Many mushroom pickers do not take these mushrooms seriously. Novice pickers are afraid to confuse them with fly agaric and poison. Mushroom pickers with experience recognize only "real" mushrooms such as porcini and saffron mushrooms, and do not even look towards the lesser-known ones. In fact, umbrellas are delicious, delicious mushrooms. You will learn how to find and prepare them correctly from this article.
Where can I find a mushroom umbrella
Umbrellas are a very unusual type of mushroom. Huge mushroom caps scattered across a meadow or coppice resemble cosmic flying saucers. And this is their main distinguishing feature. Connoisseurs of these mushrooms claim that they have a very refined taste. To some, it reminds a chicken, and to someone a flounder. Their smell is compared with a subtle nutty aroma. And with such qualities they are very different from their forest counterparts (whites, birch trees and others).
These mushrooms are spread almost all over the world, where there is fertile soil, humus, moist environment. They grow in more often mixed and almost always in deciduous forest zones. But they can be found in fields, in meadows, in pastures, in squares and city parks.
Some species grow even in the absence of light in the basements (like champignons). To date, eleven species of mushroom umbrellas are known. They are found throughout Russia, in Europe, America, as well as in some Asian countries (Iran, Turkey). Seven types of umbrellas grow in Russia.
What do mushroom umbrellas look like?
Real edible umbrellas are difficult to confuse with other mushrooms because of their large size. The diameter of the cap can vary from ten to thirty centimeters. The mushroom at the young age has the shape of an egg, then the hat takes the form of a bell. As the hat grows open, it becomes flat. It is dry to the touch, occasionally it can be mucous. The peel of the hat is covered with thin large scales. Color - white, brown, may be slightly yellowish or reddish. Plates and spores are white clean.
The leg of the mushroom is from ten centimeters to thirty high (for large mushrooms). The thickness of the legs is 2-3 centimeters. At the top there is a wide movable ring that does not disappear as it grows. The foot is also covered with scales.
Edible umbrellas
There are several common types of edible umbrellas.
Umbrella white field (meadow)
This mushroom is found from spring to late autumn. It grows in meadows, forests, steppe zones. In Russia, it can be seen in the forests of Siberia, Primorye, the European part and in the North Caucasus. The usual size of this mushroom (by cap size) is not more than ten centimeters. The largest white umbrellas can be found on humus soils (most often in the steppes.) There, their maximum size is 15-20 centimeters.
Like all types of mushrooms of umbrellas, in white caps is initially spherical, but straightens as it grows. On a hat in the center there is a cone-shaped tubercle. The leg of the mushroom is thin, low, white or beige. Fruiting lasts from the beginning of summer (June) to the end of October.
Blushing shaggy mushroom umbrella
Very appreciated by umbrella lovers. The mushroom has a pleasant smell and taste. Distributed in forests on humus-rich soil. It can be found in greenhouses and greenhouses, with soil imported from forests. In such conditions it grows like champignon. Fruiting from mid-summer (July) to the end of October.
The mushroom is quite large and fleshy. Hat from ten to 20 centimeters around the circumference. The color is grayish brown or ocher gray. The surface is cracking, with large brown flakes. Thick, loose flesh, in the air during a break it acquires a reddish tint.
The height of the mushroom is 10-30 centimeters.
Variegated umbrella (large)
Large view of umbrellas. It grows everywhere - in forests, fields, gardens, gardens, meadows. It can grow alone, maybe in groups of rings.
The mushroom hat is very large - up to thirty centimeters in diameter. First, in the form of a large egg, then opens to a large bell. Ripening mushroom, it becomes like an open umbrella. The color is grayish, in the center of the cap is a tubercle. Young mushroom white friable pulp. In older mushrooms, it becomes dense and stiff, cartilaginous. The leg is long up to thirty centimeters in height.
Fruiting lasts from August to October.
Umbrella Girl
A rare copy listed in the Red Book. It is found in Russia only in the southern regions of the Far East. It grows mainly in coniferous and coniferous-mixed forests. It can grow singly and in groups. Often artificially bred in reserves.
The mushroom is not large. Hat 5-10 centimeters in diameter, with brown scales. The height of the legs is not more than fifteen centimeters, 2-5 cm thick. The smell of the mushroom is pleasant.
