As already mentioned, from a scientific point of view, milk mushrooms belong to the genus Lactrius, or milky. If you break off or cut off a piece of a mushroom, droplets of liquid, sometimes white and similar to milk, will immediately be released from the pulp. So they called it milky juice, and the mushrooms were called milkmen. This genus includes not only milk mushrooms, but also mushrooms such as volushki, nigella, bitters, rubellas, serushki, smoothies and many others. And even royal mushrooms -! Milkies are a fairly numerous mushroom people. There are about five dozen species of them in our country. There are no poisonous milkweeds, but almost all species have pungent and bitter juice. That’s why many milkweeds in many other countries are considered poisonous!
Not all milkweeds have juice white, it comes in yellow, orange and even blue (if we talk about America). In some milkweeds, when exposed to air, the juice instantly changes color: it turns green, purple, or red, while in others it remains unchanged.
Most valued among milk mushrooms is raw, or real mushroom, called Lactarius resimus; somewhat inferior to it is the black milk mushroom, Lactarius necator. Some mushrooms from the russula genus look similar to milk mushrooms, for example, milk mushrooms (Russula delica), which is sometimes called dry (that is, not secreting milky juice) milk mushrooms - they are so similar. But the very first cut makes it easy to distinguish milk mushrooms from milk mushrooms by the absence of milky juice.
And we will begin our acquaintance with representatives of the glorious milk mushroom tribe with white mushrooms. These mushrooms are most often found in huge thickets in mushroom season, and it takes a lot of effort to distinguish them from each other. Because some of them are edible and tasty, while others are bitter and salty, and taste most like sawdust.
Real breast milk, white, raw (Lactarius resimus)
First-class, truly Russian milk mushroom, considered one of the best mushrooms in Russia. In the Volga region and the Urals, real milk mushrooms are called raw milk mushrooms due to the slightly mucous surface of the cap. In Siberia, this mushroom is called pravsky, that is, real.
The cap of a young mushroom is white, the cap of a middle-aged mushroom is creamy, and the old one is yellowish, with barely noticeable watery zones around the circumference. Even in dry weather, the surface of the cap is cool and moist.
The caps of young milk mushrooms are flat, slightly depressed in the center, while old mushrooms turn into huge funnels with a shaggy edge of yellowish-ocher fibers. All kinds of forest debris constantly stick to the wet surface of the cap: leaves, twigs, lumps of soil, dry blades of grass. You won't find pure milk mushrooms.
The white, acrid-tasting milky juice of milk mushrooms turns yellow when exposed to air. The smell of milk mushrooms is very characteristic, “milk mushrooms”, and to some it resembles the smell of fruit. The plates of young mushrooms are frequent, pure white, but with age they become wide, sparse, and yellowish. On the short, thick white leg, yellowish depressions and notches are noticeable along its entire length. The leg is hollow inside.
You can find white milk mushrooms in birch forests or mixed with birch, with which the milk mushrooms form mycorrhiza. In general, most milk mushrooms, like native Russian mushrooms, form mycorrhiza with the native Russian birch. That is why in Rus' villages were placed mainly next to birch forests: you will always have not only firewood, but also mushrooms.
You just need to know the loading areas; you can walk by and not notice the mushroom until it, already huge and aged, crawls out from under a layer of old leaves and dry grass. It happens that you are walking through the forest and a milk mushroom suddenly becomes fragile under your foot and shows its whitish side. And the aroma in milk mushrooms is special, only milk mushrooms smell like that! Milk mushrooms do not grow alone; they prefer to group and sit tightly under the foliage. The real milk mushroom does not like damp, swampy places.
The real milk mushroom has edible but tasteless twin brothers: the violin milk mushroom and the pepper milk mushroom. Actually, they can be called doubles with a big stretch, since their main difference is very striking: the absence of fringe along the edge of the cap and the characteristic surface of the cap - felt-woolly. And on the caps of these mushrooms there are no concentric zones - rings.
Violin (Lactarius vellereus)
A large, white, very stocky mushroom, which is characterized by a dry, pure white, later slightly ocher cap with a velvety surface, sparse plates and a short thick stalk, somewhat narrowed at the base. The pulp is rough, white, slightly yellow at the break. The milky juice is extremely hot and does not change color in the air.
The mushroom got its name from the sound similar to the squeak it makes when you run something over the cap. 
Violins grow everywhere in large numbers throughout the summer and fall. Mycorrhizae usually form with birch trees. They attract mushroom pickers with their massiveness, strength and worm-free nature. When salted, the bitterness in the mushrooms disappears, but the violin tastes more like wood, no matter how much you soak, boil, or season with spices. Of course, there are those who claim that when pickled, the mushroom becomes strong and acquires a mushroom smell. But do we really need a piece of wood with the smell of mushroom?
Pepper milkweed (Lactarius piperatus)
A close relative of the violinist, very similar to her. The pepper milk mushroom lives in broad-leaved (especially oak) and mixed forests. The violin is somewhat less common.
It differs from the skipapa in the smooth, non-velvety surface of the cap, on which brownish spots appear in old mushrooms. In addition, the milky juice of this milk mushroom becomes greenish, gray-green or bluish when exposed to air. You can also distinguish them by their plates: in the violin they are much rarer, but this is visible only in adult mushrooms. Young milk mushrooms cannot be distinguished, although who needs this? Pepper milk mushrooms aren't as woody as violin mushrooms, but no matter what you do with them, you can't eat them. Although, it is possible - but only if there is nothing else at all.
Blue breast (Lactarius glaucescens)
The bluish milk mushroom is very similar to the violin milk and the pepper milk milk, sometimes even described as a form of the pepper milk milk Lactarius piperatus var. glaucescens. It is distinguished by its white milky juice, which gradually coagulates in air and becomes grayish-greenish when dried.
The cap of the mushroom is white, velvety, dry, and with age creamy spots and cracks appear. The plates of the mushroom are very frequent, matching the cap or creamy. Some authors describe the smell of the mushroom as follows: “if you want to recognize this mushroom by its smell, it may remind you of the smell of fresh sawdust, Rye bread or a faint honey aroma."
In terms of edibility, the bluish milk mushroom is similar to its twin brothers: the violin milk mushroom and the pepper milk mushroom. Moreover, after cooking, the mushroom takes on an unappetizing bluish appearance.
Aspen, poplar, white milkweed (Lactarius controversus)
This mushroom is large, like a real milk mushroom, sometimes with a light fluff along the edge of a white, slightly pinkish cap, with watery areas on it. The cap of the milk mushroom is very large and fleshy, reaching up to 30 cm in diameter (larger specimens are also found).
The milk mushroom's plates are very dense and creamy-pinkish. The pulp is dense, white. The milky juice is abundant and white in color and does not change in air. The leg is short. It is found quite often and very abundantly from August to the end of October in aspen or birch-aspen forests, also in poplar plantings, less often in willow forests. It grows in large piles and bushes containing several mushrooms. It can be collected not only with baskets, but also with carts (currently with trunks :)).
The mushroom forms underground and only its cap peeks out to the surface, abundantly covered with lumps of dirt, leaves and grass. And before you start washing these large mushrooms, it is imperative to clear them of forest debris. It doesn’t soak well in water and you have to scrub the mushroom cap with a hard sponge. Although this is on the first day, if you let the mushrooms sit for two days in water, changing the water first, then all the dirt on the cap can be easily washed with a sponge and there will be no need to scrape the top layer of the mushroom.
Unlike its twin brothers: skyripitsa and pepper milk mushrooms, aspen mushroom when pickled, it is slightly inferior to raw milk mushroom, and some (including us) like it better than black milk mushroom.
And now a little educational program on the topic "how to distinguish them."
It is difficult to confuse a real milk mushroom - the shaggy edge gives it away completely.
