Peak begins in autumn mushroom season. What mushrooms can be collected early and late autumn? We'll tell you in this article.

Autumn is generous with the gifts of nature. At this time of year, you can enjoy not only fragrant apples, pears, and vegetables from the garden, but also diversify your menu with mushroom dishes.

Important: “Silent hunting” is what mushroom pickers call their hobby. Why? Because they usually go out to pick mushrooms in a friendly group. And this is a very exciting activity.

Many people believe that mushrooms only grow in autumn. In fact, this is not entirely true. Mushrooms grow in both spring and summer, and some even in winter. It’s just that in the fall, thanks to the wet weather, a huge number of them grow.

The month of September is good because you can still collect summer species mushrooms, but traditionally autumn ones are already appearing.

Traditionally, the September types of mushrooms include the following:

There are many subspecies of honey mushrooms. Among them there are edible and poisonous, sometimes it is difficult even for an experienced specialist to distinguish. Some mushroom pickers do not consider these mushrooms edible.

Picky mushrooms that can be found in mosses or under grass. Chanterelles grow throughout the fall. The chanterelle's leg has folds, and the cap may be irregular shape and curved outward. All types of chanterelles are considered edible or conditionally edible. Conditionally considered edible false chanterelles. Their hat is much brighter than that of ordinary foxes.

Chanterelles

Porcini

It is also called boletus. You've also probably heard the name "king of mushrooms". The mushroom is named porcini because its pulp white does not darken when cut. The diameter of the cap ranges from 5-20 cm.

In wet weather, the cap can be slippery; in dry weather, it can become cracked and dry. If you turn the mushroom over, you can see that the flesh is porous. The color of the cap darkens as the mushroom ages, from white to brown. The leg is dense and fleshy.

“King of Mushrooms” - Boletus

Variety porcini mushroom- dubovik

The boletus has a light leg that widens downwards with dark inclusions. The hat is medium brown in color. The boletus grows in birch or mixed forests. But you can also find it in a spruce forest, where there are interspersed birches. Loves moist soil, but warmed by the sun.

In addition to the above, other mushrooms also grow abundantly in September:

  • Milk mushrooms
  • Butter
  • Mokhoviki
  • Saffron milk caps

Video: How to pick mushrooms correctly?

What edible mushrooms are collected in October: list, photos, names

In October, before frost sets in, you can collect decent baskets different mushrooms. Although the number of mushrooms in meadows and forests will not be as record high as in September. In October, it is worth looking for mushrooms near stumps and under trees.

Still available this month porcini mushrooms, boletus, boletus.

In October, the following mushrooms grow abundantly:

  1. Saffron milk caps
  2. Bitters
  3. greenfinch

Saffron milk caps

Saffron milk caps grow in spruce forests. The second name for saffron milk caps is spruce trees. Saffron milk caps have a concave cap, the edges are slightly bent, and the inside of the cap is lamellar. The cap of these mushrooms is smooth and slippery. Pulp orange color. Saffron milk caps are one of the most delicious mushrooms. They can be fried, salted, and dried.

Milk mushrooms

These mushrooms, like others, are divided into two types: conditionally edible and edible.

TO conditionally edible relate:

  • bitter milk mushroom (bitter)
  • milk mushroom yellow
  • milk mushroom white (real)
  • milk mushroom parchment
  • milk mushroom black

TO edible:

  • marsh mushroom
  • bluish milk mushroom
  • camphor milk mushroom

These mushrooms may differ in the color of their cap. Milk mushrooms reach large sizes- up to 20 cm in diameter. milky juice white, abundant. As it ripens, the flesh of the milk mushroom becomes brittle and crumbles easily.

Important: The term " conditionally edible mushrooms“does not mean that you can’t eat them. Can. Only first it needs to be processed: frying, boiling, drying, salting. Concerning edible mushrooms, it is believed that they can be eaten raw.

What edible mushrooms are collected in November: list, photos, names

November is the latest autumn month. The first frosts begin this month, but you can still assemble a basket late mushrooms, such as:

  • greenfinch
  • Oyster mushrooms
  • Butter

Butter

Butterfly got its name due to its slippery, sticky, oily cap. Brown hat, with reverse side porous. This mushroom is very nutritious. The oiler loves coniferous soil, but there must be bushes and grass.

There are deciduous, swamp, and cedar boletus. Late boletus can be recognized by its richly colored cap with yellow flesh. Late boletus hides in mosses.

Has a long thin leg. The leg is hollow inside. Externally, garlic mushrooms are similar to honey mushrooms; they can be distinguished by the characteristic smell of garlic. Hence the name. When cooked, the smell disappears, when dried it intensifies.

The latest mushrooms in autumn in November: list, photos, names

In late autumn you can find:

  • Talkers
  • Zelenushki (rows)
  • Oyster mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms grow at once “as a whole friendly company.” You can find them on trees. Oyster mushrooms are also grown in industrial scale. Oyster mushrooms have a soft cap with soft gray skin.

