In a group of honey mushrooms - this is a popular name - mushrooms belonging to different clans and families are combined. Most representatives of these cultures grow on deadwood, dead stumps or tree trunks. According to experienced mushroom pickers, all varieties of honey mushrooms are harmless and edible, but this is not entirely true.
Description and features of mushroom mushrooms
Honey mushrooms are one of the most famous agaric mushrooms. Mushroom pickers go in search of them at the end of the mushroom season (autumn). Small fruiting bodies with round hats are visible from afar, as they grow on natural hills - stumps and snags. Honey mushrooms gather in friendly groups, it is extremely rare to find a lonely fungus. As a rule, fungi parasitize on trees, affecting about 200 of their species, as well as shrubs and even herbaceous plants.
Appearance of honey mushrooms characteristic:
- The leg is thin with a special membranous ring in the middle.
- The hat is shaped like an umbrella, with scales.
- The color of the hat depends on the substrate on which the fungus grows. Honey honey has honey agarics growing on poplar, mulberry, white acacia; on conifers - reddish, on oaks - brown, on elderberry - dark gray.
- The plates under the hat are a pleasant yellowish-white color or cream.
The chemical composition of the fungus
The composition of honey agarics has a high water content (up to 90% on average), which ensures their low calorie content. The remaining 10% are proteins (4%), fiber (2%), minerals (1.5%), carbohydrates (1.5%) and fats (1%). The nutritional value of the mushroom per 100 g of product in grams is as follows:
- dietary fiber - 5.1;
- proteins - 2.2;
- fats - 1.2;
- carbohydrates - 0.5;
- disaccharides and monosaccharides - 0.5;
- ash - 0.5.
The chemical composition of honey mushrooms includes essential amino acids and organic acids, antioxidants, trace elements. Among them:
- vitamins A, B, C, E;
- potassium - 400 mg per 100 g;
- iron;
- magnesium;
- calcium;
- phosphorus;
- sodium and others.
Benefit and harm of honey agarics
The rich composition of the fungus and its balance determines the benefits of mushrooms. Fresh fruiting bodies are a source of vitamins and protein. The latter is a building material for the brain, muscles, and the concentration of this substance in honey agarics is equivalent to meat. Thanks to the action of amino acids, immunity is enhanced, and oxygen access is improved. Unsaturated fatty acids are regulators of metabolic processes, they increase brain activity and repair damaged DNA.
Iron is responsible for creating hemoglobin and delivering nutrients to organs. Mushrooms, which underwent a short heat treatment, are useful for people suffering from anemia. Stable heart function is promoted by potassium and magnesium. Tissue destruction is prevented by ascorbic acid, it fights toxins, improves the condition of the dermis, and relieves bleeding.
In some species of honey mushrooms, the anticancer substance flammulin was found. In others, antibacterial compounds. They slow down the development of pests, such as Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore, traditional medicine uses honey mushrooms as natural antibiotics. Beta-glucans in their composition are part of drugs that prevent the development of cancerous tumors, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus.
In alternative medicine, warts are removed with the help of alcohol tinctures of honey agarics, and they also use mushrooms as a natural laxative (especially autumn ones).
Honey mushrooms are used in different forms, and each has its own advantages:
- Dried mushrooms are stored for a long time, they are more high-calorie. Lose a certain amount of their beneficial properties. The same can be said about roasted mushrooms.
- Pickled ones contain much less nutrients, but the mucus they contain has a positive effect on the stomach, and the fat-like organic substances lecithin inhibits cholesterol formation.
- The best way to preserve the biochemical composition of honey mushrooms is to boil them and then freeze them. But freezing should be quick.
There are no contraindications to eating mushrooms as such. But some categories of people must comply with restrictions. These include:
- people suffering from diseases of the digestive tract;
- having renal failure;
- children under 5-7 years old (due to the fact that mushrooms are a difficult product to digest);
- hypertensive.
Also, caution should be taken in the process of collecting mushrooms. Among mushrooms there are many varieties, as well as false representatives. An experienced mushroom picker can easily be distinguished from one another, but newcomers to the “quiet hunt” risk their health when they put a copy in their basket that they doubt is edible. From unforeseen circumstances will protect compliance with basic safety rules during the collection.
