A special delicacy on any table is White mushroom- not only tasty, but also healthy. It can be used not only for food, but also as remedy. For a mushroom picker, it is important not to make a mistake in choosing - to look at the handsome one among the forest grass and be able to distinguish it from its skillfully camouflaged poisonous and inedible counterparts.

Porcini mushroom or real boletus ( Boletus edulis) belongs to the class Agaricomycetes, genus Borovik, family Boletaceae. It has many names: cow, bear, wood grouse, belevik and others. Classified as edible.

The cap is convex in shape, gradually becoming flatter, with a span of up to 30 cm. The outer part is usually smooth, but may have wrinkles and cracks in hot weather. During periods of high humidity with a small mucous layer, in dry times it is shiny.

The color of the porcini mushroom cap varies depending on where it grows:

• among pine trees - closer to chocolate, perhaps pink edging;
• V spruce forest– brown with a coffee, sometimes green tint;
• Near deciduous trees– light, light walnut, yellow ocher.

The pulp is dense, in newly emerging specimens it is light, turning yellow with age. When cut, the color does not change. It has a weak taste and smell when raw. A special pleasant aroma spreads during cooking or drying.

The stem of the mushroom is 8-12 cm high, up to 7 cm thick. The shape is “barrel” or “club”, elongated in aging specimens, thickened at the base. The surface shades are brown with whitish or reddish tints. The reticular layer is light, most often located closer to the cap. Rarely is it mild or absent altogether.

The tubular layer is from light in young to yellowish and greenish in older individuals; it comes off the cap flesh without difficulty.

Distribution and collection season

They grow next to many trees, but most of all they love the “community” of pine forests, birch or oak groves, and spruce forests.

The boron form in autumn friendlyly shares space with green russula in the oak forest and with the chanterelle next to the birches, appears at the same time as the greenfinch.

There is a high probability of finding such whites in pine trees that are 20-25 years old, or pine forests that are at least 50 years old and covered with moss and lichen.

Best temperature for mushroom growth– in the summer months 15-18 degrees Celsius, and in September 8-10. Serious temperature changes and rain inhibit the development of mycelium. White hare grows best after minor thunderstorms and foggy, warm nights.

Soils are preferred with the presence of sand and loam, without excess water. Peat bogs and swampy areas are excluded. They also do not like hot places, although they prefer good lighting.

You can meet the hare on all continents except Australia. It grows especially actively in Europe, northern America and even Africa. In Asia it reaches Japan and China. In Russian forests - almost everywhere, reaching the tundra and Chukotka, but is not found in the steppes. Doesn’t like to “climb mountains” too much.

Fruiting is solitary, closer to autumn days– heap.

Porcini mushrooms grow in seasons: in more temperate climatic latitudes - from mid-June to the end of September, the most mushroom time is from the fifteenth of August. Where it is warmer, it may appear by the end of May and not disappear until October.

Species diversity and description

Scientists have counted 18 forms among white hare, but the average amateur will not want to climb into such jungle. And it’s possible to meet some only on other hemispheres of the planet. Therefore, let’s take a closer look at what grows in the forests of Russia.

Spruce

The white spruce mushroom (Boletus edulis f. edulis) is large in size, up to 2 kg per specimen. The hat is chestnut-brown or “brick with a red tint”, in the form of a hemisphere, turning into a plane over time. The top is wrinkled and velvety to the touch. In young mushrooms, the edges are slightly turned inward.

The tubes are white, gradually appearing yellow-green. Leg height 6-20 cm, thickness 2-5. The mesh layer is located closer to the cap.

Distribution and collection time

Collection is possible from early June to early October in spruce-pine and mixed forests– wild and park. They love the proximity to spruce.

Oak

The white oak mushroom (Boletus quercicola) has a cap that is most often coffee-gray in color, with possible light inclusions, 5-20 cm in diameter, fleshy and dense. With age, it gradually begins to wrinkle. As humidity increases, the surface becomes shiny and slightly slimy.

The leg is widened or club-shaped, 6-20 cm high and 2-6 cm in diameter. The inner part is more fragile than that of other species.