To distinguish the others, first of all we pay attention to the tone of the records. In the aspen milk mushroom they are pinkish, and the cap is often covered with pinkish concentric circles. We also look at the collection site - aspen mushroom grows under aspens and poplars, preferring plantings along roads. The milky juice of the aspen milk mushroom is white, abundant and pungent, and does not change color.
If there is no pinkishness, then we check for rusty spots and whether the flesh turns yellow when scrapped. If so, then it's a violin. They say that the cap is covered with white fluff, but it is not always possible to see it.
If the milky juice turns green when scraped, then it is a parchment milk mushroom (or bluish). If neither the pulp nor the milky juice changes color, but the juice is not liquid, but thick and viscous, then we have a pepper milk mushroom.
So we dealt with the white milk mushrooms. The next ones we will meet are milk mushrooms of other colors.
Black breast, nigella (Lactarius necator)
Nigella is a large mushroom that, perhaps, cannot be confused with any other. The black milk mushroom is squat, its color is camouflage, and in a dark forest among last year’s foliage it is not so easy to find. Greenish-olive caps with dark, almost black centers, on which concentric brown zones are faintly visible, are almost always sticky, lumps of soil and dry leaves stick to them. IN at a young age the surface of the cap is lighter, yellowish. The velvety, curled edges of the cap are also yellowish. Although the mushroom is called black, a small shade of marsh color in the cap is visible through the brownish, almost black color.
Chernushki grow in old birch and mixed pine- or spruce-birch forests. The main wave of mushrooms occurs in August-early September, and they sometimes appear in such huge quantities that you get tired of picking. And sometimes mushroom pickers make special “chernushka forays” into the forest.
When pickled, black milk mushrooms acquire an appetizing burgundy color, like a ripe cherry. The mushrooms begin to turn red on the second day of pickling. They remain strong and crisp for two to three years.
All milk mushrooms have their own sharpness in taste, sourness - their own individual milk mushroom taste. But somehow things didn’t work out for the black milk mushrooms. Although its milky juice is caustic, the causticity disappears both when salted and when fried, and nigella remains just a crunchy salted mushroom. Black milk mushrooms do not have their own zest in taste, so when pickled they are preferred to be flavored with various spices, seasonings, currant and oak leaves, to add aroma and aftertaste. This mushroom is not for everybody, although it can be either salted or fried.
Yellow breast (Lactarius scroboculatus)
It is found both in mixed and in spruce and spruce-fir forests. We encountered yellow milk mushrooms in small quantities in the deciduous forest, along oak and maple trees. The surface of the cap of the yellow milk mushroom, like that of the true milk mushroom, is felt-woolly, slimy in wet weather, golden or straw-yellow, yellow-ocher, often with darker, barely noticeable concentric zones, slightly darkens when pressed, brownish indentations on the short stalk . When broken or cut, it releases abundant thick milky juice, which quickly turns yellow in air.
Salted yellow milk mushrooms are in no way inferior to real milk mushrooms, so they can be salted together. But when pickled, the yellow milk mushroom is strong.
Purple breast, blue breast (Lactarius repraesentaneus)
This mushroom is a colored double of the yellow milk mushroom; it is popularly called “dog milk mushroom.” The lilac milkweed is a northerner, a resident of the taiga and forest-tundra. It can also grow in the tundra among dwarf birch trees. But most often it is found in rather damp taiga-type forests.
The cap of the milk mushroom is yellow with protruding villi and a shaggy edge; when pressed, it acquires a characteristic purple color. The milky juice is white, quickly turns purple in air, with a mild taste, slightly bitter.
Due to its mild taste, purple milk mushroom is considered a delicacy, and it is not only salted, but also fried. The taste is a little spicy.
Pink volnushka, volnyanka, volzhanka (Lactarius tirminosus)
Pink Volnushka is a very beautiful mushroom. The cap of the wave is pink-red with a shaggy edge and dark concentric circles. Pink moths grow in deciduous and mixed forests, forming mycorrhiza with birch trees, mainly young ones. They often appear at the edge of the grass in very crowded groups, literally overlapping each other. And if in one flock of milk mushrooms you can see mushrooms of all ages, then the little mushrooms pour out almost simultaneously, as if especially for a mushroom picker - the same size, as if selected.
The name of the mushroom volnushka, volzhanka, volnyanka comes from the ancient Slavic word "vlna" ("wave"), which means wool, sheep's wool. The furry edges of the caps are very reminiscent of real fur!
This furry one pink mushroom Western mycologists classify them as poisonous mushrooms. Yes, in their raw form, volnushki are very bitter. Maybe something will happen to your stomachs if you happen to eat raw trumpets. But it’s unlikely that a bitter mushroom will whet anyone’s appetite. Although one or two mushrooms can be added to the overall mushroom stir-fry, they will enhance the taste of the dish with a slight bitterness, like a seasoning. Traditionally, volushki are salted, and usually in a hot way - with boiling. However, with proper salting - cold - the mushrooms will be just like milk mushrooms, except perhaps less fragrant. But unlike milk mushrooms, they don’t like salted milk mushrooms long-term storage, they become very sour. So it’s better to eat salted trumpets in the first six months.
White trumpet (Lactarius pubescens)
The white volnushka is more inconspicuous than the pink one, more squat with a very short leg. The cap of the mushroom is whitish, only pinkish-fawn in the center; in older mushrooms it becomes yellow. The concentric rings on the cap are almost invisible. There is a thin fluff along the edge of the cap.
It prefers to grow in young birch forests and wetlands, but is found in deciduous and mixed forests, forming mycorrhiza with birch. Waves appear throughout the summer and autumn, but the August wave is especially productive. In open places among young birch trees there are so many ripples that sometimes there is nowhere to step, and if you do step, it will definitely be on a family of mushrooms hidden in the grass.
For salting, choose small or medium-sized frills with edges curved inward. Unlike old mushrooms with funnel-shaped caps, whose flesh is loose and too watery, young mushrooms are strong and beautiful. Some fans boil mushrooms in boiling water for about 10 minutes to remove bitterness. This is where another name for the mushroom appeared among the people - decoction, although almost all low-quality mushrooms are called this way in different places.
After cooking, the volushki become gray. But when salted in a cold way, they almost do not change their color and remain slightly yellowish. And with this salting, they have a richer taste.
Camelina (Lactarius deliciosus)
The most delicious mushroom among mushrooms. Saffron milk caps grow in coniferous forests and landings. Their orange outfit cannot be confused with any other mushroom. There are several types of saffron milk caps: spruce, pine, real and red. More details about saffron milk caps can be found in the article "".
Rizhik is a mushroom that can be eaten raw, but it is also tasty when fried. Its bright orange milky juice is not at all bitter, sweetish-spicy with the most pleasant smell of fir trees.
Oak milkweed (Lactarius insulsus)
A bright red cap with noticeable concentric circles and wavy, uneven edges. If you look at the mushroom from above it looks like a saffron milk cap, from the side it looks like a milk mushroom. Due to its external resemblance to saffron milk cap, the oak milk mushroom is sometimes called “mushroom” or “oak saffron milk cap”. The plates of the mushroom are light cream in color. Very bitter, white milky juice does not change color in air. This fungus forms mycorrhiza with oak, beech and hazel.
Some mushroom pickers compare oak milk mushrooms in taste to bitters. But after soaking and proper hot salting, the mushroom becomes quite edible. True, its smell is not the same as that of raw milk mushrooms. Not that it's less pleasant, just different.
Serushka (Lactarius flexuosus)
A dense mushroom with a dry pink-gray, grayish cap with a slight purple tint. On the surface of the cap, weakly defined concentric circles are visible, sometimes there are small depressions and holes. The edges of the cap are almost always uneven and wavy. Serushka's plates are thick, sparse, uneven, yellowish. Serushka is a warm- and light-loving mushroom, most often found in birch and mixed with birch forests, in open grassy places: clearings, forest edges, and the sides of forest roads.