Varieties of honey mushrooms
And experienced mushroom pickers, and not the most savvy in this matter, unite under the common name of mushrooms representatives of different genera (Armillaria - mushrooms and not only) and different mushroom families: tricholomidae (ordinary), physalakryeva, stropharia and others. They name 34 species, of which only 22 have been studied. There is no talk of systematicity, although outwardly all representatives of mushrooms are alike. The name of honey agarics comes from the Latin word "bracelet", which indicates the special growth of mushrooms. But some honey mushrooms do not settle as usual - on stumps, but in meadows, confusing mushroom pickers.
More is known about the edible representatives of the genus of mushrooms than about the inedible. The most common of them are combined into subspecies, uniting in time of growth and appearance:
- autumn or present;
- spring;
- summer;
- winter;
- thick-footed
- yellow red and others.
Autumn honey agaric
The most recognizable representative of the genus mushrooms. Has a convex hat, which opens with age. Its diameter is 4-10 cm, it can rarely reach 17 cm. The skin color is different, from a honey-brown hue to a dirty swamp. Darkened in the center. The surface of the cap is covered with scales (they disappear with active growth). The legs of the mushrooms are solid, up to 10 cm in length. The surface is light.
Young hats are dense, their flesh is whitish, but thins out with age, and in the legs of the inside are fibrous, become a rough consistency. The smell of edible autumn mushrooms is pleasant. Plates under the hat are rare, grow to the leg. In young specimens, they are beige, whitish, bodily, and after maturation they darken a little, sometimes they become covered with brown spots.
Autumn mushrooms sprout in damp forests - birch, aspen, elm, etc., on dead wood and stumps left after logging. They unite in groups, sometimes fruiting bodies grow together with each other with legs. The mushroom picking period is from August to the first frosts (November-December). Honey mushrooms successfully grow at temperatures above +10, bear fruit en masse in September (first half of the month), when the thermometer shows 10-15 degrees.
Honey agaric
Sometimes this species is called Govorushka or Lipov. As a rule, it is this variety that bears fruit from March to November that falls into the basket of mushroom pickers. The dimensions of Govorushki are more modest than that of the autumn honey fly: an average of 6 cm in diameter of the hat and 7 cm of the length of the leg. The hat is flat with a pronounced wide tubercle in the middle. Its color changes according to the weather: in dry, it is dull, honey-yellow, and in damp brownish, translucent. The edges of the cap are darker, have grooves. The skin is smooth.
The mushroom flesh is watery and thin, yellowish, and darker in the leg. It smells of fresh wood. The plates are frequent, up to 6 mm wide, brownish. On the leg a narrow ring is pronounced. It can be painted with precipitated spores having an ocher-brown color. Below the ring are dark scales. Summer honey agaric grows in forests, uniting into large families. Favorite place - living trees with obvious damage, rotten stumps. It is found on hardwoods, sometimes on spruce trees.
Winter honey agaric
A rare representative of mushrooms that can be found under the snow. This species of honey agarics bears fruit in the colder months: from autumn to spring, appears during thaws. Prefers dead hardwood - willow, poplar and others. It can appear in parks and gardens in the city, on the banks of a stream. Winter honey fly usually grows in the northern temperate zone. Like others, settles in groups.
The mushroom flat hat has a diameter of up to 10 cm, its color is orange or yellow, flat in shape. Young mushrooms have a lighter shade around the edges, and a darkening in the center. The leg is dense, tubular, with a characteristic velvety-brown color. Upstairs is tan. Length - up to 7 cm. No residue blankets. The plates are rare, grown, shortened.
Spring honey agaric
Edible fungus, also known as Collibia woody. It also grows on rotting wood or litter, chooses oak, pine and other species. The fruiting period is spring mushrooms: from May to October, the peak falls in the summer months (June-July). The size of the fruiting bodies is small: a hat with a diameter of 1 to 7 cm, a stalk up to 9 cm long, thin, flexible and expanding at the base.
The color of the hat is red-brown, prone to fading. In old mushrooms, the edges are bent. It changes in shape with age: convex in young mushrooms, then wide-convex. The pulp of the mushroom is white or yellowish. The plates grow to the stem; their color is white, sometimes pinkish or yellowish. The color of the spore powder is white or cream. Spores are smooth, unpainted, drop-shaped.
Thick-legged honey agaric
A kind of honey agarics belonging to the same genus and species, so that the honey agaris is real. Has a wide conical hat with a diameter of 3-10 cm with the edges down. In young specimens, its color varies from pale brown to dark brown and pink, then becomes yellow-brown. The skin of the cap is covered with numerous grayish flakes of conical shape. Closer to the edge they almost lie.