Where and in what season is it collected?

Oak porcini mushrooms grow from May to October next to oak trees and mixed vegetation in the middle and southern zone of the center of the country, the forests of the Caucasus, and Primorye. They spread widely, sometimes in clusters.

Birch

White birch mushroom (Boletus betulicola) – fruiting body significantly larger than those of other brothers. The cap reaches 5-15 cm in diameter, but at times grows to 25-27 cm. The color is light - from white to light coffee, it can wrinkle slightly and crack in the heat.

The tubes are white, with the decay of the mushroom comes a creamy tint. The interior is dense and remains white. The leg is barrel-shaped, white-brown, the mesh is closer to the cap, 5-13 cm high, 1.5-4 cm wide.

Distribution and collection time

The white birch mushroom is present throughout the forests of the European part of Russia, the middle latitudes of Northern and North-East Asia, the Caucasus, and the tundra zone - among the northern birch forests. Any soil (but does not take root on peat bogs), the main thing is that birches or at least aspens grow nearby.

You can find it from early summer until October. Some beauties can survive until the first cold weather. Trim carefully 1.5-2 cm from the ground. You need to look for birch porcini mushrooms on the outskirts of the forest and along nearby roads.

Pine

The white pine mushroom (Boletus pinophilus), also called boletus, looks like a “fat mushroom.” The height of the leg is from 5 to 16 cm, with a diameter of 4-10 cm, thicker at the base. The surface is completely “enveloped” in a reddish or light brownish mesh.

The diameter of the cap is 5-25 cm. The general color is dark brown, there may be variability in reddish shades, the outline is slightly pink, in newly grown ones it is closer to light. The lower part is white-yellow, darkening with increasing age. The flesh at the break is white, under the skin it is brown with a red tint, with a weaker structure than that of the white birch mushroom.

Where and in what season is it collected?

Borovaya porcini mushroom is collected in the Siberian taiga, coniferous forests of the western half of the European part of the country and in the northeast from July to the 15th of October. Prefers sandy pine forest soils, old forests with mosses and lichens. Can be found in forests mixed with pine.

It is important to collect before the tubular layer acquires a greenish tint - old specimens can lead to poisoning!

Picking mushrooms - how to do it right?

When going to the forest, you need to understand where, when and how to collect porcini mushrooms. It is preferable to start “hunting” for them in July and August. They especially scatter across the soil after brief thunderstorms and warm fogs at night. In summer, the boletus mushroom grows for 6-9 days, in autumn – 9-15.

It is advisable to come to the forest before the sun has risen, when the white mushroom is clearly visible. Move slowly, carefully examining the ground. Especially places with sand and loam, where the soil does not flood. When the summer is damp, it is worth looking at a distance from trees, on hills and in places well lit by the sun. If the season is dry, whites hide near the trees, where the grass is thicker. They love to live next to morels.

The best specimens for collecting are those with a cap diameter of approximately 4 cm. Boletus is loved by various kinds of pests, so you need to look out for them carefully, especially in the cap. Be sure to cut it into pieces and remove the wormholes. Within 10 hours, the porcini mushroom must be processed (placed for drying, salting, fried, etc.), otherwise most of the beneficial properties will be lost.

Collection rules

• cut off the porcini mushroom carefully, without damaging the mycelium;
• can be unscrewed;
• clean from possible pests (although it is better to take whole ones);
• place in a collection container with the cap down;
• if the legs are high, lay them sideways;
• leave overripe and questionable specimens on the ground;
• do not trample.

Healthy porcini mushrooms are not afraid of frost, so they can be harvested even after frost. After thawing, they do not lose their taste.

Nutritional quality

Freshly picked porcini mushroom has a calorie content of 34 kcal per 100 g of mass, dried - 286 kcal. Nutritional value – 1.7 g fat, 1 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g protein per 100 g weight. Also disaccharides and saturated fatty acids.
Praised for excellent taste in any form. Special the nutritional value the fact that it makes the stomach work actively.

90% of the weight is water, the remaining 10 is divided into proteins, fiber, carbohydrates, minerals and fats.

