 days, which can create problems when determining the causes of poisoning in the hospital, and make it difficult for doctors to make the correct diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment.

There is no antidote for some poisonous mushrooms, and doctors cannot always help; eating such mushrooms will most likely result in death.

Nutritional value of edible mushrooms

Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, and therefore their taste has nothing in common with either plant foods or meat. Edible mushrooms have their own unique taste, which is called “mushroom”. In terms of nutritional value, they are more likely to be closer to meat than to plants. Mushrooms are rich in protein, carbohydrates and various microelements. They also contain special enzymes that promote digestion and better absorption of nutrients.

If we do not take into account the general taxonomic classification of all mushrooms in general, then there is no single world classification of edible mushrooms. This is due not only to differences in culinary traditions among different peoples, but also to the climatic characteristics of individual countries, affecting the species composition of mushrooms in a particular region. In addition, the names of edible mushrooms usually combine several individual species with different external characteristics, which also complicates the classification.

In Russia, they mainly use the Soviet scale of nutritional value for edible mushrooms, according to which all species are divided into four categories:

1. The first category includes species. A species is an evolutionarily established set of individuals, characterized by a single ... edible mushrooms that have maximum value and a rich, rich taste. For example, boletus, yellow milk mushroom, real saffron milk cap.
2. The second category includes slightly less tasty mushrooms with significantly less nutritional value - boletus, boletus, champignons.
3. The third category includes edible mushrooms of Russia with mediocre taste and mediocre nutritional value - green flywheel, russula, honey fungus.
4. The fourth category is mushrooms with minimal nutritional value and questionable taste. These are, for example, variegated moss mushrooms, puffballs, and oyster mushrooms.

An alternative classification can be considered one that classifies edible and inedible mushrooms in terms of ease of preparation and safety of consumption:

• Edible mushrooms. They do not require mandatory temperature treatment and are theoretically suitable for consumption even in raw form without any risk.
• Conditionally edible mushrooms. This category includes mushrooms that are not suitable for consumption raw due to toxins or unpleasant taste, but are edible after special processing (boiling, soaking, drying, etc.) This also includes mushrooms that are edible only at a young age, or that can cause poisoning in combination with other products (for example, dung mushroom should not be consumed with alcohol).
• Inedible mushrooms. They are completely safe for the human body, but due to poor taste, hard pulp or other reasons, they are not of culinary interest. Often in other countries they are described as edible mushrooms or conditionally edible.
• Poisonous mushrooms. This group includes those species. A species is an evolutionarily established set of individuals characterized by a single ... mushrooms from which it is impossible to remove toxins in domestic conditions, and therefore their consumption as food is extremely dangerous.

Traditional methods of checking trophies

There are many different ways to test a product at home for the presence of poison. Using any of the methods poses a threat to life and will not show a 100% result on the danger or safety of the product.

Determination by taste

If the specimen is tasty, then it is not poisonous. This misconception is life-threatening. Most mushroom pickers, when picking mushrooms, taste the raw product. If it is bitter, then it is toxic. It is believed that with minor consumption, the poison entering the body does not pose a threat.

There are toxic forest products that are not bitter, with a good aftertaste:

1. Death cap.
2. Poisonous entoloma.
3. Fly agaric.

Silver testing

There is an opinion that when cooking mushrooms, you need to put silver objects on them, and if they become dark, it means that among the selected products there are dangerous ones. However, the darkening occurs due to the various amino acids contained in the specimens. They are present in both dangerous and edible mushrooms. There is also a subtype of toxic product that this method cannot detect.

Testing with onions and garlic

To test mushrooms with onions or garlic while they are boiling, many people throw these vegetables into water. If dangerous specimens are present, the heads of the root crops will turn black.

It turns out that checking this method is useless. When cooked, the color of one of the vegetables changes to a brown tint due to the pigment tyrosinase. It can be found in both edible and life-threatening specimens. If it gets into food, it can lead to serious poisoning.