The leg is open, strong, cylindrical. Has a club-shaped thickening at the base. Young mushrooms have a "skirt", but as it grows, it disappears, only the remains of the yellow cover are visible.
The thick-legged honey agaric has a whitish flesh with an unpleasant odor and astringent taste, reminiscent of Camembert cheese. But the mushroom is considered edible. It is collected from August to November, finding groups of honey agarics in beautiful foliage or on stumps. Favorite wood - spruce, beech, ash, fir.
Yellow red honey agaric
Belongs to the family of rank-and-file soldiers, hence the alternative name: Ryadovka yellow-red (or pine mushroom). It grows in coniferous forests on dead wood (especially pine). Fruit bodies gather in groups. In central Russia, the period of mass fruiting begins from the second half of July to September. Meet until November.
A characteristic feature of the yellow-red rowing is the coloring of the hat. It is dry, velvety, covered with small scales of purple. The skin itself is orange-yellow. The diameter of the cap is 5-15 cm, the shape is flat (convex in young mushrooms). The plates and the flesh of the mushroom have a bright yellow color. In the hat it is dense, and in the leg it is fibrous, the taste is soft, slightly bitter, and the smell is sour, resembling a rotten tree.
Mucous membrane
This representative of the family of honey agarics is widespread in Europe, is found in deciduous forests. Favorite wood is beech, especially weakened trees. Also grows on maple, hornbeam; mushrooms settle in groups, sprinkling thick branches of living trees. The picking season for these mushrooms is the entire summer season from May to September. Compared to other honey mushrooms, this species is little known.
The cap of the mucous membrane is convex. As the name implies, they are mucous, hemispherical, white, cream or light gray, brownish in the middle. Diameter - up to 10 cm. The leg is thin, 2-8 cm long, often curved, cylindrical, and at the base has a club-shaped thickening and a thick ring. Brownish flakes form on the surface beneath it. Mucus appears on the leg below the "skirt". The pulp is dense, yellow in color. Spore powder is pale cream.
Meadow honey fly
The species of fungus belongs to the genus negunichnichovy. Synonyms: negniuchnik, meadow, clove mushroom. Edible, but only hats are suitable for food, since the legs are too stiff, especially in adult specimens. Honey mushrooms - small mushrooms, the diameter of the cap reaches 5 cm, the stalk is on average 2-5 cm long. The weight of one fruiting body is an average of 1 gram.
The meadow hat is flat with a blunt tubercle, reddish-brown or yellow. In the absence of moisture or in windy weather acquires a light cream color. In addition, it has the property of glowing in the dark, like phosphorus.
The edges of the cap are almost transparent, torn, uneven. The plates are rare, up to 6 mm wide, grown in young mushrooms, are released with age. The leg is thin and winding, solid, fibrous. It has one color with a hat.
The main difference from other species of honey agarics is the place of growth. Meadows are found in open areas, gather in groups, forming “witch circles”. They prefer the soils of forest glades, meadows, gardens, ravines, roadsides. Meadow honey mushrooms are spread all over the world, from Europe to Africa. They are not afraid of severe drought, getting moisture from rain, come to life again. Subject to warm temperature, this species of honey mushrooms is harvested from spring to autumn (May-June, September-October).
Doubles honey agarics
Like many mushrooms, honey mushrooms have doubles, including poisonous ones, from which it is necessary to be able to distinguish them in order to avoid poisoning. They grow in the same forests and at the same time (in summer and autumn), also gather in large colonies and settle preferably on deadwood and stumps.
Poisonous twins are found in all varieties of honey agarics, but in some countries certain doubles are classified as edible mushrooms. If the collector is not sure, it is better to bypass the "strangers." But the enemy needs to know in person.
The most famous types of false mushrooms:
- poppy;
- brick red;
- sulfur yellow.
Poppy False Foam
Its other name is seroplate. This is an autumn mushroom that grows from late summer to mid autumn. The mushroom cap is convex, its lower part is covered with a blanket. With age, the hat straightens, its diameter reaches 8 cm. From pale yellow color changes to rusty, brownish, resembling poppy seeds. The edges of the skin are lighter. The surface of the hat is smooth, in the rain it becomes sticky. When the fruit grows in a humid environment, the skin becomes a light brown color. The plates under the hat grow to the leg.