The milky juice resembles milk heavily diluted with water, not very abundant, and bitter. When pickled, the sorushka does not have a special taste or aroma, and it is better to salt it in a mixture with other mushrooms (nigella, volnushki, white mushrooms).
Gladysh, hollow (Lactarius trivialis)
Other names: alder, common milkweed.
The cap of the mushroom is always wet and smooth, which is why it is called smooth in some areas. In wet weather, the surface of the cap is sticky, slimy, and the concentric circles on it are often intermittent. The color of the cap varies from gray-violet to brownish-yellow. Young mushrooms are darker, dense, and fleshy. The old ones fade greatly and change color to pale yellow with a pinkish tint, their flesh becomes loose and brittle. The plates are thin, frequent, whitish-cream. The stem of even a young mushroom is hollow, with rather thin walls, “hollow”. Therefore, the most common name for this mushroom is nest, or yellow hollow.
This mushroom is found in mixed forests under coniferous trees, especially near pine trees. However, it can settle in thickets of raspberries, buckthorn, forest honeysuckle, and among young birch trees in a pine forest. Loves to grow in moss.
When pickled, the mushroom turns bright yellow. Bright raspberry salted nigella with bright yellow hollows look very beautiful on a plate. In the northern part of Russia, duplyanka is considered an excellent mushroom; in the European part it is less common and hence less known.
Euphorbia, milkweed (Lactarius volemus)
Other names: common wood, smoothy.
A large mushroom with a yellowish-orange or brick-colored fleshy cap and pale yellow frequent plates. The cap grows up to 10 centimeters in diameter. The stem of the mushroom is powerful and dense, the same color as the cap or slightly lighter. Thick white milky juice appears very abundantly on the damaged areas; in the air it immediately turns brown and becomes viscous like soft rubber. The milky juice does not taste pungent, like most milk mushrooms, but is soft and sweetish. The pulp is white with a specific odor.
Euphorbia is not found often; it grows in groups of several mushrooms or singly. Its habitat is deciduous, often broad-leaved forests. He loves hazel bushes, which is why he got the name hazel. Not only this species is called Gladysh, but also several other laticifers, which are described in this article.
In Western countries, milkweed is considered a “good edible mushroom” and is compared to camelina, a mushroom that can be eaten raw. Mushroom pickers have different opinions about the taste of milkweed: it is considered simply pleasant, sweetish, and is compared to herring or lobster. Old mushrooms acquire bad smell, which has been compared to the smell of rotten herring. So the mushroom is very much for everyone.
We have been collecting red milk mushrooms for quite a long time, but unfortunately, we have never found a Latin name. Externally, the mushroom is similar to some species: spurge, rubella, non-caustic milkweed, but still this mushroom differs from them. So we’ll call it the red mushroom. Or maybe you recognize this mushroom? Then we will be happy to read your version.
Does the red milk mushroom grow individually or not? in large groups a few mushrooms widely deciduous forests, forming mycorrhiza with oak.
The cap of the mushroom is smooth, in young mushrooms it is flat-convex, and with age it becomes funnel-shaped, without obvious concentric zones. The color of the cap is red-brown, burgundy, sometimes with a yellowish tint, diameter is 4-12 centimeters. The leg is the same color as the cap, up to 10 centimeters high and up to 3 centimeters in diameter. The plates are the same color but lighter; with age they acquire the color of the cap. The milky juice is white, non-caustic, sweetish, with a slight bitterness, and does not change color. The flesh when cut is slightly lighter than the cap in young mushrooms and dark in old ones, does not change color when broken, the smell is pungent, characteristic mushroom. Found from July to October in light deciduous forests under oak trees, sometimes in large numbers.
A tasty mushroom, good raw, lightly salted. Place the clean caps of young mushrooms with the slices facing up, sprinkle with salt, wait for the salt to be absorbed - and the appetizer is ready. Red milk mushrooms are also delicious in... Like all milk mushrooms, they are very tasty if eaten. When pickled, red milk mushrooms have their own incomparable taste and a pleasant milk mushroom aroma.
Other
Here we come to those milkweeds that are rarely collected for various reasons. Firstly, the sizes are small. Secondly, at this time more interesting mushrooms. Thirdly, in appearance they are very similar to each other, and until you start to specifically understand, you will not find out how many completely different small milky creatures of a creamy-orange-red-brown color are actually found. In fact, much more than you might imagine. We will meet some of the representatives.
Bitterweed (Lactarius rufus)
Bittersweet can be found in swamps, damp pine forests, and among mosses. It exists both in the tundra and high in the mountains. Bitterweed grows throughout the summer and forms mycorrhiza with pines, spruces, and fir trees. The mushroom is small, and many people mistake it for a toadstool and do not collect it. The cap grows from 3 to 10 centimeters in diameter. This mushroom is easy to recognize by the clearly visible tubercle in the center of the cap. The cap is dry, velvety, red-brown in color, without zones. The flesh of the mushroom is gray-white in color and becomes brown with age, with a faint, unclear odor, which some consider unpleasant. The white milky juice is very bitter and burns the lips; it does not change color when exposed to air.
The mushroom is productive and rarely wormy, but a bitter mushroom is a bitter mushroom. Its bitterness does not completely disappear even after several months of pickling. Therefore, bitters are salted in a mixture with other mushrooms.
Rubella (Lactarius subdulcis)
Rubella is very similar in appearance to bittersweet; it also prefers to grow in damp places among moss in coniferous and deciduous forests. The cap is thin and fragile, red-brown, burgundy in color with a darker middle and a small tubercle; the yellowish plates become brownish-red with age. Adult mushrooms have a cap up to 8 centimeters in diameter. It differs from the bitter mushroom in its red-yellow pulp and non-caustic watery-white milky juice, which in adults begins to taste bitter.
Young redfish are used for pickling.
Lactarius camphoratus (Camphor milkweed)
This mushroom is smaller than bitter, its flesh is thin, brittle, reddish-brown, the plates and stem are the same color. White non-caustic milky juice appears abundantly, as soon as you touch the plates, it can be clearly visible on them. dark background. The cap of this milkweed also has a tubercle, but not as prominent as that of the bitterweed. The edges of the old mushroom are very thin and wavy.
Camphor milkweed grows in coniferous and mixed forests in large groups from July to September.
Since the mushroom has non-palatable pulp, it makes sense to collect it - it’s not suitable for pickling, but for roasting.
Lactarius spinosulus (Lactarius spinosulus)
Outwardly it looks like an unsightly, emaciated wave: on a pink cap, dark pink waves-circles. But both the cap and the stem are thinner and more fragile; there is no hairy fringe along the edge of the cap. The pink leg is often curved. The pulp turns green, gray and even black when cut. These mushrooms grow in damp birch or forests mixed with birch in August-September.
Despite the non-acidic pulp, it is considered inedible, although it can be salted with other milk mushrooms; when pickled, it is no worse than other “small milk mushrooms”.
This mushroom is found in deciduous forests with an admixture of oak, with which it forms mycorrhiza. The cap of the mushroom is brown-cream, dirty brown, with a darker center and fuzzy dark concentric circles. The leg is up to 6 centimeters long and 0.5-1 centimeter thick. The plates are frequent, cream-colored and become covered with brownish-rusty spots with age. The flesh is light cream when broken and exudes a watery white non-caustic milky juice.
Although the mushroom is common, it is not particularly popular; some people do not like its very peculiar smell. And the edible mushroom is salted after preliminary procedures.
Lactarius uvidus (Wet or lilac milky)
This milkweed grows in deciduous forests. The mushroom cap is moist, smooth and sticky in wet weather, grayish-brownish, with faint concentric zones. The flesh of the mushroom is medium fleshy, dense, whitish or yellowish, and turns purple when cut. The plates turn purple when pressed. The milky juice is not caustic, bitterish, white.