Use of milk

There is an opinion that if you put an inedible mushroom into a fresh dairy product, it will turn sour. In reality, the presence of enzymes such as pepsin and organic acids leads to oxidation of the product. These enzymes are found in good, unsuitable for consumption and life-threatening specimens.

Cooking the product in water with vinegar and salt

The folk method suggests that you can neutralize a poisonous trophy by boiling it in a solution of salt and vinegar. Yes, it is possible to destroy the toxicity of some types of mildly toxic mushrooms (lines). However, such manipulation with the pale grebe will not save you from fatal intoxication.

Broken color

It is believed that if the cap is broken and the flesh turns blue, pink or red, this will indicate that the find is dangerous. The presence of white, gray, beige flesh indicates a lack of reaction to oxygen. Accordingly, the mushrooms found are edible.

It turns out that there are many edible specimens that turn blue and change color (bruise, hornbeam, royal mushroom, hornbeam).

Based on the information provided, we conclude that it is impossible to check forest gifts using folk methods. To recognize an edible mushroom, you need to know which specimens can be collected. If there is any doubt whether or not to take a trophy, it is better to refuse it.

How to distinguish edible mushrooms from inedible ones

For Russians, mushrooms are not only a tasty dish, always relevant both on the festive table and on weekdays. Mushroom hunting is also a favorite species of many. A species is an evolutionarily established set of individuals, characterized by a single... leisure time in the fresh air. Unfortunately, most city dwellers and even many villagers have forgotten the centuries-old experience of their ancestors and are completely unable to determine which mushrooms are edible and which are not. That is why every year dozens and even hundreds of inexperienced mushroom pickers throughout Russia die from poisoning by poisonous mushrooms, mistaking them for edible ones.

It’s worth noting right away that there are no single universal rules on how to distinguish edible mushrooms from their poisonous counterparts. Each type of mushroom has its own patterns, which often do not apply to other species. For this reason, you should adhere to the general rules of conduct recommended by experts.

So, if, looking at a fly agaric, you are not entirely sure whether the mushroom in front of you is edible, then before you go on a “quiet hunt”, listen to the following recommendations:

• If possible, take an experienced mushroom picker with you to supervise the mushroom picking process. Alternatively, the “trophies” can be shown to him for control after returning from the forest.
• Study as thoroughly as possible one or two (no more!) types of the most common edible mushrooms in your region. Moreover, it is advisable to find out what edible mushrooms look like by seeing them in person, and not on a monitor screen. Memorize well their differences from all possible doubles. When you go to the forest, collect only these mushrooms that you are familiar with and no others.
• Do not take mushrooms that cause you the slightest doubt about their species.
• Having discovered a “family” of mushrooms, take a closer look at the largest specimens. Firstly, it is easier to determine the species from them. A species is an evolutionarily established set of individuals characterized by a single..., and secondly, if they are wormy, then the mushrooms are edible. There are no worms in deadly poisonous mushrooms. True, they can easily end up in falsely edible mushrooms with an average level of toxicity.
• Until you gain experience, collect only tubular mushrooms - porcini, boletus, boletus, boletus. There are very few poisonous mushrooms in this group, which cannot be said about the lamellar varieties of edible mushrooms.
• Never taste raw mushrooms. He won't tell you anything, but if you come across a poisonous mushroom, you can easily get poisoned.

Poisonous

These poisonous mushrooms are not so dangerous, but they can also cause severe poisoning and gastrointestinal upset.

1. Satanic mushroom. Some experts classify it as inedible, while others consume it as food. But it’s still better not to collect it, because... it contains poisons, they do not disappear even after prolonged heat treatment. How to recognize him in the forest? It has a white or gray cap with a diameter of 7 to 28 cm, but the leg is especially memorable, brown or orange-red in color, with a height of 6 to 18 cm. It grows from June to September, often in deciduous forests, near oaks and lindens. May cause gastrointestinal upset.