It contains the most important microelements - iodine, copper, manganese and zinc. Vitamins – PP, C, B1, A. 22 amino acids. The amount of protein depends on the type, age of the mushroom (the younger the better), place of growth and method of preservation. Dried porcini mushrooms are especially good at preserving proteins.

Digestibility of mushroom proteins

It happens more slowly than in animals, since the proteins of the fungus are enclosed in special walls that “do not penetrate” the enzymes of the digestive tract. To improve absorption by the body, mushrooms need to be well chopped, boiled or fried.

Usage

White mushrooms without wormholes are allowed to be eaten in any form - dried, boiled, fried, salted, pickled and fresh. When dried, they do not become dark, leaving a pleasant forest aroma. The sauce goes great with meat and rice. Powder from such mushrooms can be used to season various dishes. Italians love them very much, adding them raw to the ingredients of a salad with Parmesan cheese, seasoning with oil, spices and lemon juice.

Dried mushrooms can be stored for 1 year by placing them in paper bags. The air temperature should be fixed and moderate, and regular ventilation is required.

The benefits and harms of porcini mushroom

Porcini mushrooms are both beneficial and harmful depending on their human use.

Beneficial features

• in pharmaceuticals – treatment of mastopathy, oncology, angina pectoris, tuberculosis;
• strengthen the immune system;
• improve the condition of eyes, hair and nails;
• are a preventative against anemia and atherosclerosis;
• when used externally – promotes fast healing wound

Harm

• collected near roads and industrial enterprises - absorb heavy metals and toxic substances;
• if stored improperly, porcini mushrooms can cause serious stomach upset, especially in children;
• excessive consumption dried mushroom can cause obesity;
• use porcini mushroom with caution in patients with liver and kidney problems.

Mushroom look-alikes

A serious problem is created by dangerous doubles of the porcini mushroom. To distinguish the porcini mushroom from false poisonous and inedible mushrooms, use the table below.

It is clear that they are poisonous and inedible mushrooms In many ways they are similar to white ones, but upon closer inspection they can still be distinguished. Additionally, a look at external condition– false ones have an impeccable appearance.

Symptoms of doppelgangers poisoning, first aid

In case of poisoning in an adult, serious symptoms last up to 3 days. These are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headache. But due to the unknown impact of poisons, psychogenic reactions are real, including hallucinations, absolute loss of self-control and memory, and even lethargic sleep or death.

As soon as symptoms arise, immediately rinse the stomach and take the poisoned person to the hospital or call ambulance. The effects of doppelgangers mushrooms, especially Satanic mushrooms, have been little studied and delaying first aid can be fatal.

Compare carefully appearance a specimen you came across on a “quiet hunt” with a description of the porcini mushroom, as you remembered it and with the help of the photos given in the article. Place only those in your cart that you are completely sure of. And then the beauties brought home will delight all gourmets with the amazing aroma and taste of forest gifts.

For lovers of “quiet” hunting, mushroom season begins in early summer and lasts until late autumn. And rarely do they return home without a “catch.” The main thing is that the summer is not dry and hot, but periodically pleases them with drizzling rains.

Mushroom picker calendar

Everything in nature is interconnected. And even mushroom picking is no exception. The bird cherry blossoms - boletus mushrooms appear. The first thunderstorms will thunder, the rye will begin to sprout in the field, and boletuses will immediately jump out. When the fragrant linden blossoms and the aroma of honey spreads, a second, more diverse wave of mushrooms will appear. But the richest mushroom season is undoubtedly the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. But when are porcini mushrooms collected?

They grow from late June to October, but if the summer is humid and warm, they can be found earlier. Folk calendar says that the first boletus mushrooms are harvested when the rye begins to sprout. And when the linden blossomed, it was time for the second collection of boletus mushrooms.

Well done mushroom

Like most other mushrooms, it has many names: boletus, belovik, zhannik, white, pechura, cow's cow. The names do not reflect the beauty of this great mushroom. Dense and strong, with a dry, roundish cap in a variety of shades - from ocher-brown to brown-red - it seems to be intended only to be admired. It is not for nothing that many lovers of “quiet” hunting collect these mushrooms to count.