Lactarius helvus (Grey-pink milky plant)
Although the mushroom is called gray-pink, it rarely has caps of this color. Regular color- reddish, sometimes more yellow, sometimes more red. The cap is large, 6-15 centimeters in diameter, with a small tubercle. The surface of the cap is dry and velvety, there are no concentric zones on it. Leg up to 8 centimeters high. The milky juice of the mushroom is completely colorless, transparent, like water, you won’t notice it right away.
This mushroom prefers marshy places among moss and cranberries. IN pine forests he chooses the lowest, dampest places with wild rosemary and blueberries and always grows in large groups.
This mushroom cannot be confused with other mushrooms due to its pungent smell - cloying, bittersweet. The mushroom is considered inedible. But there are mushroom pickers who are not bothered by the smell. Although the unpleasant smell remains after boiling, it also transfers to other mushrooms when pickled.
Lactarius vietus (Lactarius vietus)
It grows in damp birch and forests mixed with birch, often found in August-September. Outwardly it looks like a hollow mushroom, but the mushroom is very flimsy, thin-fleshy, and brittle. A small cap 3-7 centimeters, with a thin wavy edge, sometimes with a small tubercle, lilac-gray, grayish-flesh color with barely noticeable zones. Its juice is acrid and white and turns gray in the air.
Of course, you can collect these mushrooms; when pickled, they taste similar to yellow milk mushrooms, but... there is a high probability that you will bring home a bunch of grayed pieces from the forest.
Lactarius pyrogalus (Holly milkweed)
A small mushroom with a grayish-flesh cap, similar to Lactarius vietus (milky faded), but it does not grow in typical places for milk mushrooms - under birch and spruce trees, but in bushes, among forest roads, and is found in gardens. Mycorrhiza forms with hazel. Milky juice is caustic. The smell of this mushroom is characteristic of milk mushrooms - slightly fruity. But even though they appear en masse, picking these mushrooms will tire your back, and the result will be meager.
Although the name of the mushroom is scary, the mushroom is edible, and its pungency disappears when pickled.
Of course, the list of mushrooms of the genus Lactarius is incomplete, but either these species are not found in Russia, or they are so small and thin that they are not worth mentioning.
Salting milk mushrooms
As already mentioned, the fruiting body of the milk mushroom is formed underground, and when the mushroom appears on the surface of the soil, there is always a lot of forest debris on its cap: lumps of soil, leaves, blades of grass, twigs. And although some mushrooms are lucky with the places where they grow, such as saffron milk mushrooms, which grow in moss and pine litter and remain clean, most milk mushrooms are dirty.
So it’s not enough to collect milk mushrooms - they also need to be cleaned. And when to clean them, if during the mushroom season the harvest is counted by cartloads? While the women washed one batch of milk mushrooms and placed them in wooden tubs and sprinkled them with salt, the rest of the milk mushrooms were filled with water, so as not to spoil and soak off the dirt, changing it every day for fresh ones. Milk mushrooms can be stored “soaked” for several days, so you have time to process and pickle the entire harvest of milk mushrooms.
But such folk way preparing milk mushrooms for pickling was forgotten, and now in many cookbooks about mushrooms you can find a description that “the milk mushrooms need to be soaked before pickling, for at least three days!” And it would be fine in spring water - but not in the chlorinated water of a city apartment! In fact, there is no need to soak milk mushrooms, mushrooms without excess water will be richer and tastier.
By the way, pickling mushrooms is not just soaking mushrooms in salt! In fact, this is a complex biotechnological process - just like sauerkraut, for example. In a brine of the correct concentration, of all the microflora, only the “necessary” lactic acid bacteria are able to multiply, which convert - ferment - the mushroom glycogen into lactic acid, which gives the mushrooms a sour taste and protects them from mold and other harmful microorganisms. During the fermentation process, carbon dioxide is also released, so the container with salted mushrooms should not be sealed.
Hot way
With the hot method, the washed mushrooms are first boiled for about 10 minutes, and the broth is drained. Then the mushrooms are salted. Salts are added 5-6% of the weight of mushrooms. As a seasoning for mushrooms, you can add garlic, peppercorns, horseradish leaves, currants, oak, and dill umbrellas. Although this method is simpler and boiled mushrooms become edible faster - after just a few days, they have a less pronounced taste and are inferior in aroma to cold-pickled mushrooms. If it still somehow suits violin mushrooms and pepper milk mushrooms, then boiling all the other milk mushrooms will only spoil it, and the bitterness and acrid taste disappear during the pickling process (even without soaking!). Just wash them and you can salt them. In this way (it’s called cold) you can salt all milk mushrooms and milk mushrooms, as well as white mushrooms - with the exception of saffron milk caps.
Cold way
The milk mushrooms are washed, cleaned, the stems are cut off from the caps and the caps are placed in layers on top of the plates in a container. If there is no wooden tub, then glass jars or large plastic buckets will completely replace it. You can salt the milk mushrooms without any additives, just put horseradish leaves on top to prevent the mushrooms from molding. And only then, when the mushroom’s own taste is understood, you can gradually begin to add spices. Salt is added 4% by weight of mushrooms. If there are a lot of milk mushrooms, they are salted in a barrel, then total salt is divided into 3-5 parts, if there is not enough, for example a jar, then all the salt can be poured on top. Small baby food jars filled with water are great for pressing into a 3-liter jar, and a lid from a mayonnaise bucket cut to the diameter can be used as a circle.
With the cold method, the mushrooms will be ready in a month and a half. If they turn out to be too salty, they can be soaked in milk for 20 minutes, after which the excess saltiness will disappear.
Dry method
They say that only saffron milk mushrooms are salted dry, but we also salt red milk mushrooms and all the others that we managed to collect clean. With this method, the mushrooms are not washed so as not to become saturated with water, but only cleaned of adhering needles and blades of grass; in the worst case, you can lightly wipe them with a damp sponge. Salt is added to 3% of the weight of mushrooms for saffron milk mushrooms, and 4% for red milk mushrooms. And - no spices! The mushrooms themselves are so rich in flavor that they don’t need any spices.
Ryzhiki can be consumed after just 2-3 days, lightly salted, red milk mushrooms - after a week.
For our taste...
Almost every year we conduct a tasting of salted milk mushrooms different types, and each species (those that were collected) was given its place in the list of goodies:
First place We divided the real milk mushrooms, saffron milk mushrooms and red milk mushrooms. Each one is delicious in its own way. The breast is real - sour, fleshy, strong mushroom, very tasty when salted. Saffron milk caps are saffron milk caps, these brightly colored mushrooms can be eaten raw and lightly salted. When salted, they are tasty for the first week, then they become over-salted and become less crispy. Red milk mushrooms are aromatic, their taste cannot be compared with any milk mushrooms, they have their own taste.
Second place- aspen milk mushroom, yellow milk mushroom. Aspen milk is comparable to white milk, but less aromatic when pickled. We came across yellow milk mushrooms in very small quantities, so we were not able to really taste their taste. When salted, yellow milk mushrooms darken, acquiring a greenish tint.
Third place- waves. Freshly salted volushki are more sour, but juicy and crispy, but it is better to eat them in salted form in the first six months, after which they become overly sour.
Fourth place- black milk mushroom, gray milk mushroom, pale milkweed. Apart from its beautiful burgundy outfit, the black milk mushroom has no advantages, nor its taste. Yes, it’s crunchy and salty, but the taste doesn’t stand out at all. Serushka is a light mushroom flavor, very diluted. The faded milkweed tastes like trumpet, but... all the mushrooms collected in half an hour were placed at the bottom of a 100-gram jar
Skripitsa, pepper mushrooms - don’t flavor them with any seasonings; when salted, they are inedible: tasteless in taste and unpleasant in consistency.
White milk mushroom is considered original to Russian cuisine. Its taste is distinguished by its unique aroma. It crunches when salted.
It is considered great luck to encounter such a mushroom in the forest. You need to know the places where there is a high probability of encountering a cluster of milk mushrooms.
This variety of forest inhabitants is also called Pravsky or raw milk mushrooms. What you need to know to collect them should be considered in more detail.