2. False honey fungus, sulfur-yellow. People call it false honey mushrooms. It has a smooth yellowish cap with a diameter of 2 to 7 cm, a thin leg with a length of 3 to 9 cm. The pulp smells unpleasant and tastes bitter. It is often found, growing on fallen trunks and stumps from early May to late October. You can distinguish them by the color of the plates; they are olive, sometimes almost black, and other characteristics. If you eat this mushroom, after 1-6 hours a person will become ill: nausea, sweating, and vomiting will appear. However, deaths are rare but do occur. After them, inflammation of the stomach sometimes develops.

There are also hallucinogenic mushrooms, but we won’t talk about them in detail. These include the bright yellow fly agaric, dung beetle, dung bald head and others. In our forests there are inedible mushrooms, both poisonous and simply unsuitable for consumption. But they should still be avoided, because... New discoveries are constantly being made that confirm the danger of these forest gifts.

The most common mushrooms are edible and inedible

The porcini mushroom, or boletus, is the best representative of the group of undoubtedly edible mushrooms of the first nutritional category. Although it has a fairly characteristic appearance that makes it easy to recognize, the boletus has an inedible twin - the gall mushroom or mustard. Edible porcini mushrooms can be identified by their thick cylindrical stem and reddish-brown cap. The flesh of the boletus always remains white, while the gall mushroom is distinguished by the fact that when broken, its flesh acquires a pink tint, and the mushroom itself is very bitter.

Red boletus is also a very popular edible forest mushroom among Russians. They have a dense brown-red cap. They can be easily distinguished from other mushrooms by their pulp, which quickly turns blue at the cut site. Despite the name, they can grow not only next to aspens, but also with other deciduous trees (never next to conifers). But for safety, it is better to collect such mushrooms only under aspen and poplar trees. However, it is quite difficult to confuse boletus with other mushrooms, since it does not have false doubles.

Maslyata are very loved and popular in Russia. They can be recognized by the yellow color of the stem, and the cap is covered with a sticky brown skin that can be easily removed with a knife. Under the cap is a characteristic tubular structure. As a rule, when they talk about edible tubular mushrooms, they mean butter mushrooms. Adult mushrooms are almost always rich in worms, which is also a good sign.

Chanterelles have a rather unusual appearance. Appearance is an evolutionarily established set of individuals, characterized by a single ..., by which they can be easily identified among other edible mushrooms in the forest. However, they have a very similar double, which you identify by a more saturated orange hue (the edible mushroom is lighter), a hollow stalk (the real one is dense and solid) and white discharge on the broken cap.

Honey mushrooms are edible mushrooms known for their characteristic rich taste. Since in fact, several types of mushrooms are called honey mushrooms at once, it is sometimes difficult to give them a single description. For safety, it is recommended to collect only those honey mushrooms that grow exclusively in the roots, on stumps and on fallen trunks. They have ocher-colored caps with scales on them and a white ring on the stem. False honey mushrooms are also several types of mushrooms. Honey mushrooms should be avoided if they grow on the ground; their cap is yellow or brownish-red and lacks scales. While the cap of real honey mushrooms is equipped with whitish plates, those of false honey mushrooms are olive, dark gray or brownish. Also, there is no ring on the leg of the honey fungus.

Russulas are widespread edible mushrooms in the middle zone. This name is used for several species at once, the differences of which from inedible relatives lie in the presence of easily removable skin on the caps.

Stitches

The stitch stands on a short hollow stem, which is almost invisible from under the shapeless dark brown or even black cap. The stitches are much larger in size than morels, and their caps are not hollow inside. You should be careful with the caps, as they contain poisonous toxins that are destroyed only by heat treatment. It is recommended to boil them several times before cooking.

Photo source: TV channel “360”

Poisonous mushrooms in Russian forests

We have already noted earlier that, for safety, a novice mushroom picker should limit himself to a detailed study of one or two edible mushrooms, for which he goes into the forest. But information about edible mushrooms is not all you need to know. You should also read the description of the main most common poisonous mushrooms, which you will probably encounter during a “quiet hunt”.