White mushrooms. Where to collect them

Based on their place of growth, boletus species are divided into birch, oak, spruce and pine. For each pore, the porcini mushroom chooses its favorite place.

The first to appear in well-warmed places in early June are white birch mushrooms, along with boletus mushrooms and some other mushrooms. At this time, the grain in the field is heading, which is why people call them grain ears. In July, in the first ten days, it is time for mushroom hunting in oak forests. White oak mushrooms friendly: whole families meet. Later, but also in July, white birches appear again. They are called "stubbers" because the harvest begins in the field. You need to look for such white ones in a sparse birch forest. In late July and early August, white spruce trees emerge from the ground. They are found in young plantings of fir trees, and also in places where there are a lot of birch and spruce trees. The spruce trees are followed by white pine trees, dark-headed pine trees - they are already growing before the end of the season, preferring edges or clearings with sparse ferns, overgrown with bushes and sparse pines.

So when are porcini mushrooms harvested? The harvesting times for various mushrooms are approximate. First of all, they depend on climatic conditions. Of course, warm and moderately rainy weather will allow mushrooms to appear earlier than average, while cold or too dry weather will delay the time for collecting them.

Porcini. When to collect it

With the morning dawn. It is good to pick mushrooms early in the morning, before the dew has fallen, and before the sun heats them up. Then the mushrooms are stored longer for a long time. When heated by the sun, placed in a thick layer in a basket or bucket, they begin to quickly deteriorate - they become wet and slippery, and emit bad smell. They are not suitable for recycling.

A few more tips on when to pick porcini mushrooms. Boletuses grow best in warm, steamy weather; the most suitable temperature for this is not lower than 16 and not higher than 25 degrees, when the soil is well saturated with moisture. Warm, drizzling rain promotes mushroom growth. By the way, the first mushrooms that pop up a couple of days after such rain are most often wormy, and real mushroom shoots, strong and pleasing to the eye, will appear a little later. So you need to know when porcini mushrooms are collected in order to return from a “quiet” hunt with a basket full of handsome boletus mushrooms.

Have you seen a clearing of porcini mushrooms? Many mushroom pickers say, yes, I have seen it, and more than once!
This means that this is not a mushroom picker, but a mushroom talker. But chanterelles can be found in the fields, just like saffron milk caps.
Porcini mushrooms don’t grow in the clearings, so send him to that forest, he eats the wrong mushrooms.

This, in my opinion, is the most beautiful, valuable, and simply wonderful mushroom that breeds and multiplies in pine forests. He loves cleanliness, which is why he settles under the ship’s pines, where the sun’s ray, so rare this year, falls, choosing for himself a clean and soft moss-like litter lightly sprinkled with pine needles. Even rotting from old age in such a pleasant place.

The very first exit, it is crazy, for our Vyatka forests in the northeast of the region it falls precisely on today time - beginning, mid-July. It doesn't last long. The main and pure strong pine forests will grow in August, at the same time as blueberries and lingonberries. In the meantime, they are barely noticeable and quite difficult to find. We move through the forest, looking only at our feet; a couple of hits with our foreheads on a pine tree don’t count. We walk quietly, without breaking dry branches, so as not to alert with our presence those who are mowing the pine forests in the clearing.

This is how the boletus is roughly visible.

It seems small, but if you press down the moss a little (under no circumstances pull it out!), then it’s a different matter. You pluck, twist or cut the mushrooms. I prefer the old-fashioned way, but still cut it off. His mycelium (family) is large, look around about ten meters, you should definitely find more. If you step on it, you will feel it, nothing bad will happen, don’t regret it. The boletus will press into the moss, but don’t walk through the forest barefoot for greater sensitivity of your feet, just wash your feet in the morning cold water, yes it is good for health.

Blueberry in which boletus mushrooms like to hide. Usually you see them as already mature. Can be used as a gift. They are also suitable for drying, but this is when there is “no fish and no fish”.

I will probably never believe that blueberries can bear fruit in 5-7 years, as experts from the zomboyashka write when studying mushrooms using beautiful pictures. Alas, you rarely see real practitioners and experts on TV, just like gardeners.