Talkers

The caps of the talkers are thin, these mushrooms themselves are small, but fragrant. Talkers grow on soft litter, shallow. Among the varieties of talkers, there are many poisonous ones, so it is recommended only for experienced mushroom pickers to collect them.

Mushroom talker

greenfinch

Greenfinches grow in dry pine forests. They can be found singly or in groups. These are the latest mushrooms to grow until frost. After treatment, the greenish color does not disappear. If you eat a lot of greenfinches, you can get poisoned. Therefore, it is better to consume them in moderation.

How quickly do mushrooms grow after rain in the fall?

Important: For mushrooms to grow, the soil must be well saturated. It is important that it is warm for some time. Such conditions are favorable for the growth of mushrooms.

Mushrooms grow in different ways. For example, boletus may appear 10 hours after rain. Other mushrooms, especially late autumn ones, will have to wait up to 12 days.

Experienced mushroom pickers We are sure that it is not necessary to wait 12-14 days after the rain, you just need to know good places.

It is also important to go to pick mushrooms when they reach the required size. On average, mushrooms reach medium size in 3-6 days. Full height up to 12-14 days.

At what temperature do mushrooms grow in autumn?

High temperature (30-35°) inhibits the growth of fungi. The mechanism of mushroom growth is such that the mycelium begins to develop at a temperature of 20-25°. During this time, it should rain, the mycelium should be saturated with nutrients. And only at a temperature of 6-10° the fruiting body actively grows.

It happens that mushrooms grow in waves after each heavy rain. But it doesn’t happen year after year. It also happens that the year does not indulge in a mushroom harvest. Many mushroom pickers say that mushrooms have their own quirks.

Picking mushrooms is not only useful activity, but also exciting. Many quiet walks through the forests and beautiful places calms down. Don’t forget to arm yourself with a knife for cutting mushrooms and a basket, or maybe several.

But if you decide to go mushroom hunting and don’t know whether this mushroom is edible, it is better to ask an experienced mushroom picker to help. Almost all types of mushrooms have false doubles, which can be extremely dangerous to your health and life.

Video: How to distinguish edible mushrooms from poisonous ones?

Autumn honey mushrooms begin to appear in forests towards the end of August. You can collect them throughout the first half of September. Autumn honey mushrooms grow in waves. Depending on the weather conditions Each year there may be 2-3 waves of these mushrooms, with the first one usually being the most abundant. Another feature of the growth of autumn honey mushrooms is that they appear quickly and abundantly, and then just as abruptly disappear. Therefore, for lovers " quiet hunt“It is important not to miss the moment when the collection begins.

In what forests is this species found?

Autumn can be considered a cosmopolitan of our latitudes. It can be found in almost any forest that is more than 30 years old. Honey mushrooms grow on more than 200 species of trees. As a rule, these fungi appear in colonies on dry trunks, dead wood, stumps, roots and trunks of living plants. Most often, honey mushrooms are found on spruce and birch trees, a little less often they can be found on pines, aspens and oaks. - moderate strip. When they settle on dead wood, they destroy it. At the same time, the valuable elements from which it consists are returned to the biological one. In the same place, autumn honey mushrooms can be collected for up to 15 years in a row. After this period, the wood is completely destroyed by mycelium.

Autumn honey mushroom colonies grow very abundantly. From one stump you can collect several liters of these valuable mushrooms. Young honey mushrooms with an unopened cap are collected together with the stem. Only the caps of grown mushrooms are cut off. Their legs nutritional value Dont Have.

There are many recipes for preparing these mushrooms. Honey mushrooms can be boiled, pickled, dried and salted, as well as fried. When picking mushrooms, you do not need to pull out their stems from the wood “by the roots”, so as not to damage the mycelium, which will delight you with a bountiful harvest next year.

Precautionary measures

However, when going into the forest, it is important to remember about precautions. Many have poisonous doubles, so not a single year goes by without poisoning. Before going into the forest, it is important to study the signs of not only the species that you plan to collect, but also similar ones that are better to skip. If you are not sure that this particular mushroom is definitely edible, there is no 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’s” advice on how to distinguish a poisonous mushroom from an edible one. For example, some people seriously believe that poisonous species are not eaten by forest animals or snails. You can see for yourself the fallacy of this statement - even fatal for people pale grebe They eat slugs and insects without any problems for their lives. Another “sure-fire” way to make sure that forest products are edible is when they culinary processing heat a silver spoon (or onion) with them.

They say that if they do not darken, this means that there is not a single poisonous mushroom among them. Of course, this is not true. Silver may darken, for example, from boletus, but will not change its color when heated with the same pale toadstool. You can check this yourself, but it’s still better not to conduct such experiments. There are also popular myths that mushrooms become poisonous if they grow near rusty iron or snake nests. Such stories should be treated as folklore, interesting as folk legends, but without practical value.