Appearance
Many novice mushroom pickers wonder what a white milk mushroom looks like. Ideally, it has a concave fleshy cap. It is dense and oily. With age, white milk mushrooms develop a fringe on the cap that hangs down at the edges. Its diameter is about 20 cm.
The cap of the white milk mushroom remains moist in appearance even in dry weather. Its color varies from white to light yellow.
The pulp is dense, white. It has a pungent pleasant aroma. At the site of the break, whitish juice is released, which quickly turns yellow in the air. This liquid has a bitter taste.
The leg does not exceed 5 cm in length. It is thick, but short. Over time it becomes hollow.
To describe what white milk mushroom looks like, you need to take into account the area in which it grows.
Varieties
There are several varieties of such milk mushrooms. The most common are yellow, aspen, and oak. To correctly describe the white milk mushroom, you should familiarize yourself with its subspecies.
The yellow mushroom is considered an inhabitant of coniferous forests. Its difference lies in more dark circles on the hat. This type of mushroom tastes somewhat worse than other types of white milk mushrooms.
The aspen milk mushroom is quite rare. These are inhabitants of aspen or poplar forests. Grow large families.
Oak milkweed is found under hazel or in an oak grove. The hat is yellowish-orange in color. Has dark concentric rings.
Each environment where milk mushrooms grow affects their appearance.
Where can you find milk mushrooms
Favorite places where mushrooms such as milk mushrooms grow are birch, pine groves, and mixed forests. Most often they can be found on sloping slopes on the north side.
They grow up in large families. They like to hide under fallen leaves. If you find one copy, you should look around. There are definitely more mushrooms under the foliage. Small tubercles reveal milk mushrooms hidden under the forest cover.
A stick will be convenient for stirring up leaves and finding hidden forest inhabitants. This must be done carefully. Only the top layer should be turned over so as not to damage the mycelium. Having violated it once, there is no doubt that the whole family here will disappear and will not be restored.
Collection season
The area where milk mushrooms grow should be visited from the end of June to mid-September. This is a classic option.
The mushroom picking season is affected by the weather. During hot, dry seasons it shifts. In recent years, the collection took place from early August to mid-October.
Wet weather is ideal for the development of a large colony of milk mushrooms. However, heavy, persistent rain will reduce the spread of fungi. In such weather it is simply useless to look for white milk mushrooms.
Weather is the main criterion influencing the season for collecting the presented gifts of nature.
False breast
Due to the impossibility of maintaining ideal appearance The mushroom is often confused with other species.
It happens that instead of milk mushrooms, varieties of mushrooms such as white milk mushrooms, pepper milk mushrooms and blue milk mushrooms are collected.
At loading white hat dry and smooth. No milky liquid appears on the fault. The pepper milk mushroom has no fringe, and the cap is also dry. But the juice, when broken, does not turn yellow in the air. The blue milk mushroom changes color accordingly on the fault.
False types of milk mushrooms include creaks (violins). If a mushroom picker accidentally collects a similar species, he does not risk his health much. But the quality of the creak is much lower than that of the milk mushroom. They are difficult to prepare and take a long time.
White false milk mushroom has a specific taste. It is less useful than the true form.
Externally, the false white milk mushroom is very similar to its real counterpart. It also has a large cap on a thick short stem. There is no fringe, and the plates under the cap are dark yellow.
If you rub the cap with a wet finger, it will make a characteristic squeak. This feature gave the mushroom its name. The creak tastes bitter.
The difference between a milk mushroom and a squeak
In order not to confuse these two very similar species, a number of their features should be considered.
The white milk mushroom has a fringe. Its false brother lacks this element. They are also distinguished by their shade. In the milk mushroom it is yellowish, in the creaking fish it is white. The plates of the false species are dense, rough, dark yellow color.
True representatives of this species are wormy, but false ones are never.
Milk mushrooms appear in June. Creepers begin to grow in mid-July.
The appearance of the false specimens is clean. Dirt and leaves stick to true representatives of the subspecies, and they look untidy.
The main difference between creaks and milk mushrooms is the taste at the root. The former have a bitter taste, while the latter have a sweet taste.
The nutritional value
In the West, white milk mushrooms, the description of which was discussed earlier, are classified as non- edible mushrooms. In our country, these forest gifts have been assigned the first taste category. She says that this is one of the most delicious mushrooms.
They taste best when salted. They are also usually pickled.
The white mushroom contains caustic juice. Therefore, there is a special technology for processing the product. Before salting, you should prepare the mushrooms in advance.
White milk mushrooms are soaked in water for three days. Sometimes they are even boiled. It depends on the taste preferences of the mushroom pickers who collected the milk mushrooms.
This product is dietary. It can be added to the diet of people who are sick diabetes mellitus, since the mushroom does not contain sugar.
By eating white milk mushrooms, you can significantly diversify your diet. At the same time, you should not be afraid of accidental collection poisonous doubles. All false white milk mushrooms are non-poisonous. The only difference is taste qualities false loads.
Having familiarized yourself with the recommendations for the collection and use of such a representative of forest spaces as White mushroom, you can safely go on a hike after them. Based on advice and rules about choosing a location, as well as weather conditions, there is no doubt about the success of the undertaking. It will be quite easy to distinguish real milk mushrooms from false ones. But even if you make a mistake, there is no need to fear harm to your health. The lookalikes masquerading as white milk mushrooms do not have poisonous properties. Their difference lies only in taste.
Real milk has always been loved, since ancient times. It does not grow in the south of our country, but lives in the Urals, the Volga region and Belarus.
Lives in birch forests with an admixture of spruce. The name milk mushroom is translated as “heap”, as this species sits in groups in clearings. In one place you can immediately pick up a whole basket of mushrooms. You need to look for them under the leaves with a stick. Our grandfathers got up at 5 am to go hunting for the delicacy.
The cap is white, reaches a diameter of 20 cm. It is tucked down, the edges are shaggy. Mushrooms are very difficult to find, they hide under the leaves. What kind of milk mushrooms are there anyway?
Where to look for real milk mushrooms (video)
Description of edible types of milk mushrooms
Real milk mushroom
Completely snow-white, tubular cap. The milky sap at the site of damage turns yellow. The hat is terry around the edge. In Russian traditions, this mushroom is considered the best for pickling. Growing up in families. The leg is hollow inside.
Gallery: milk mushroom (25 photos)
Black breast
Black breast milk is also popularly called nigella because of the dark color of the cap. On the reverse side it is tubular, white and yellow. They are found in our forests, but not everywhere. It is believed that you need to “tinker” with them for a long time during processing, but they are good for pickling. Grows in birch trees and young forests. Pig mushrooms grow together with black milk mushrooms. Black pods like to burrow into leaves. They should be white on the inside.
Black breast
Yellow breast
Yellow milk mushrooms are valued on an equal basis with white ones. They grow near water, streams, in thickets, near dead wood. Unlike the white milk mushroom, it does not have a furry cap. The cap is funnel-shaped, the leg consists of dark dimples, and is hollow inside. Milky juice is released from the mushroom and quickly turns yellow in air. It is bitter, that's why it is soaked. Yellow milk mushrooms are used exclusively for pickles.
Young yellow milk mushrooms are buried in the moss and are difficult to see. It has a curved edge, moisture is concentrated in the plates. Rarely spoiled. Collection in September.
Bitter milk mushroom
Everyone salts this type; people call it bitter. He belongs to the genus Milky. It has a rather thin leg, but not hollow, but solid. Where you cut, bitter milky juice appears. Quite large in size. Most often funnel-shaped, reddish-brown in color. There is a small tubercle in the center of the cap. Bitterweed grows in both coniferous and mixed forests.
The pulp is dense, slightly brownish and dry. Bittersweet is often confused with rubella, but rubella has a hollow stem and is small in size.
