The pink-red cap of the fly agaric flaunts temptingly on the forest grounds. This is what attracts the human eye, despite the fact that even children know about the toxicity of the mushroom. But the name speaks for itself. The mission of the mushroom is to destroy flies, and it easily copes with this task. Drops of rain and dew, poisoned by the entheogenic secretions of the toadstool, beckon insects to quench their thirst. After drinking the “elixir” of the fly agaric, the fly falls asleep and drowns. Forest animals eat the mushroom to cleanse the body of parasites. Now this is interesting! If you eat a fly agaric, what will happen to a person? Probably everyone has asked themselves this question. In fact, people have been using the mushroom for their own purposes for a long time. First things first.
What types of fly agarics are there?
Not everyone knows that there are several types of fly agarics in the world, some of which are deadly. Mushroom pickers confuse them with edible mushrooms, and instead of fragrant champignons, a dish of pale toadstool or stinking fly agaric flaunts on the table. Yes, yes, exactly stinky. In addition to the unpleasant smell, the toadstool is so poisonous that, having been in a common basket of edible mushrooms, it will poison everyone without exception. However, in the corners of the planet, completely edible fly agaric mushrooms grow and are even considered a delicacy. Egg-shaped fly agaric and Caesar mushroom are still prepared in the best restaurants in most countries.
Similarities with other species
The stinking fly agaric is similar in appearance to some edible species. It can be confused with a float, which differs from the fly agaric in its more fragile body. The float leg does not have a ring, it is empty inside, the cap has small stripes along the edges. Mushroom pickers may also confuse toadstool with Volvariella beautiful, which is distinguished by the pinkish color of its plates and the fact that it does not have a ring on its stem.
Sometimes mushroom pickers confuse fly agaric with champignon, which has brownish plates under the cap and a ring on the stem; if you break off a piece of the pulp, it will darken. Sometimes people cannot distinguish a fly agaric from a porcini mushroom, because... they have external similarities. The main difference between edible species and toadstool is the absence of a pungent odor.
A little history
Researchers find red fly agaric and its traces all over the world. It is known that the tribes of Africa carefully cultivated the mushroom for food. Moreover, a decoction prepared from fly agarics was equated to a sacred elixir and was called the mythical Indo-Aryan drink of the gods. People with heads in the shape of a fly agaric cap were depicted in the drawings of the ancient inhabitants of Chukotka.
But the shamans of the North made a great discovery when they discovered psychoactive substances in the mushroom. After eating the mushroom, they plunged into a deep trance state to the loud music of tambourines. Ancient tribes knew a lot about the properties of fly agaric and used it as a means of spiritual and physical recovery. True, the method was real urine therapy. But let's not go into details.
In Siberia, fly agaric for a long period was the only way to achieve drug intoxication. Fearlessness, rage and unearthly strength became visible symptoms of use. However, with the advent of alcoholic beverages, the northerners abandoned the fly agaric potion.
Cooking recipes
Some may doubt the suitability of fly agarics for cooking. Inexperienced mushroom pickers may not understand why others collect these mushrooms. However, fly agarics can be used for food.
Fried mushrooms
Wash 15 red fly agarics, place in a saucepan and cook for 20 minutes, skimming off the foam and renewing the broth 3 times. This is necessary in order to get rid of the poisonous and hallucinogenic alkaloids found in mushrooms. The product becomes not only safe, but also a useful medicine that has a beneficial effect on the body. After cooking, the mushrooms will become discolored and need to be rinsed again under running water.
Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and add mushrooms. After they have been fried for 10 minutes, add sour cream and finely chopped onion and salt. Bring to readiness. You should not overcook it, otherwise the characteristic taste will disappear. Mushrooms can be fried with the addition of potatoes, onions and herbs.