I know a lot of so-called young blueberries and lingonberries that are already ten years old, and so, according to my observations, the first harvest can be harvested in about 15-20 years. I hate and despise those pickers who pick berries using a combine harvester.

Knowing the places and having good berries, you can collect three buckets with your hands in a day without straining. It can turn black and burst. And there’s nothing to say about lingonberries - just milk them like a cow into a kettle, and have time to pour them into containers. For lingonberries and for small pine whites I use

A clearing, just a rare clearing in a forest, and not a clearing where chatterboxes mow down boletus mushrooms with their trunks. If you're lucky, you'll find a dozen or two around the edge.

And here are the ant trails. They are easy to spot in a pine forest; they stand out clearly against the moss. You can’t see it in spruce even with glasses. Yes, even though the weight in it is not in comparison with its strength, but it tramples on it instantly, carrying it three times more weight than themselves.

Fork. There is no need for a traffic controller, everyone knows their way and their job. Nothing extra.

That's it, you can have a smoke on a fallen pine tree. There's still not enough mushrooms. It's not time for boars yet. Let's wait.

This is what the September headlines of the republican online media look like. Mushroom pickers are arguing: some are sure that the coming weekend is the last chance to return from the forest with a basket of white mushrooms dusted with a thin layer of saffron milk caps, others say that the season will last until the end of October. “Inde” talked with adherents of “silent hunting” about tricks, favorite dishes and fly agarics.

Igor Galiakberov

29 years old, developer of equipment for quests

I have a dacha in Aryshkhazd, which is 30 kilometers from Kazan along the KAMAZ highway. Within a radius of 15 kilometers from it, I know all the mushroom places, although in general I don’t know my way around Tatarstan very well.

I believe that the peak of the mushroom season, when you can cut seven or eight mushrooms without getting up from your squat, begins in early September and lasts until the middle of the month. But, of course, it all depends on the weather. There are subperiods within the season: first come boletuses and aspen mushrooms, then white and saffron milk caps. But the abundance of fly agarics is a clear sign that there is nothing more to catch. There are a couple of magical days in September when you can go and easily pick up two baskets of whites, but you need to be able to intuitively feel this time. Porcini mushrooms are the most difficult to find, so they are highly valued, although I personally like them less than the same boletus and aspen mushrooms.

I am the mushroom picker who loves to both collect and eat, but I try not to collect something that needs to be kept under the sun for six hours, boiled for eight hours and evaporated for ten. Milk mushrooms, for example, are very tedious to salt, so they are a waste. Volnushki, pigs, russula - too. I don’t collect umbrellas - I know that Europeans value them very much, but here they grow like giant champignons and attract no one. In general, I think that being greedy is bad: cut only what you know well. Most food poisoning occurs due to the fact that people collect one thing under the guise of something completely different. Fortunately, our forests have no shortage of good mushrooms to collect dubious russula.

I usually go out to pick mushrooms at nine o’clock, but I’ve heard beliefs that say you must definitely be in the forest at three in the morning - I don’t know why. I also heard that after a certain time of day, mushrooms become stale and absorb poison, but in practice I have not encountered this. Once I cut some fly agarics for beauty, but they quickly became wrinkled and dry, and I threw them away. I don’t know if it’s possible to make all these useful tinctures for rubbing from Tatarstan fly agarics - I haven’t seen a single grandmother who would collect them, and grandmothers, as you know, are experts in folk medicine.

There is such a thing - mushroom intuition. A set of signs by which you can understand whether you will find mushrooms or not. For example, if you walk for five to seven minutes and don’t see a single mushroom, most likely there won’t be any. The second trick is understanding the landscape. There are no mushrooms in a dense forest: they like there to be a little sun and a little moisture, but no light penetrates into the thicket.