Bitter milk mushroom
Inedible milk mushrooms
Milky gray-pink
Loves swamps, damp places, grows in mosses. It is not collected because of the smell of rusty metal. It is structured like all Milkies, funnel-shaped already at a young age, the leg is straight and not hollow. It is almost always dry, even when it rains. Its surface is fleecy and pleasant to the touch. People called him “the people’s cracker”. There is very little milky juice; large ones have a hole in the stem.
Milky brown
Rarely found in damp places. The brown milker is confused with the browning one. The brown one has a darker stem, and the color of the underside of the cap is more creamy. Some people use it for pickling.
Milkweed sluggish
The mushroom is dirty gray in color, small. The cap is funnel-shaped, the stem is hollow. Becomes grayish-greenish.
Milky gray-pink
Lilac breast
It is confused with the yellow milk mushroom. Rarely seen. When damaged, its plates begin to acquire a purple tint. The leg is hollow inside, narrows towards the bottom, and dense. The mushroom itself is yellowish on all sides. Purple mushrooms are hairier than yellow mushrooms. They go for pickles.
Redneck
Small mushrooms that release milky juice when cut. In young specimens the juice is not bitter. The mushroom is thin-fleshy and always grows in very large groups. Rarely collected.
Camphor milkweed
Has a specific smell, the plates on the underside of the cap are pink. The caps are brown with a red tint. Found in coniferous forests. It is edible, but is not taken by mushroom pickers because of its smell.
Lilac breast
Useful and medicinal properties of milk mushrooms
Lactarius resimus is also very popular in Russian cuisine. The breast is used by patients with tuberculosis. A natural antibiotic is successfully used in pharmaceuticals. It is recommended for diabetics to regulate sugar levels. Due to the increased calorie content, milk mushrooms are difficult to digest. The dry matter of the mushroom contains 32% protein. It is a source of vitamin B12.
A large amount of fiber in the composition can cause stomach problems. Improper preparation leads to botulism. Experts note that this is due to improper preservation. The mushroom is susceptible to radiation, so it cannot be collected near highways. Mushrooms provide our body with good bacteria and are an excellent vegetarian option. The benefit of the mushroom is also expressed in the fact that when it is consumed, neuroses are reduced.
When grown in liquid culture, the mycelium of Lactarius resimus produces a mixture of fatty acids and various compounds such as chroman-4-one, anifinic acid, 3-hydroxyacetylindole, ergosterol and cyclic dipeptides. Eating milk mushrooms is a prevention of atherosclerosis and diseases of the genitourinary system.
How to distinguish milk mushrooms (video)
How to distinguish a false breast from a true one
Milk mushrooms have no poisonous counterparts. There is a creaking mushroom, similar to the real one, but even it is considered edible. It does not have as pleasant a taste as real milk mushrooms, so you should know the differences in advance.
He has no fringe on his hat; if you rub your teeth on it, it will creak. The tubular layer under the cap is yellow. Skripun loves birch and aspen forests. Real milk mushrooms grow in mixed forests. Skripun is never wormy.
When and where are milk mushrooms collected in Russia?
The hunting season for milk mushrooms is from July to September.. Loves birch, willow, pine, rowan plantings. Prefers wet places, where mosses and ferns grow.
Milk mushrooms are very difficult to find, they hide under the leaves
How to deliciously cook milk mushrooms
Hot salting of real milk mushrooms
- The first step is to select other types of mushrooms from the milk mushrooms. Rinse everything several times with water. Use an old toothbrush to remove dirt and treat the surface. We trim the legs and leave to soak for a day. In this case, the water changes 3-4 times during this time. Place the peeled mushrooms in a bucket.
- Transfer the mushrooms to a large container. Now we make the brine: for 1 liter of water, 3 large tablespoons of salt. Mix everything and pour over our mushrooms. We wait for everything to boil, after 5 minutes we throw everything into a colander. At the same time, we put the brine with which the jars are filled, all in the same proportion. Turn everything off, let the water drain and the mushrooms cool.
- For pickling we use peppercorns, garlic cloves, and dill umbrellas. We take 0.5-0.7 liter jars, for one jar 3 peppercorns and 2 cloves of garlic. Stack the seasonings to leave room for the brine. Cut large mushrooms into 2-3 parts. Place the mushrooms on top of the seasonings, and then add a layer of seasonings. Fill everything with brine and leave overnight. In the morning you need to top up, as the amount of brine will decrease. Cover with a plastic lid, everything will be ready in 2-3 months.
Milk mushrooms are often prepared for the winter
Crispy marinated milk mushrooms
- To prepare the brine, we need mustard, paprika, garlic, spring grass and black currant leaves. You need dill, horseradish, salt, sugar and bay leaf. For pickling, it is better to choose small milk mushrooms. One kg of mushrooms needs to be boiled to remove the bitterness. After boiling, cook the mixture for 10-15 minutes, do not forget to skim off the foam. All bitterness will go away.
- Place the mushrooms in a colander and rinse them with boiling water.
- We prepare the brine for 1 liter: 3 peppercorns, a sprig of dill, 3 bay leaves, 5 black currant leaves, 5 spring leaves.
- Now put it on the fire and wait until it boils, add 2 tbsp. l salt and 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar. The brine is boiling.
- At the bottom of the jar we put chopped horseradish leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 tsp. mustard and a pinch of paprika, a sprig of dill. Then lay out a layer of mushrooms halfway, then add horseradish leaves, a sprig of dill, 2 cloves of garlic and continue laying the mushrooms.
- Cover everything with horseradish, dill, 1/3 tsp. mustard and a clove of garlic. Pour the mixture with boiling solution. We put the jars in a dark place, and after a day we place them in the pantry.
How to fry milk mushrooms (video)
Milk mushrooms in batter
Wash, peel, beat and sprinkle generously with salt. Then leave for 3-4 hours and cook in batter. Cut the mushrooms into pieces. We will make the batter using mineral water: 2 eggs, 300 g mineral water and 300 g of flour and a pinch of salt. Mix everything. We will fry with enough oil in a deep frying pan.
Milk mushrooms do not have poisonous copies; all representatives of the Milk mushrooms are conditionally edible. You should read about their differences before taking a walk in the woods.
Gallery: milk mushroom (40 photos)
Milk mushrooms (Lastarius) belong to the category of edible mushrooms. White and black milk mushrooms are “original Russian” mushrooms, which in our country have been the best for pickling since ancient times.
Milk mushrooms belong to the category of edible mushrooms
Most often in our country there are podgrudok and real milk mushrooms. The cap is quite dense, flat-convex or funnel-shaped with inward and pubescent edges, covered with mucous and moist skin. The presence of adhered fragments of soil and forest litter is often observed on the surface. The cylindrical leg is hollow inside.
The pulp is of sufficient density, strong, white in color, with a very characteristic fruity aroma. The milky juice secreted by the pulp is white and has a pungent taste. The spores are most often yellowish or brown in color.
Where to look for milk mushrooms (video)
Where do milk mushrooms grow in Russia?
White milk mushrooms most often grow in birch and spruce-birch or pine-birch forests in the central regions of the European part of Russia, as well as in Transbaikalia and Western Siberia, where this species is called Pravsky milk mushroom. Fruiting bodies can be collected from mid-summer until the onset of severe cold in the fall.
Black milk mushroom or blackberry, belongs to the category of conditionally edible mushrooms that grow in large groups. Abundant fruiting occurs from mid-summer to mid-autumn. The highest yield is found in sparse coniferous forests and mixed forests with a predominance of birch and hazel, as well as along roads.
Yellow milk mushroom bears fruit in large groups on the territory northern regions our country. Fruiting bodies are formed en masse from the last decade of summer until the onset of October. Most often, this variety grows on moist soils in spruce and pine plantations, as well as in mixed forests.