In addition to forest collection, umbrellas can be grown in your garden. It is enough to use the purchased mycelium or transfer part of the soil with spores of umbrellas from the forest to your site. In order for the mushrooms to sprout, they need to be covered with leaves, shavings and watered abundantly.
Poison umbrellas
In nature, there are not only edible umbrellas, but also their poisonous species. From some, a fatal outcome is possible, while others cause poisoning.
Umbrella (Lepiota)
From June to the end of October, it grows in meadows, pastures, and copses. It has an unpleasant smell of rotting radish. Inedible. Causes intoxication in the body - vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache.
In appearance, it is similar to its edible counterparts, but smaller. The hat is no more than 3-5 cm in diameter. The color is whitish, gray, beige. There are many brownish scales on the hat.
It has a white thin flesh. The foot is approximately five centimeters high and one centimeter wide. The ring on the stem is white or reddish, disappears upon maturation.
Chestnut or red-brown lepiot (umbrella)
Poisonous mushroom that causes death after eating. It grows in mixed forests of the temperate climate zone. It is found in Eastern and Western Siberia, as well as in European countries. Fruiting from mid-summer (end of June to July) until fall (first frost).
The mushroom is medium in size. The hat is up to 5 cm in diameter. As soon as it begins to grow, it looks like a bell, but then it gradually opens to the umbrella. There are many brownish scales on the hat, which are darker in color than the hat. The pulp is reddish.
Leg no more than ten centimeters high, brownish or pinkish, fragile. It has a white ring that disappears as the fungus grows.
In order not to confuse the edible mushroom with its poisonous double, collect as much information as possible, see a lot of pictures.
And in this video, an experienced mushroom picker tells how and where to pick mushrooms with umbrellas, and how to distinguish them from fly agaric:
Mushroom processing
Since the mushrooms are quite fragile, they must be very carefully folded in a basket to bring home in general, rather than crumbled.
Mushroom Processing:
- cut off the legs (it’s better to do this in the forest);
- wash the hats in running water, cleaning forest litter;
- cut black spots, cut off the dark top where the spores are contained;
- cut into several parts.
Umbrella mushroom breeding
Despite the fact that umbrellas belong to the family of champignons, their cultivation did not happen. The rare attempts of individual lovers to grow this mushroom in their plots did not make it a business to grow (unlike its closest relatives of champignons).
But you can try to grow an umbrella on your site. Of course, you are unlikely to get a big harvest, but you can please yourself with delicious dishes (if you're lucky).
Mushroom cultivation is carried out by propagation in two ways:
- Through the mycelium. This is the underground part of the rhizomes into which the fungi are connected (their colony).
- Through disputes. These are such small particles in a mushroom cap. At umbrellas they are clearly visible.
Spore propagation
When propagating through the spores of an umbrella, it is necessary to do such a manipulation.
In the forest, find an old overripe mushroom umbrella, in a flabby wilted state. Bring his hat to the site and hang it over the place where it is planned to grow mushrooms (for example, by sticking it on a branch or threading through a rope). The mushroom will dry, spores spill out onto the ground, so the sowing will happen.
The planting bed should be well prepared. Since the umbrella loves calcined soil, it must be fertilized with calcium. In addition, you can add concentrated additives that are used to grow champignons. After all, these mushrooms are from the same family.
Reproduction through the mycelium
You can find mycelium or spores only by yourself, carefully digging it in the forest. Bring home and drop off a prepared bed. Prepare the garden, as in the previous case.
It is worth remembering that in a new place and with a different microflora, mushrooms take root with great difficulty. The composition of the forest soil, the natural landscape cannot be repeated on the garden plot.
There is another way to get large yields of umbrellas. The bottom line is to expand the area of fruiting of the mushrooms in the place where they were collected. Caps cut from old mushrooms are taken and hung in the same way as in the garden above the place of their collection. Thus, the sowing area increases, and the yield of mushrooms increases.
In addition, it is worth making a rule - as soon as you find an old overripe mushroom next to young mushrooms, think about how you can increase the yield of mushrooms with it. To do this, you just need to chop the hat of the old mushroom on a branch of a tree growing nearby (for ripening and dispersing spores). Thus, it is possible to significantly increase the yield of mushrooms of umbrellas in the forest area, without putting any effort into it.
If you learn to accurately determine the edible umbrellas from their inedible and poisonous counterparts, then your mushroom basket will be replenished with valuable useful mushrooms. And their proper cultivation will often allow you to feast on this delicious delicacy.