How to pickle correctly
Mushrooms need to be boiled in boiling water for 20-25 minutes to get rid of toxins. Seasonings and spices include currant leaves, garlic, horseradish root, bay leaf, peppercorns, and coarse salt. Place the boiled toadstools in layers in a suitable container. Distribute salt (40 grams per 1 kg of mushrooms) and spices between them. Compact and place under a press. Let it brew for 35-45 days. Keep refrigerated.
Why do you want to eat fly agaric?
Nowadays, people are afraid to eat mushrooms, and for good reason. But you can’t get rid of an irresistible interest. So what happens if you eat red fly agaric? Undoubtedly, an idle attraction to the unknown is present in every person. But why tempt fate? Fortunately, death after eating red fly agaric is a fairly rare case. However, the idea of trying a mushroom can seriously undermine your health. Although the toxicity of fly agaric toxic substances decreases when cooked, poisoning cannot be completely eliminated.
It happens that a person accidentally eats a fly agaric. What to do in this case? A fly agaric alone cannot cause significant harm to the body. And it is unlikely that a person will feel a change in his condition, but it is still worth playing it safe by washing, especially if the base of the fungus has gotten into the food.
How many fly agarics do you need to eat to get poisoned? It is impossible to answer this question unambiguously. The directory informs that 15 mushroom caps can have a dangerous toxic effect, but this figure is quite controversial. Theory cannot accurately predict the reaction of the human body, especially since the perception of certain products is individual for everyone.
Symptoms of poisoning
Sometimes people, unknowingly, can collect poisonous mushrooms in the forest. In this case, it is important to know what will happen if you cook them and eat them. The degree of poisoning of the body depends on the type of toadstool eaten. If stinking or spring fly agaric was cooked and eaten, a person could die. They contain a poison close to the toxin of the toadstool.
Even if you eat a small piece of mushroom, there is very little hope that a person will survive. Lipoic acid is an antidote for this poison. Eating red toadstool will not cause a person to die, but the toxin it contains will cause unpleasant consequences:
- hallucinations;
- salivation;
- decreased blood pressure;
- vomiting;
- pulmonary edema.
The poison muscaridine stops the parasympathetic nervous system. After poisoning, unpleasant symptoms appear within 35–45 minutes. The victim breaks out in a cold sweat and begins to vomit. When consuming toadstools in large quantities, he begins to experience hallucinations, accompanied by delirium, lethargy, and even loss of consciousness.
Since toxins accumulate in the caps as they mature, the lethal dose also has different effects: the larger the toadstool, the more severe the poisoning. In this case, the state of health and age of a person play an important role. If eating toadstools was accompanied by drinking alcoholic beverages, the poisoning will be more severe.
Philosophical reflections
If you think about it, it will be clear that everything we eat becomes part of us and affects our consciousness. The people of antiquity thought so. “For the whole is assembled in parts,” says wisdom. Every living thing on the planet has a soul, including plants. The peculiarity of nature is that when new skills and habits are acquired in the process of life, including food, the descendants of a living individual are born with such knowledge.
What happens if you eat raw fly agaric? Something personal will happen. A person who eats a fly agaric will be reunited with his soul. Such a whole can completely change life and the perception of the reality surrounding a person. If the merging of substances occurs constantly, the struggle of two souls is inevitable. The power of the fly agaric is great and it will destroy the essence of a person. He will cease to be a person and will be transformed into a “fly agaric toadstool,” although from the outside he will remain a person.
It is not difficult to grasp the essence of what is written above. A person’s mind must prevail over temptations before something new and secret. After all, common sense will not force you to think about how many fly agarics you can eat. However, many people are still interested in this question. Then let's continue.
Important components of fly agaric
If you eat a fly agaric, what will happen to a person? Quite a controversial issue. Here it is important to know what substances this “creation of nature” consists of. Psychotropic substances in the form of ibotenic acids are the most significant components of the mushroom. When the fly agaric dries, the acids are converted into muscimol and muscarine, which, when entering the human body, cause changes in consciousness and perception of the surrounding world as a whole. An important feature of ibotenic acid is its ability to slowly destroy brain cells.