White milk mushrooms most often grow in birch and spruce-birch or pine-birch forests Taste and nutritional value of milk mushrooms
The benefits of edible varieties were very well known to our ancestors, so the preparation of such mushrooms was very popular in Rus'. 100 g of mushroom pulp contains:
- proteins – 1.8g;
- fat – 0.8g;
- carbohydrates – 0.5g;
- dietary fiber – 1.5g;
- water – 88.0g;
- ash – 0.4g;
- vitamin “B1” or thiamine – 0.03 mg;
- vitamin “B2” or riboflavin – 0.24 mg;
- vitamin “C” or ascorbic acid – 8.0 mg;
- vitamin “PP” – 0.15 mg;
- monosaccharides and disaccharides – 0.5 g.
The total calorie content is 15-16 kcal. The best taste characteristics They have real milk mushrooms, which is also popularly called white, raw or wet. Those in the second and third categories also have good taste. nutritional value milk mushrooms black, yellow, aspen and oak.
Milk mushrooms have the best taste characteristics Beneficial properties of milk mushroom
The main beneficial properties and value of milk mushrooms are determined by chemical composition mushroom pulp, which allows use them in folk medicine, during treatment;
- cholelithiasis;
- urolithiasis;
- tuberculosis;
- pulmonary enphysema;
- stomach diseases;
- intestinal pathologies;
- renal failure;
- skin lesions.
Properly salted milk mushrooms have anti-sclerotic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Gallery: varieties of milk mushrooms (45 photos)
Yellow breast
Parchment milk mushroom
Milk mushroom is bluish
Pepper milk mushroom
Dry milk mushroom
White milk mushrooms most often grow in birch and spruce-birch or pine-birch forests
Milk mushrooms have the best taste characteristics
Description of edible types of milk mushrooms
Edible varieties, after removing the bitter milky juice, are used for pickling. Properly salted fruit bodies are characterized by a bluish tint, fleshiness and juiciness, and also have a special mushroom aroma.
Aspen or poplar milk mushroom
One of the edible varieties, characterized by a very fleshy and dense, flat-convex and slightly depressed cap in the center, covered with white with pink spots and fine fluff, often sticky skin. The leg is strong and very dense, small in size, tapering towards the base, white or pinkish in color. The pulp is whitish in color, dense, but brittle, with a light fruity aroma and a fairly pungent taste, secreting abundant, white, acrid milky juice.
Aspen or poplar milk mushroom Dry milk mushroom
A less popular edible variety, characterized by a first convex, and slightly later depressed or funnel-shaped, whitish cap with dark yellowish or reddish-brown zones on the surface. The lower part of the fruit body is very strong, white, with irregular brown spots. Dry milk mushrooms have strong, white flesh, with a characteristic pungent taste and pronounced aroma.
Dry milk mushroom What are inedible milk mushrooms?
Along with big amount edible and conditionally edible varieties, there are absolutely inedible or false species, which have an unpleasant, pungent taste and aroma, and are therefore not used in cooking.
Blue breast
In many countries it is classified as an inedible mushroom. Similar to many edible varieties. It is distinguished by a convex, prostrate or funnel-shaped, with distinctly pubescent edges and a scaly surface, a sticky cap of a yellowish color. The lower part of the fruit body is narrowed at the base, sticky, hollow, with dark depressions and spots. The pulp is quite dense, yellowish in color, with the presence of a mushroom smell and a weak bitter taste, due to the presence of abundant milky juice, which acquires a purple hue when exposed to air.
Features of milk mushrooms (video)
Conditionally edible milk mushrooms
Despite the fact that in the majority Western countries These species are practically unknown, and are also often classified as inedible; in Russia they are traditionally one of the best and most popular conditionally edible mushrooms.
Pepper milk mushroom
A widely distributed conditionally edible variety, characterized by a slightly convex or funnel-shaped cap covered with a whitish matte, smooth or slightly velvety skin. It is distinguished by narrow and frequent plates descending along the stem. The leg is of a solid type, dense, tapering towards the base and has a smooth surface. The spores are white, almost round. The pulp is white, brittle, with sufficient density and thick, sticky, white, very caustic milky juice.
Pepper milk mushroom Milk mushroom is bluish
Abundantly fruiting conditionally edible variety, characterized by a convex with curved edges or funnel-shaped, dry, smooth or slightly velvety, white cap with narrow, frequent, descending plates that have a creamy tint. The spores are ellipsoidal, white. The leg area is cylindrical, narrowed towards the base, with a smooth surface. The pulp is of sufficient density, brittle, white, secreting an acrid white milky juice.
Milk mushroom is bluish Parchment milk mushroom
A frequently occurring conditionally edible variety, characterized by a convex-flat or funnel-shaped cap, covered with a slightly wrinkled or completely smooth, white or yellowish surface skin. Descending plates. The leg area is quite dense, with a noticeable narrowing downwards, with a smooth and white surface. The pulp is white, secreting a pungent and abundant milky white juice.
Parchment milk mushroom Yellow breast
A fairly common conditionally edible variety, characterized by the formation of a very large and fleshy, convex or flat, depressed or funnel-shaped cap with edges covered with reddish scales. The pulp is white in color, very brittle and dense, with a characteristic fruity smell and pungent taste, turning yellow when cut and emitting a thick milky juice. The leg is whitish, pitted, hollow, with a sticky surface.
Yellow breast How to cook milk mushrooms correctly
Properly collected, competently prepared, fairly young and strong fruit bodies are traditionally used for cooking huge amount dishes and preparations for the winter period. At the preparation stage, it is very important to thoroughly clean the surface of the fruiting bodies from various forest debris. Processing must be thorough. For this purpose, it is recommended to use a regular toothbrush or a hard sponge for washing dishes.
How to salt milk mushrooms (video)
For rinsing, use only clean, running water. From the prepared fruiting bodies you can prepare mushroom soup, first and second courses, cold appetizers, fillings, as well as roasting. In our country, black and white milk mushrooms are traditionally used in salting and pickling. When salting and pickling, the fruiting bodies are placed with their caps down, which allows them to retain their shape and excellent taste.
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(real milk mushroom)
or milk mushroom raw, wet, right
- conditionally edible mushroom
✎ Affiliation and generic characteristics
Gruzd belongs to the genus of mushrooms common name milkweed (Latin Lactarius) from a very large family of Russula (Latin Russulaceae) and the order of the same name Russula (Latin Russulales). Well, the Latin name of this genus, translated into Russian, means “milk” or “milk-giving.”
Since ancient times, people have called the most valuable species of this genus (such as the real milk mushroom) milk mushrooms. And in our time, many species of this genus are called milk mushrooms, including inedible ones (such as the gray-pink milkweed). And this name is accepted for most species of the genus Lactaceae (except perhaps for saffron milk caps and saffron milk caps). And “dry milk mushrooms” or podgruzdki (more precisely, podgrudki) are no longer called milkweeds, but some types of russula (lat. Russula), however, included in the same family.
The word "milk" comes from the Proto-Slavic gruzdъ, which is related to the word “pile” and the expected internal form of the word with this etymology is “growing on a pile (on a heap).” However, according to another version, the word “mushroom” comes from the adjective gruzd (th): (from the Latin gruzdus - “heavy mushroom” - “fragile or brittle mushroom”). And according to the third version, the word “milk mushrooms” means mushrooms that grow “heavy”, that is, in a heap or in large groups.
In Russian mycological literature, already from early XIX centuries, the “real” milk mushroom has always been considered the species now called pepper milk mushroom (lat. Lactarius piperatus). And only in 1942, the Soviet scientist, researcher of the Russian Arctic and mycologist of cap mushrooms - B. P. Vasilkov (1906 - 1980) showed that the popular name “real milk mushroom” actually refers to white milk mushroom (lat. Lactarius resimus).