One of the most important reasons to go mushroom picking is a freebie, because what you collect in two or three times is enough for a whole year. They used to be dried, but now the most popular method is freezing. Of course, then the mushrooms will not be as tasty as fresh, but it will do just fine. But the main thing about mushroom hunting is that it is an adventurous journey - almost like “The Hobbit.” Roundtrip". I remember as a child, my friends and I went into the forest to fantasize that we were carrying the ring to Mount Orodruin. I understand that as an adult it is very difficult to take a step towards such escapism. And even as children, we had a crazy idea to make a first-person analogue of Doom 2, where you go with a knife and pick mushrooms. During the process, some creatures jump out at you, and at the end - a boss in the form of a giant satanic mushroom.

Are mushrooms healthy? Don't know. It seems to me that food is, in principle, useful, because without it we are all guaranteed to die. My favorite mushroom dish - fried potatoes with boletus mushrooms, and you definitely need to add some mixture of peppers and sour cream to the mushrooms.

Boris Moskalu

26 years old, regional manager of the Kazan plant "Greifer"

As a child, my father often took me with him when he went mushroom picking. He taught me, and now I teach my son - the guy is only a year and a half old, but I am already explaining to him how to distinguish edible from inedible. Since I grew up in a military family, we moved often - Nizhny Novgorod, Moldova, the southern part of Russia. I can say that although in Moldova the nature is richer and purer, in Tatarstan mushroom places much more.

Not a single mushroom picker will tell you the exact coordinates of their places, but I can indicate my favorite directions. I have several proven clearings in the village of Voronovka - for the last couple of years my wife and I have only been going there. It is almost within the city limits, and the harvests are not inferior to either Mariyka or remote areas of Tatarstan. It's still good in Petrovsky. Usually I cut a mushroom, cover it with leaves, two or three days later I come to the same place, remove the leaves and cut a new one. I always drive deeper into the forest so as not to bump into anyone and collect what has grown along the road. Of course, this is fraught: in last time We sat down on our stomachs and had to put my wife behind the wheel and push the car out myself. But there are adventures - life in the city is boring.

Behind last years One of the most successful seasons was the fall of 2015. This year is also good: everywhere you go, there are mushrooms everywhere. The most disastrous season was after the terrible dry summer of 2010. By the way, today, due to the heat, the season also opened late: I went into the forest for the first time a couple of weeks ago, although I usually collect from mid-August. As a rule, the season lasts until mid-October, but this year I think it will be longer. Now the weather is optimal: it rained and then became a little warmer. In the 20th of September, honey mushrooms just began to appear - this means that the most interesting things are ahead.

I’ve never made a mistake with mushrooms, but before I eat something unusual, I often ask for advice on the Internet. I either send photos to mushroom picking groups, or read feature articles with pictures. It turns out that many of the mushrooms that we are used to kicking and trampling in the forest are actually edible. There are, for example, mushrooms that look like umbrellas, only their caps are curved inward - it looks like a dome. I always thought these were fly agaric mushrooms, but it turned out that they are very tasty. The legs cannot be eaten, but the heads can and should be fried in batter.

This year, after two trips, we now have three at home. three liter jars pickled mushrooms. The last time we collected 30 liters - it’s good that my wife handles everything. I think if we collect a lot this weekend, we will sell it, because we no longer have the energy to clean it. We will act through Avito or VKontakte groups; we will give a kilogram of white rubles for 300-350 rubles. To collect such an amount, you need to walk through the forest for half an hour or an hour, although it all depends on luck and the weather.

Nikolay Panchenko

85 years old, retired

I grew up next to the Bryansk forests, on the border with Ukraine. When I was three years old, my older brother and sister took me mushroom hunting for the first time. They returned without me - I fell asleep in the clearing. I returned to picking mushrooms as a hobby about 15 years ago.

I usually go to the forest in Borovoye Matyushino - it’s about an hour’s walk from my garden on Chistoe Lake. My favorite mushrooms are podgrudki and milk mushrooms. In addition to them, I collect honey mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, and saffron milk caps. I collect boletus when young pine forest, milk mushrooms - in a mixed environment where birch and pine grow, honey mushrooms most often appear on the stumps of birch or linden trees, I look for white milk mushrooms under birch trees. The best honey mushrooms, forest ones (there are also meadow ones), need to be collected within five days - approximately from September 5th to 10th, otherwise they will outgrow. The loads are collected twice a year: the first layer occurs at the end of July, the second begins around September 5 and continues until October.

