Autumn mushrooms begin to appear in the forests near the end of August. You can collect them all the first half of September. Autumn mushrooms grow up in waves. Depending on weather conditions, there may be 2-3 waves of these mushrooms in each year, the first of which is usually the most abundant. Another feature of the growth of autumn honey agarics is that they appear quickly and abundantly, and then just as abruptly disappear. Therefore, fans of the “silent hunt” is important not to miss the moment of the start of the collection.
In which forests does this species occur?
Autumn mushroom mushroom can be considered a cosmopolitan of our latitudes. It can be found in almost any forest, whose age exceeds 30 years. Honey mushrooms grow on more than 200 species of trees. As a rule, these fungi appear in colonies on dry trunks, deadwood, stumps, roots and trunks of living plants. Most often, honey mushrooms are found on firs and birches, a little less often they can be found on pines, aspen and oaks. Wood mushrooms are orderlies in temperate forests . Settling on dead wood, they destroy it. At the same time, the valuable elements of which it consists are returned to the biological cycle of substances . Autumn mushrooms can be collected at the same place for up to 15 years in a row. After this period, the wood is completely destroyed by the mycelium.
Colonies of autumn mushrooms grow quite abundantly. From one stump you can collect several liters of these valuable mushrooms. Young mushrooms with an unopened hat are collected together with a leg. In grown mushrooms, only hats are cut. Their legs have no nutritional value.
There are many recipes for the preparation of these mushrooms. Honey mushrooms can be boiled, marinated, dried and salted, as well as fried. When picking mushrooms, you do not need to pull their legs “with the root” out of the wood so as not to damage the mycelium, which will please you with a plentiful harvest next year.
Precautionary measures
However, when going to the forest, it is important to remember the precautionary measures. Many edible mushrooms have poisonous doubles, so not a single year passes without poisoning. Before going to the forest, it is important to study the signs of not only those species that you plan to collect, but also similar ones that are better to miss. If you are not sure that this particular mushroom is definitely edible, you do not need to risk your health, it is better to leave it in the forest!
Myths about edible and poisonous mushrooms
You should not listen to "grandmother" advice on how to distinguish a poisonous mushroom from an edible one. For example, some people seriously believe that poisonous species are not eaten either by forest animals or snails. You can be convinced of the fallacy of this statement yourself - even deadly grebes for people are easily eaten by slugs and insects without problems for their lives. Another “unmistakable” way to make sure that the gifts of the wood are edible is to heat a silver spoon (or onion) with them when cooking them.
They say that if they do not darken, this means that among the mushrooms there is not one poisonous. Of course, this is not true. Silver can darken, for example, from a boletus, but will not change color when heated with the same pale grebe. You can check it yourself, but still it’s better not to arrange such experiments. Also, there are myths among people that mushrooms become poisonous if they grow near rusty iron or snake nests. Such stories should be treated as folklore, interesting as folk traditions, but without practical value.
Do I need to know the signs of poisonous mushrooms?
No less ridiculous and dangerous are the beliefs of some optimistic people who believe that poisonous mushrooms are rare, so you should not bother yourself with their distinguishing features. In fact, in our forests you can find about 90 of these species, and about 10 of them are deadly for us.
Of course, this does not mean that in order to avoid poisoning with mushrooms, they need to be bought only at grocery stores. The purpose of this article is to show the reader the importance of knowledge not only of delicious and edible species, but also of signs by which they can be distinguished from poisonous counterparts.
Autumn mushrooms double mushrooms
By some indications, edible species may resemble poisonous species. Moreover, there are a lot of such similar cases. Among mushroom pickers, a couple is known as "autumn mushroom - a dangerous double." The name of an inedible congener is a false mushroom. This is a generalized name for several species that have some similarities with the autumn open air. These mushrooms belong to the genera of Hypholus and Psalitrell. Some of them are considered simply inedible, some are poisonous. Regarding individual species, discussions are still ongoing on whether they can be considered conditionally edible. But there is no clear evidence that the person eating them does not harm himself. Therefore, it is better not to take risks and limit ourselves to collecting only autumn mushrooms. Moreover, there are a lot of them in the forest during the season.
Where do the inedible and poisonous doubles grow?
False mushrooms grow in the same places as edible ones - on stumps, deadwood and living trees, so a beginner mushroom picker can make a mistake. In order to be sure that the forest gifts you have gathered can be eaten, you need to know the signs of edible mushrooms and their dangerous counterparts.
Differences between false openings and autumn openings
A dangerous double can be easily distinguished from its edible congener.
The first thing you should pay attention to is the color of the hat. In edible mushroom, it has a color from beige to yellowish-dark brown. Moreover, old mushrooms are usually darker than young ones. Parts of hats that are closed from the sun are usually much lighter. The dangerous double of the autumn honey agaric often has a bright defiant coloring.
The second distinguishing feature is the color of the spores. They are white in edible mushrooms, therefore, on the caps of old mushrooms you can see a white coating. This is the debate. With their help honey agarics are settled. The third thing to check is the presence of a membranous "skirt" on the leg of the open. A false autumn mushroom does not have it. This symptom is the most important difference that you should pay attention to. The “skirt” of the autumn mushroom is the remainder of the protective blanket enveloping the young mushroom. The dangerous double of the autumn crib has no such cover.
The fourth difference, which helps to highlight the dangerous double of the autumn mushroom, is the color of the plates on the inside of the mushroom cap. In inedible species, which are better not to deal with, the plates are yellow, if the fungus is young, and greenish-olive in the old. Autumn mushrooms are characterized by cream, beige or light yellow discoloration.
The fifth difference is the surface of the mushroom cap. In autumn mushrooms, it is covered with small scales. Moreover, their color is usually darker than the hat itself. But old mushrooms flakes lose and become smooth. True, such overgrown mushrooms no longer have nutritional value, so they are not interested in mushroom pickers.
The sixth sign that will help distinguish an edible mushroom is its smell. Autumn mushrooms smell pleasantly, and the smell of false smells like mold.
Conclusion
Knowledge of these signs will be enough to be able to distinguish the autumn mushroom. A photo of the mushroom will help you not to be mistaken. But it’s even better to bring along an experienced connoisseur who will show you what autumn mushrooms look like. Once you see them with your own eyes, it will be difficult for you to confuse them with any other kind. But even an old woman happens to be a racket, so do not forget the main rule of mushroom pickers: "Not sure - don't take it."