Chicken mushrooms, having such an original name, are actually scientifically called annular caps. This type of mushroom is typical primarily for mountain forests and foothills. Turk, white bogbill, dull rosy ... All these are the names that are popularly called chicken mushrooms.
Description
They come in the European form of edible flavors. Chicken mushrooms have a hat up to fifteen centimeters in size. They are quite fleshy, with a bell-shaped lid, which is why they got their scientific name. The hat has edge-down and gray-yellow or ocher color. Young “hens” - mushrooms, the photo of which shows their rather great resemblance to the other representatives of the spider webs, as they grow, straighten their spherical or egg-shaped caps, gradually becoming flat with a raised center. The adult bogs or Turks have soft and loose pulp, initially white, and later yellowing.
Appearance
In general, chicken mushrooms, photos and descriptions of which show that they very much resemble cobwebs, were previously considered representatives of this species. Their almond-shaped warty spores are the same as in the latter. However, chicken mushrooms never have a gossamer veil between the edge of the cap and the leg. Their plates are relatively rare and grown, with unequal lengths.
The leg of this representative of rosettes is strong, cylindrical in shape, at the base is dense, continuous with a silky-fibrous surface.
Places of distribution
Chicken mushrooms, the photo of which shows that they are very reminiscent of some types of voles, for example, early or hard, form mycorrhiza mainly with coniferous trees, although they are found no less often under oaks or birches. In the middle lane of our country, they can be collected on mossy plots in pine or mixed forests.
In the mountains, they are found even at an altitude of two thousand meters. Most chicken hen mushrooms are common in Western Europe and Belarus. In our country, they are more often found in moist forest places of Central Russia on ash and podzolic soil types. These mushrooms love to inhabit mixed forests, but they are often found in pure conifers, unless, of course, it is quite humid and there are all the necessary conditions for reproduction and growth.
When to collect
Of course, this representative of the rosettes can hardly be attributed to the most common and demanded. Experts believe that because of this unpopularity, its external resemblance to the grebe played an important role. However, those who once tried these mushrooms will surely return to cooking dishes from the annular cap.
The search for chicken mushrooms begins in mid-August. The season can continue until the end of October. This mushroom is especially fond of blueberries and lingonberries. After the collection of berries is completed, it almost completely fills the places of their distribution in large groups. And one more interesting fact: hens grow only in ecologically clean areas.
This is not a gray fly agaric
Very often chicken novice lovers of the "quiet hunt" take chicken mushrooms for inedible ones and do not take them to their basket. But this is completely wrong. These rosettes belong to the fourth group according to their nutritional characteristics. They can be consumed both boiled and salted. They have a very exquisite mushroom aroma and exquisite taste.
Outwardly,
annular caps or chickens are very reminiscent of gray fly agaric. But they can very easily be distinguished from the latter. It is enough to simply examine the inner surface of their bonnet. There are plates with yellow and brown color. A distinctive feature of the fly agaric is that he always has snow-white at any age.
There is a difference in the structure of the legs. Firstly, this is a ring located just below their cap. It has the color of the tone of the whole mushroom. Slightly higher are small yellowish scales. In addition, the leg itself below the ring is thinner than at the top.
These delicious chicken mushrooms.
Not everyone knows how to cook a ringed cap. However, those who are already familiar with their taste, believe that when fried they are simply delicious. To prepare such a culinary masterpiece, chickens need to be cleaned and rinsed thoroughly. Some housewives like to boil them first, and only then fry them, while others prefer to brown them fresh in oil. How to eat these mushrooms is a matter of taste, but they are especially good in batter made from flour, eggs, mayonnaise and spices. First you need to dip the hens in it, then roll in breadcrumbs and put on a hot pan, in which sunflower oil is already sizzling. Frying time is approximately five or seven minutes.
A
dish prepared according to such a
recipe is eaten instantly. To taste the chicken, mushrooms, the photo of which somewhat resembles fly agaric, are similar to tender chicken meat.
Canning
Ring-shaped caps for the winter are prepared in a variety of ways: they are pickled and salted, but the pickled version deserves special attention. The taste of these mushrooms acquires sharpness and expressiveness, which is manifested in the mouth by small sharp bubbles.
The recipe for which the chicken is fermented is quite easy: for one kilogram of mushrooms you will need sixty grams of salt, several peas of pepper - black and allspice. Still need horseradish, garlic, bay leaf, mustard seeds and dill.
Mushrooms are blanched in boiling salted water, prepared at the rate of one tablespoon of salt per liter of water for five or ten minutes. Then they are thrown back onto a sieve, washed with cold water and the liquid allowed to drain.
After this, the mushrooms must be mixed with spices and the remaining salt in a bowl intended for fermentation. Then the mass is covered with a clean napkin, on top of which a wooden circle or plate is placed, and it oppresses them. Mushrooms boil from five to ten days depending on the ambient temperature. After that, they need to be transferred to banks and stored in the refrigerator.