If you want the loads not to turn black as soon as you bring them from the forest, you need to wash them, let them cook for five minutes after the water boils, and immediately transfer them to cold water. After that, you put them in layers in a bucket, salt them, put garlic, currant leaves and horseradish on top. The layer is approximately five centimeters. Then you fill it with brine, close the bucket and put pressure on top - stone is best, but in no case brick or metal. All mushrooms should be under water. After 40 days you can eat. If you want to transfer them from a bucket to a glass jar, press them tightly with the rack up, fill them with brine and put them in the refrigerator, otherwise they will start to foam.

The loader grows in the garbage, you need to look for it carefully. But if you find one, you’ll collect six to ten pieces nearby at once. Just do not pull it out under any circumstances - you will damage the mycelium, and next year there will be no mushrooms in this place. Now at the market porcini mushrooms are sold directly with the roots - they are, of course, edible, but this means that next year mushroom pickers will have fewer places to collect. They also sell pigs, although they are semi-edible and not everyone knows that before eating they need to be soaked until cold water the blackness will not go away, and then cook until the boiling water stops being black.

You can easily pick up a basket or two of butter at one time, but you have to hurry: they grow for only four to five days, and then they outgrow and become tasteless. It is better to notice the place in advance - if you see an old fallen or dried birch without leaves, know that there will be boletus there. If you find two or three such birch trees, consider yourself to have collected a full basket of mushrooms. At home, you need to wash them with cold water, but there is no need to peel them - just cut off the stem and immediately salt them.

I myself practically don’t eat mushrooms - I pick them for pleasure. You walk through a quiet forest after dawn - an owl will fly by, then you will see a kite in the sky, then you will hear wild animals. Beauty. Of course, I sold the surplus. Two years ago, a jar of salted toppings was sold for 800 rubles, and regular customers took four at once. There was a season when I earned 30 thousand rubles from mushrooms - I had to take care of my health, but I picked mushrooms.

The duration of your mushroom hunting trip depends on the containers you take with you. You can fill a small basket in five minutes, then return to the car and empty the contents into a large bucket. For some Mariyka, this is an ideal option, because there you don’t want to go further than 200-300 meters from the car - it’s easy to get lost. And in Borovoye Matyushino there is sparse forest, so I go far and take bigger baskets. Although, to be honest, walking through the forest with a ten-kilogram burden is not a fountain.

An experienced mushroom picker in the forest may have a feeling that I would call mushroom intuition: he looks around and understands that he will soon find something. Mushrooms grow next to each other - if you catch one with your eye, squat down and look around from different angles. This is an excellent training for vision and attention, which immediately identifies absent-minded people. It happens that you follow some grandmother through the forest and think: she probably collected everything! And then you look at your feet - not only did you not collect it, you also trampled it. But main principle mushroom picker: if you’re not sure, don’t take it. There are false honey mushrooms, false chanterelles and false whites. More than once I witnessed how people cut them off, but remained silent, because the second main principle of a mushroom picker is that the fewer mushroom pickers, the more mushrooms. Just kidding.

I don’t have a personal mushroom rating, but I know that there is a table of the taste value of mushrooms that cooks use. The first thing in it is truffle. I have heard stories that they were also found in our strip, but, unfortunately, I do not have trained pigs to check this. After the truffle comes the camelina, then the white one. Chanterelles are considered super healthy - they remove toxins. Personally, I love white and saffron milk caps, but it all depends on how to cook them and what to eat them with. Salted milk mushrooms with vodka - wow! But salting milk mushrooms is a problem; I don’t do it myself.

The main mistake that a novice mushroom picker can make is to come to an unfamiliar place and get lost. The second point is to come to a place where mushrooms cannot be found by default. Signs of such places: thick grass, plenty of standing water, cultivated soil. I know that whites love abandoned roads - as a rule, they are covered with moss, which accumulates moisture, and the mycelium spreads well there.

Now mushrooms once again You can’t even post it on Instagram, it has become a bad form - like cats or food. Maybe even worse.