Poppy honey differs from a real mushroom in a long and thin leg. It can be either curved or straight. Near the base, the color of the legs is more red, and closer to the hat is yellow. In addition, the seroplate has no characteristic feature of all honey mushrooms - the membranous ring. More precisely, it is, but quickly disappears. This can confuse an inexperienced mushroom picker. But this is not scary: poppy mushroom is conditionally edible. Externally and to taste, it looks like a summer honey agaric.
Brick Red False Foam
This mushroom is considered conditionally edible or completely inedible due to an unpleasant taste. It is very bitter and requires prolonged boiling. But information about its toxicity is contradictory, and in some countries, for example, in Japan and the USA, this representative of the genus of honey mushrooms is willingly collected. Outwardly, it is distinguished by a larger hat, in diameter it reaches 10 cm or more. The shape of the hat with age from convex to flat. Its color is red-brown, but may be lighter or darker. Mushrooms have no smell.
Brick red mushrooms grow in large groups on dead wood. They love deciduous and coniferous forests, but can be found in the mountains or on the plains.They grow year round with the exception of the cold winter months. Unlike true honey agarics, the inside of the false hat is covered with a cobwebbed bedspread. Over time, it disappears, although leftovers may hang from the edges. Another feature - the legs of the fungus are hollow inside.
Sulfur Yellow False Foam
Poisonous honeymoon double, having a pale yellow, sulfur yellow or grayish color. The hat is darker in the middle than at the edges. The plates below may have a greenish tint. The fungus is small in size, the diameter of the cap is from 2 to 7 cm, the leg is up to 10 cm in length. The shape of the cap in young mushrooms is similar to a bell, and when the mushroom grows, it becomes open. The leg is fibrous. The pulp is whitish or the same color as the hat.
False foal is found in deciduous forests, rarely in coniferous forests. Mushrooms grow in large groups, colonies can reach 50 fruiting bodies. Many of them grow together with legs. It is easy to distinguish a false foil from a real mushroom by a sharp unpleasant odor that emanates from the insides. In addition, the honey worm has no characteristic scales, and its plates have a sulfur-yellow color, and not beige or cream like edible mushrooms.
In order not to confuse mushrooms with an inedible double, you need to pay attention to the peculiarity of growth of honey mushrooms:
- Real ones are found on wood (except meadow), while false ones can grow on the ground.
- A leathery little ring on the leg is the main sign of edibility.
- In false species, hats have a defiant color. They are greenish-gray, red, darker plates.
- The leg and hat of real honey agarics are covered with scales. False do not have them.
- As a rule, the double legs are thin, hollow inside.
- The doubles emit an unpleasant earthy smell.
How to collect honey mushrooms?
These mushrooms grow in large families, usually such a sortie ends with the collection of a whole basket. In addition, honey mushrooms can be harvested almost all year round - depending on the variety, they bear fruit from spring to late autumn, and even in winter (with the exception of severe frosts). Focusing on the time of collection, you need to look for exactly those species that are common in these months:
- from May to June, meadow honey agarics actively bear fruit;
- from August to October-November - summer and autumn;
- winter are found throughout the fall, from September to December.
Forests in which honey agarics live can be any: mixed, coniferous, beech, etc. But as a rule, they do not occur in young thickets. Ideal for honey agarics - a humid forest aged 30 years or more. Meadow honey mushrooms can also be found in plantings, but in open clearings and edges. A distinctive feature of these mushrooms is their constancy. If they appeared near a rotten stump or a fallen tree, then subsequently they will appear there regularly. At the same place, the family can be searched for next year.
The best time to go after honey is morning. After a night's cool, they are more resistant to transportation.
How to grow honey mushrooms on your own?
Many mushroom lovers try to grow them on their own at home. Honey mushrooms are a unique mushroom culture suitable for artificial cultivation more than others. This process is accessible to everyone and it is fascinating. Honey mushrooms will give generous crops almost all year round.
Honey mushrooms are unpretentious in cultivation. Winter and summer varieties are best suited for planting and breeding. The necessary conditions are easy to arrange on a summer cottage, a garden and even at home - on a balcony or in the basement.
The technology for growing honey agarics depends on the choice of seed. For planting honey mushrooms, you can use the mycelium or the fruiting body, and the costs of both methods are minimal. To get mycelium, you can try to find a piece of rotten wood in the forest and sprout mushrooms from it. The action scheme is as follows:
- Divide rotten wood into equal pieces, future grafting material. Their size is an average of 2 by 2 cm.
