From early spring to late autumn, the mushrooms of the Trans-Baikal Territory amaze both beginners and experienced "hunters" with their diversity.
Mushrooms of the Trans-Baikal Territory
Characteristics of edibility
There are 4 degrees of edibility of mushrooms in the Trans-Baikal Territory:
- edible;
- conditionally edible;
- inedible;
- poisonous.
It all depends on how much heat treatment you need to subject the forest gifts. Only edibles are suitable for raw food: russula and champignons.
Conditionally edible specimens are perfectly safe, but they are not as tasty and aromatic.
Despite the threatening name - "inedible", these species are not capable of causing much harm to the human body, but they require preliminary processing, which sometimes takes a long time - up to 8 hours (soaking, washing and boiling).
All poisonous are not suitable for food. Their toxins are difficult to remove at home. Toadstool transmits toxins even when touched. Through the skin, the poison enters the bloodstream and causes poisoning. Edible mushrooms growing next to it become poisonous if their caps touch. In this case, microscopic spores fall on them, which make them unsuitable for consumption.
In terms of taste, edible and conditionally edible have 4 categories. The most fragrant and delicious ones belong to the 1st category. This includes all types of whites, milk mushrooms, etc.
The second category includes boletus, boletus, Polish mushrooms and all types of champignons. They have less aroma and taste, therefore they are considered less noble.
The 3rd category has an average smell and taste. These are ordinary mushrooms, mushrooms, morels, etc.
Representatives of the 4th category have a specific taste and a bitter aftertaste. It includes conditionally edible mushrooms. They are eaten after careful and painstaking pretreatment; aromatic spices and herbs are added to enhance the taste. More often, such mushrooms are used in pickles or marinades.
Edible species of mushrooms of Transbaikalia
Transbaikalia is a land rich in forest treasures. There are many plants growing there with unusual names and shapes, edible and inedible mushrooms.
The crops are harvested from spring to the onset of cold weather. There are many varieties of mushrooms in the region, they include:
- white;
- aspen mushrooms;
- spruce mushrooms;
- boletus;
- milk mushrooms are white, gray, black;
- boletus (boletus and boletus);
- chanterelles;
- waves;
- boletus;
- honey mushrooms.
Obabki
The forests of Transbaikalia are rich in obabkov
In the Trans-Baikal mixed forests, the highest yields of obabkov, i.e. boletus and aspen boletus with large and thick legs.
Have boletus the cap is brownish or bright orange. The tubules are located below, with pressure on which it is easy to notice greenish specks. From boletus, in spite of all their external similarity, boletus boletuses differ in the blueness of the flesh on the cut.
Have boletus the cap is lighter, beige-brown. They mainly grow under birches, in groves, from June to September. Fragrant soups are made from this type.
White mushrooms
The white mushroom is considered the king of the Trans-Baikal forests. He has a dense fleshy leg, thick underneath and slightly refined towards the cap. The cap is convex and large, up to 30 cm. Its color is from light cream to brown. The leg is always white. Even after drying, the flesh remains snow-white. For this, the mushroom got its name. The porcini mushroom reproduces well under ferns, in high thickets of grass.
It grows all over the region from June to September.
Interesting fact: fly agarics love to coexist with this noble family.
Chanterelles
Another tasty type of mushroom in the Trans-Baikal forests is chanterelles. Local housewives call them "red cockerels" because of the shape of the hat, similar to a cock's comb. They are simple to prepare, easy to wash and clean. They don't need pre-processing. They retain their taste even after freezing.
Their aroma is strong. The body color is orange or peach, bright, with the same color of the juice on the cut. It is good to collect these mushrooms on the slopes and in the ravines, near the old dead wood. They are not affected by worms.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
Chanterelle fruiting bodies grow very slowly, this becomes especially noticeable in dry weather. This fungus usually settles in areas with underdeveloped grassy cover, so you can find it only under or near trees.
In laboratory conditions, it was found that chanterelles form mycorrhiza with pine; in nature, apparently, they can enter into symbiosis with other tree species.
Dangerous doubles of chanterelles are orange talkers. Their difference is in a thin stem, bright unnatural color, unpleasant smell and appearance of the hymenophore. In the pink talker, it is represented by thin plates, while in real chanterelles it is rather thick folds.
Oil
Butterlets are popularly called "snotty" mushrooms because of their slippery cap covered with a thin layer of sticky mucus. These tasty mushrooms love coniferous forests and form mycorrhiza with spruce and pine trees.
In the mixed forests of Transbaikalia, they are less common, but the lucky ones can find them there from July to September. They have a characteristic lower surface: yellowish-greenish, porous (tubular). They are especially tasty salted or fried with onions and sour cream.
Milk mushrooms
In Transbaikalia, there are several types of milk mushrooms: white, black and gray, unusual for other regions. Their caps are like a cone or funnel. The edges curl slightly outward, with a slight wavy, lace-like framing inherent in them. Depending on its availability, milk mushrooms are called raw or dry. Dry have no frames.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
A few facts about milk mushrooms:
- Milk mushrooms are capable of forming mycorrhiza with a number of tree species, in particular with birch, spruce and willow.
- For salting, it is best to use young milk mushrooms, the caps of which do not exceed 7 cm in diameter, and the leg length is 1 cm.
- In terms of their calorie content, milk mushrooms have overtaken meat - for example, the dry matter of the mushroom contains 32% protein.
- In wet weather, moisture accumulates on the cap of the black breast due to the presence of a hairy edge.
- Paradox: in Poland, black milk mushroom is called a toadstool, but it is recognized as edible.
- Black milk is capable of accumulating cesium radioisotopes in its body and therefore they are considered bioaccumulators of radioactive substances (radiation).
Areas of common growth are conifers or mixed forests. They were given the name "milk mushrooms" because they grow in heaps, clusters. These mushrooms skillfully hide in high thickets of ferns.
Usually milk mushrooms are salted. However, they require a long preliminary soaking (from 2 to 8 hours).
Mushrooms. Aspen mushrooms, Chanterelles, Milk mushrooms. Trans-Baikal Territory, Chita.
Volnushki
In the Trans-Baikal region, from June to October, many varieties of waves grow. The most popular type is pink. The mushroom cap reaches a diameter of 12 cm and has a bulge in the center. The stem is dense, firm and pale pink.
For the growth of waves, age birches are chosen, mycorrhiza is formed with them. They thrive on soils in deciduous and mixed forests.
Volnushki have a peculiar, unusual, spicy taste. It is good to dry, salt or pickle them. To remove the bitterness, they are pre-soaked. The milky juice comes out and the taste becomes delicate and pleasant.
Did you know? In Central and Southern Europe, pink waves are not eaten
Ryzhiki
There are 2 types of mushrooms in Transbaikalia: ordinary and spruce. Spruce trees are distinguished by large caps with a funnel in the center and dense, yellowish flesh with a noticeable fruity aroma. The natural antibiotic lactarioviolin, which is able to suppress the development of the tubercle bacillus, is isolated from the fruit bodies of this (common) camelina.
The Trans-Baikal Territory is famous for good harvests of camelina, which grow in pine and spruce forests from the 2nd decade of summer to September.
Conclusion
Anyone in the Trans-Baikal Territory can harvest a good harvest of their favorite mushrooms and make preparations for the winter. To avoid poisoning, after returning, it is necessary to sort out all the mushrooms, discard the moldy or wormy ones, in which the protein has already begun to decompose.