In total, about 120 different species are known in the genus of milkweeds, about 90 of which live in Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union. And who, if not the Slavs, should not know these mushrooms, because from time immemorial they were considered primordially “Russian”. And under the general name of mushrooms, a very large group of mushrooms is now known; of the light (white) milk mushrooms, it includes:
- white milk mushroom (real);
- blue milk mushroom (blue yellow);
- milk mushroom fringed (shaggy);
and among the dark (black) milk mushrooms it includes:
The only difference in their structure lies only in the details or their coloring, but in general they are all very similar to each other and sometimes it is very, very difficult to distinguish them.
The advantages of milk mushrooms (except for the podgrudki) include the fact that due to the presence of caustic milky juice in their pulp (of which the podgrudki are almost completely devoid), they are extremely rarely affected by mushroom worms.
✎ White breast (real)
White breast(lat. Lactarius resimus) or as it is otherwise called - real milk mushroom, and in the Volga and Urals regions - milk mushroom raw, in Western Siberia or Kazakhstan - milk mushroom wet, in the regions of Central and Eastern Siberia - milk mushroom pravsky is a conditionally edible mushroom of the genus Lactarius, the family Russulaceae and the order Russulales.
It is considered conditionally edible only because it belongs to a large group of species belonging to the genus Lactiferae, which contain in the pulp of their fruiting body white milky juice, which is very bitter and pungent in taste. And the milk mushroom got its name for its ability to grow in families or nests, similar to heaps or piles. And our modern word pile is on Old Slavonic language sounds like a bust.
✎ Similar species and nutritional value
White breast easily confused with their relatives from the same family:
- yellow (pitted) milk mushroom (lat. Lactarius scrobiculatus), which has a brighter yellow color;
- violin (lat. Lactarius vellereus), which has a felt cap with non-pubescent edges and is most often found under beeches;
- aspen (poplar) milk mushroom (lat. Lactarius controversus), which grows in damp aspen, willow and poplar forests;
- parchment milk mushroom (lat. Lactarius pergamenus), which is distinguished by a parchment-matte surface of the cap, with characteristic wrinkles;
- bluish milk mushroom (lat. Lactarius glaucescens), which is distinguished by yellowish-bluish spots on the cap and the milky juice of which quickly coagulates in the air and turns slightly green;
- pepper milk mushroom (lat. Lactarius piperatus), which is distinguished by a smooth or slightly velvety cap and the milky juice of which becomes olive-green in the air;
- white wool (white) (lat. Lactarius pubescens), which is much smaller in size, and whose cap is less slimy and more fluffy;
- white milkweed (lat. Russula delica), which is distinguished by the absence of milky juice in the pulp.
But this is not scary, because they are all edible or conditionally edible species, the consumption of which raises no doubt.
But inedible and poisonous counterparts of the white milk mushroom do not exist in nature.
In the West, white milk mushroom is practically unknown or considered inedible, but in Russia it is traditionally considered the best conditionally edible mushroom, superior in value to meat. The dry matter of white milk mushroom contains about 32% protein.
In the old days, the real milk mushroom was considered the only mushroom suitable for pickling, for which it was called the “king of mushrooms,” because pickles were considered the main cold appetizer in Rus'. In the Kargopol district alone, up to 150 thousand pounds of saffron milk mushrooms and milk mushrooms were collected annually, and they were exported salted to St. Petersburg.
For economic and nutritional value White milk mushroom belongs to the conditionally edible mushrooms of the first category and is traditionally highly rated among mushroom pickers.
✎ The main differences between white (light) milk mushrooms
How to learn to easily and accurately distinguish between “white milk mushrooms”? To do this, you need to remember simple signs of their differences:
It is quite difficult to confuse a white (or real) breast with others; its cap always has a very shaggy (fluffy) edge, which completely gives it away. And in order to distinguish the remaining white milk mushrooms, you must first of all pay attention to the color tone of their plates. The aspen (poplar) milk mushroom has pinkish plates, the cap is often decorated with pink concentric circles, and its milky juice is white, abundant and pungent, and does not change its color. If there is no pinkishness, then you need to check the rusty spots, which also occur on aspen (poplar) milk mushrooms or pepper milk mushrooms, and whether their flesh turns yellow at the break and cut. If it turns yellow, it means it is a felt milk mushroom (violin), moreover, its cap is sometimes covered with light white fluff, which is still not always possible to see. If the milky juice turns green when scraped, then the mushroom is parchment or bluish. If neither the pulp nor the milky juice changes color and the juice is not liquid, but thick, very viscous, then it is a pepper milk mushroom. And if there is no milky juice at all on the scrap, then it is a white load.
It is worth paying attention to the place where milk mushrooms are collected. The white milk mushroom grows next to the birch and is found in deciduous or mixed forests with linden undergrowth, and with it the parchment milk mushroom and the bluish milk mushroom grow. Yellow milkweed grows near coniferous trees (spruce, fir), but sometimes (this is an exception) and next to deciduous trees (birch). The oak milk mushroom grows in forests with broad-leaved trees (oak, beech, hornbeam), and the pepper milk mushroom likes to settle next to it. Aspen (poplar) milkweed always grows under aspens, willows, and poplars, preferring plantings along roads. White Podgruzdok can grow successfully not only in deciduous, but also in mixed forests with a predominance of aspen and poplar, but it grows especially well near wild forest apple and pear trees, or along the banks large rivers on soddy-sandy soil.
Paying attention to the indicated signs, it will not be difficult to understand the white milk mushrooms.
✎ Distribution in nature and seasonality
Milk mushrooms grow mainly in coniferous and deciduous forests with a predominance of pine, spruce and birch, while they try to settle in colonies, well hidden under a layer of forest litter. Milk mushrooms love to “play hide and seek” with mushroom pickers, so much so that sometimes you can spot them if you only step on one of them. Depending on the subspecies, white milk mushrooms choose for settlement either a pine forest (white milk mushroom), or a spruce forest (yellow milk mushroom), or a birch forest (white milk mushroom, felt milk mushroom (violin milk mushroom), parchment milk mushroom and bluish milk mushroom), or aspen forest (aspen milk mushroom , poplar milk mushroom), or oak forest (oak milk milk and pepper milk milk).
White milkweed forms mycorrhiza with birch, occurring in deciduous and mixed forests (birch, pine-birch with linden undergrowth). And it is widespread in the northern regions of Russia and Belarus, as well as in Ukraine, in the Upper and Middle Volga region, in the Urals, in Western Siberia, although infrequently, it is abundant and usually grows in large groups. The optimal average daily fruiting temperature for white milk mushroom is only 8 - 10 °C on the soil surface, which is why its growth season falls in the second half of summer, from late July to September, and in the southern zones of its range (Ukraine , Belarus or Middle Volga region) and even later - from the beginning of August to the end of September.
✎ Brief description and application
The white mushroom belongs to the section of lamellar mushrooms and the spores by which it reproduces are located in its plates, and not in tubes, like in tubular mushrooms. The plates are wide, very sparse, white or cream in color with a yellowish shaggy edge in the form of a fringe. The cap is wide, concave inward, at first it is flat-convex, then it becomes funnel-shaped and dense with pubescent edges rolled inward. The skin on the cap is slimy, wet, milky white or slightly yellowish in color with vague watery concentric zones and often with adhered particles of soil and litter. The leg is cylindrical and smooth, white or yellowish in color, sometimes with yellow spots or pits, hollow inside. The pulp is dense and strong, white in color, with a very characteristic odor reminiscent of fruit. The milky juice is bright white, tastes acrid and turns sulfur-yellow when exposed to air.
The white breast is pre-soaked well in cold water to remove bitter taste. After which it is prepared for salting. When salted, all milk mushrooms acquire a bluish tint, they are fleshy, juicy and have a special aroma. By the Siberian way Milk mushrooms are salted together with other mushrooms (saffron mushrooms, milk mushrooms, milk mushrooms), and they are soaked for exactly one day, periodically changing the water, then washed with water and poured in for another day. And only after that they are salted in special barrels with spices, in which they become suitable for consumption within 40 to 50 days after salting. Less often, milk mushrooms are pickled, even less often they are fried, but they are never dried.
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