Of the one and a half hundred poisonous mushrooms found in Russia, only a few species are deadly poisonous. The rest cause either food poisoning or lead to nervous system disorders. But since this can hardly be considered a mitigating circumstance, every mushroom picker should know how to distinguish edible mushrooms from inedible ones. And this is impossible without a good knowledge of the poisonous mushrooms themselves.

Statistics show that most often Russians are poisoned by toadstool. This is one of the most poisonous and at the same time most widespread mushrooms in the country. Inexperienced mushroom pickers mistake it for champignons, russula and other edible lamellar mushrooms. The toadstool can be recognized by the yellow-brown, dirty green, light olive and often snow-white (young mushrooms) color of the caps. Usually the center of the cap is a little darker and lighter at the edge. On the underside of the cap there are white soft plates. There is a ring on the leg.

False honey fungus can be found on the roots and stumps of trees, which is why beginners confuse it with real honey fungus and other edible mushrooms on trees. The mushroom causes food poisoning and is therefore not as dangerous as toadstool. It can be distinguished from real honey mushrooms by its color (not brown, but light orange or yellowish) and the absence of a ring on the stem (real honey mushrooms have it right under the cap).

Amanitas in our minds are synonymous with poisonous mushrooms. At the same time, an ordinary city dweller imagines a typical picture - a large fleshy mushroom with a bright red cap with white speckles and a white stem. In fact, only one of more than 600 species of fly agarics looks like this. By the way, the pale grebe formally also refers to fly agarics. So, in addition to the well-known red fly agaric and toadstool, you should also be wary of the green fly agaric, stinking fly agaric, panther fly agaric and white fly agaric. Externally, some of them are very similar to edible mushrooms in September. The probability of meeting them in the forest is quite high.

The satanic mushroom is found mainly in the south and Primorye. It is toxic, although it rarely causes death. The mushroom is quite large, has an irregularly shaped cap and a massive stalk. The leg can have different shades of red. The color of the cap also varies: mushrooms with a white, dirty gray or olive cap are most often found. Sometimes it can be very similar to some edible mushrooms of the Primorsky Territory, in particular the boletus mushroom.

Thin mushroom is a harmful, although not deadly, mushroom. For a long time, experts did not have a consensus on whether the pig mushroom is edible or not. Only about 30 years ago it was finally removed from the list of edibles, as it was proven that it destroys the kidneys and causes food poisoning. It can be recognized by its fleshy, flattened cap with a curved edge. Young individuals have an olive-colored cap, while older individuals have a grey-brown or rusty-brown color. The stem is olive or gray-yellow and slightly lighter than the cap, or similar in color.

Raincoats and false raincoats

In spring, raincoats also appear in the forest. These mushrooms are usually oval or round in shape, white in color, with closed fruiting bodies.

It is quite simple to distinguish them from their dangerous doubles - false raincoats. Poisonous counterparts usually have scaly, dense skin of a yellowish color, which may have small cracks. The pulp is fleshy, thick, elastic, white, with a subtle spicy aroma. Over time, its color changes first to violet-black, then to olive with lighter veins. These mushrooms contain small amounts of toxins that can lead to mild food poisoning.

Raincoat:

Photo source: TV channel “360”

False raincoat:

Photo source: TV channel “360”

How to distinguish between false and edible boletus

Real butterfish, which you can eat, have a slippery cap and the same stem. The skin on top is sticky, as if covered in oil (hence the name). This property is especially evident in wet weather. In dry weather the skin is glossy. It is easy to remove with a knife, while it stretches. The cap always has a spongy structure. As for color, it varies depending on the type of edible oilseed. Inedible types of butternut squash often change the color of the flesh at the break or cut (turns red, turns blue). In general, there are a large number of types of boletus, among which there are edible, inedible and conditionally edible.

Xerompholina – spring mushroom

In early May, active growth of xerompholine begins. It, like honey mushrooms, sprouts on fading stumps and felled trees, and less commonly, it sprouts on the ground with rotted leaves.

In 2022, residents of the Moscow region will encounter these mushrooms not only on sawdust, but also on country roads and paths, close to summer cottages, cottages and even garden beds.