So how many fly agarics do you need to eat to destroy your body? You can find information that eating a kilogram of fly agarics can kill a person, but its reliability is unknown. Old people living near forests say that fly agaric is good when dried, and there is nothing wrong with eating five of these “chips.” In addition, muscafurin, trimethylamine and choline, which are part of the mushroom, can easily overcome cancer cells. But is it?
Description
The stinking fly agaric has a similar structure to some champignons, which can lead to severe poisoning with a fatal outcome. A distinctive feature of this fly agaric from champignons is the presence of a volva at the base (although it can be hidden in the soil) and a white hymenophore in mature mushrooms (the plates of champignons darken in maturity).
The fly agaric is smelly.
hat
It has a diameter of up to 11 cm. Its shape in the process of growth and maturation changes from hemispherical to pointed conical. Its surface is smooth, slimy and sticky. The color of the cap, like the entire fruiting body, is white, but may have a grayish or even pinkish tint.
Leg
Fly agaric is smelly.
It measures 15*2 cm in length and thickness, respectively. Its color is the same as that of the hat. The shape is predominantly cylindrical, slightly expanding towards the bottom like a tuber. The surface of the leg is covered with a flocculent coating.
In the upper third of young specimens there is a ring of velum, which quickly reduces with maturation, and at the base there is a volva in the form of a white sac. In mature mushrooms, neither one nor the other may be observed, since the ring disappears, and the volva can hide in the soil.
Spore powder
It has a white color, medium-sized spores, round and smooth.
White grebe.
Spore-bearing layer
The hymenophore has a lamellar appearance. The plates are white and do not change their color either with age or with damage. Their width is average, their arrangement is frequent, and they are located freely in relation to the leg.
Pulp
Dense, white, like the surface. It has an unpleasant taste and a strong chlorine smell.
Children's horror story
From early childhood, children become familiar with the fly agaric as an evil character in children's fairy tales. His image is often used to sew role-playing costumes in theatrical productions. And everyone knows that fly agaric is dangerous. Its toxicity is lethal, and it is extremely reckless to use it as food. There is some truth in this, because an incorrect and careless attitude towards the mushroom leads to disastrous consequences.
If you look at the mushroom a little differently, then it may well be able to help. Fly agaric is, so to speak, a panacea for all kinds of ailments.
How to Avoid Death
After eating the smelly fly agaric, emergency medical attention is required, requiring hospitalization. This poison has no real antidote other than treating the victim with milk thistle extract. Milk thistle protects against liver damage from toxins and is one of the ways of poisoning by fly agaric mushrooms. If the patient is seen early, even before the gastrointestinal phase of poisoning (within the first 4 hours after eating), then decontamination by clearing the intestinal contents may be warranted.
Remember! Never identify mushrooms solely based on what you see on any website (including this one) or by comparing them to a picture in a book. Always get practical expert help when identifying a new mushroom and never eat something you're not sure about!
Healing properties of fly agaric
If you eat a fly agaric, what will happen to your body? Will there be healing? Treatment with fly agaric requires caution, and it must be said that not a single doctor will prescribe such a “miracle treatment.” As for herbal healers and healers, their recommendations are as follows. The mushroom in small doses can stop bleeding, relieve pain, kill bacteria, heal wounds and strengthen the immune system.
If we talk about traditional medicine, then here too, fly agaric in reasonable doses has proven itself on the positive side. Cough, sore throat, seizures, spasms and spinal diseases are weak contenders. The fly agaric can easily cope with them. Old people used it as the best sleeping pill and remedy for fatigue and decreased mobility. The effectiveness of toadstool has been demonstrated in the treatment of cancer and tuberculosis.
How to prepare a mushroom for consumption?