- These bars are laid in the finished wood, a kind of garden. Previously, holes are made in them on the sides, suitable in size to pieces of grafting material.
- After replanting is done, the bars are covered with moss, and then wrap the entire garden with polyethylene. So the necessary indicators of heat and humidity will be observed.
In order to develop fruiting bodies from whole mushrooms, it is necessary to select worthy specimens for planting. To do this, hats from old mushrooms (with a diameter of about 8 cm) are cut off, soaked in water, and after a day they are kneading without straining. You should get a mass of mushy consistency. Next, you need to proceed according to this scheme:
- Pass the pulp through two layers of gauze.
- Collect seed in a glass container.
- Pour wood onto this liquid (on logs or stumps).
- On beds or improvised beds there should be small recesses where disputes gather.
- After landing, the holes are covered with sawdust or wet moss.
There are several ways to grow mushrooms at home or on a personal plot. The following are suitable for breeding honey mushrooms:
- in greenhouses;
- in the basement on bags;
- on the logs;
- on a stump;
- in the banks.
Growing on logs and stumps
This technology is suitable for rearing honey agarics both at home while observing the required temperature (10-25 degrees), and outdoors. The log should belong to a deciduous tree, be fresh, not rotten, with bark and moist. If it is dry, soak in water for 2-3 days. Optimum log sizes: 30-50 cm in length, 20-50 cm in diameter. Prepared wood is planted in a tub, dug in a hole previously made in a suitable area, or left in a darkened room.
If a rotten stump is available (for example, from a tree cut down on a site), the mycelium can be planted in it.
How to plant mushrooms? In logs or stumps, it is necessary to make holes-recesses 4 cm long and about 1 cm wide. The distance is 10-15 cm from each other. They put the mycelium on wood sticks, then cover the log with a film. It is necessary to make several holes in it so that the air ventilates. If you observe a temperature of about 20 degrees, the log will overgrow with mycelium after 3-4 months. Moist stumps can be kept in the greenhouse, where it is easy to control the level of humidity.
Growing honey mushrooms in the basement
If it is intended to grow mushrooms in the basement, a temperature comfortable for mushrooms should be maintained there year-round. Mycelium is planted in bags of soil. For sowing, you can use straw, foliage, husk of seeds, wood sawdust. Plant components are pre-steamed in hot water for 10-12 hours. This is necessary to disinfect the soil from mold and pests. When the soil has cooled, the finished mycelium is added to it, mixed.
The mixture must be laid out in tight bags with a volume of 5 to 50 kg, made of polyethylene. Packages must be placed on racks in the basement or suspended above the floor, and also ensure humidity and a comfortable temperature (14-16 degrees). After waiting three days, small holes are cut in the bags, their length is 5-6 cm. The first fruiting bodies will appear after two weeks. Honey mushrooms exhibit an amazing ability to reproduce in artificial conditions and yield high yields.
Growing in banks
For this method, neither the site nor the extra space is needed. Mushrooms are planted directly in banks, where the soil or substrate is placed from sawdust and bran (proportions - 3: 1). For a day, the mass is poured with boiling water (as a sterilization), then with warm water, slightly squeezed and compacted. The mycelium is planted in a recess, which is made with a clean stick or pencil to the very bottom of the can. After disembarkation, the container is closed with a lid with holes, covered with wet gauze or cotton wool to maintain humidity.
Cans with seedlings are hidden in a dark, warm place, periodically sprayed with cotton. After 30 days, the mycelium will germinate, and after another 2 weeks (maximum 3), the first fruiting bodies will become visible. When the mushrooms sprout, the jar must be placed on the windowsill, darkened by the sun. Honey mushrooms should germinate to the lid, then remove it. The neck is wrapped with cardboard (wide strip), which will support the grown mushrooms. The crop is cut, the legs are pulled out, after the laid 2 weeks new fruits appear.
Growing honey agarics is not a troublesome thing. Unlike other mushrooms, the first shoots appear much earlier. For example, the same porcini mushrooms and brown boletus have to wait a whole year. In a small area (a liter jar or a stump), a large family of mushrooms matures. This is another nice bonus for breeding honey mushrooms at home. Delicious fruiting bodies are subsequently used for salting, drying, pickling and frying. And from the whole variety of honey mushrooms, of which there are many species, you can choose any one you want.
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