You should start by collecting fly agaric caps in a remote forest. You should not pick mushrooms in industrial areas or near roads. If a panther fly agaric was found, feel free to pass by. Its properties are several times stronger than the red fly agaric, which is extremely unsafe. You need to choose healthy and undamaged mushrooms. At home, the caps need to be washed, the bottom plate cut off, strung on a thread and hung to dry in a well-tested room until crisp. Dried mushroom loses all its effective properties after six months, so it is advisable not to overdry it.
What can you feel from taking it?
Five dry mushroom caps are considered an acceptable dose for humans. Only in this quantity can a mushroom add clarity of mind, energy, a surge of strength and a feeling of happiness to a person, as well as actively fight against illnesses. Large quantities of fly agaric for consumption are prohibited. An overdose causes vomiting, nausea, an inadequate state and even death.
What happens if you eat a fly agaric? The question has been answered. Each person has the right to decide for himself what is useful and what is worth giving up, even if the interest is unbearably painful. After all, not everything is as simple as it seems. There are simply no people cured of cancer by fly agaric therapy! Or they simply decided to remain silent about the miracle drug. Keep your mind and take care of your health!
Use for treatment
To create medicines, you need to collect mushrooms correctly. You should only choose fly agaric caps. It is best to collect mushrooms not in industrial zones, but in forests and other places remote from the city. Young whole mushrooms are best suited for eating. If the toadstool is wormy, there is no need to take it.
At home, fly agaric mushrooms need to be processed; before doing this, all the plates under the caps should be cut off. You need to dry the caps in natural conditions or in a well-ventilated area. Mushrooms have an expiration date: the longer the mushrooms are stored, the weaker the effect will be, and after 6-7 months the effect will weaken as much as possible.
Dosage Features
The effect of treatment depends on what dose the person took, the tolerability of this composition and the individual characteristics of the poisoned person. A normal dose can be considered 5 caps (15 grams), which it is advisable to take not immediately, but gradually.
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If the dose is not very large, people experience mental clarity, euphoria and increased strength. An average dosage will cause a person to have visual hallucinations, and he will not be able to properly assess the situation. With a large dose, the victim becomes inadequate, as if he were in another world.
Preparation of medicines
When preparing medicines, it is necessary to work with mushrooms with gloves so that the juice does not get on exposed skin. For external use medicines, squeeze out the juice or prepare an ointment from fly agaric mushrooms; for other types of treatment, a tincture is used. Medicine recipes:
- To prepare the tincture, you first need to squeeze out the juice. You can take any number of crushed toadstool caps and place them in a jar. After this, you need to cover everything tightly with a lid and store for a month in a dry, dark place. After time, the juice can be considered ready; it should be strained and put in the refrigerator. It helps fight various diseases and conditions.
- For the ointment, dry the mushrooms in the oven on parchment paper. Then mix the ingredients: 12 grams of pine resin, 30 grams of dry mushroom powder, 40-50 grams of lard, 12 grams of coarse rye flour. Then you need to heat the mass using a water bath. The result will be a composition of monotonous and viscous consistency, which must be rubbed into the affected areas overnight.
- For another tincture, you need to collect the caps of young mushrooms and keep them for 3-4 days in a cool, dark place. After this, they are placed in a jar, which is filled with alcohol or vodka. The jar should be buried in the ground for 3 months. After time, the mushrooms are squeezed out and filtered, and the liquid is stored in the refrigerator. The composition is used according to the scheme - from one drop to twenty.
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Medicines are made from both fresh and dried mushrooms. To benefit from these remedies, it is important to follow the rules for collecting mushrooms and the ratio of ingredients. Medicines based on fly agarics should not be used on open wounds or on pregnant women or children. Others should definitely consult a doctor before use.
When preparing juices, ointments and dishes from fly agarics, do not use metal utensils. If minor signs of poisoning occur (changes in consciousness, nausea, cramps, abdominal pain), you should immediately call a doctor.