Do you 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 shouldn’t bother yourself with their distinctive features. In fact, about 90 of these species can be found in our forests, and about 10 of them are fatal to us.

Of course, this does not mean that in order to avoid mushroom poisoning, you need to buy them only in grocery stores. The purpose of this article is to show the reader the importance of knowing not only tasty and edible species, but also the signs by which they can be distinguished from their poisonous counterparts.

Twin mushrooms of autumn honey fungus

According to some signs edible species may resemble poisonous ones. Moreover, there are quite a lot of similar cases. Among mushroom pickers, a pair of “autumn honey fungus - dangerous double" The name of the inedible relative is false honey fungus. This is a generalized name for several species that have some similarities with autumn honey fungus. These mushrooms belong to the genera Hyfoloma and Psalitrella. Some of them are considered simply inedible, some are considered poisonous. About individual species There are still discussions about whether they can be considered conditionally edible. But there is no clear evidence that a person who eats them will not harm himself. Therefore, it is better not to risk it and limit yourself to collecting only autumn honey mushrooms. Moreover, there are a lot of them in the forest during the season.

Where do inedible and poisonous look-alikes grow?

They grow in the same places as edible ones - on stumps, dead wood and living trees, so a novice mushroom picker can make a mistake. In order to be sure that the forest gifts you collect can be eaten, you need to know the signs of edible mushrooms and their dangerous counterparts.

Differences between false honey fungus and autumn honey fungus

The dangerous double can be easily distinguished from its edible relative.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the color of the cap. U edible honey fungus it has a color ranging from beige to yellowish-dark brown. Moreover, old mushrooms are usually darker than young ones. The parts of the caps that are protected from the sun are usually much lighter. The dangerous twin of the autumn honey fungus often has a bright, provocative color.

Second hallmark- coloring of spores. U edible honey mushrooms they are white, so you can see them on the caps of old mushrooms white coating. This is what controversy is about. With their help, honey mushrooms disperse. The third thing to check is the presence of a membranous “skirt” on the leg of the honey mushroom. False honey agaric autumn does not have it. This sign is the most important difference to pay attention to. "Skirt" autumn honey fungus represents the remnant of a protective blanket enveloping a young mushroom. The dangerous double of the autumn honey mushroom does not have such a cover.

The fourth difference that helps to highlight the dangerous twin of the autumn honey fungus is the color of the plates on inside mushroom caps. In edible species, which are best not to deal with, the plates are yellow if the mushroom is young, and greenish-olive in old ones. Autumn mushrooms are characterized by cream, beige or light yellow coloration of the plates.

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 cap itself. But old mushrooms lose their scales and become smooth. True, such overgrown mushrooms no longer have any nutritional value, so mushroom pickers are not interested in them.

The sixth sign that will help you distinguish an edible mushroom is its smell. Autumn honey mushrooms smell pleasant, but the smell of false honey mushrooms smells like mold.

Conclusion

Knowledge of these signs will be enough to be able to distinguish the autumn honey fungus. A photo of a mushroom will help you avoid mistakes. But it’s even better to take with you an experienced expert who will show you what autumn honey mushrooms look like. Once you see them with your own eyes, it will be difficult to confuse them with any other species. But even an old woman can get screwed, so don’t forget the main rule of mushroom pickers: “If you’re not sure, don’t take it.”

The mushroom season begins in mid-April - early May. On the northern slopes of ravines, in forest thickets, where the sun rarely peeks, there is still snow, and on the edges of broad-leaved and deciduous forests, warmed by the sun, morels appear in clearings and along forest roads. Massive growth of morels is observed from the first to the third ten days of May. At the same time, you can collect the lines. These mushrooms love pine forests and settle in clearings and roadsides on sandy soil.

Morels and lines in fresh poisonous. Before eating, they are carefully processed: boiled 2-3 times, draining the broth, or dried.

In early June, the mushroom picker will encounter the first russula. There are many varieties of russula. These are the most harvest mushrooms and you can collect them until late autumn. Russulas are easy prey; in other parts of the forest there are a lot of them, and it seems that extraordinary flowers of the most varied colors and shades have grown in the emerald greenery.

In June, you need to look into the birch forests if you want the basket to be filled with the first boletus mushrooms, and in the sparse, light-colored pine forests you can collect boletus. At this time, green moss mushrooms are also common in the forest. From the second half of June, the growth of mushrooms increases noticeably: more than 15 species of cap mushrooms can already be found in the forest.

IN pine forests, overgrown with heather, aspen and often birch forests, very noticeable mushrooms appear - aspen boletuses. Their red hat is visible from a distance on the green carpet. These mushrooms grow until late autumn, but most of them occur from the first ten days of August to the second ten days of October. In June, when the first warm rains pass, chanterelles will appear in abundance, settling in cheerful flocks in grassy and mossy forest clearings. At this time, you can look for the king of mushrooms, the boletus, in the light pine forest, and in early July, porcini mushrooms also appear in birch forests.

In June, pigs are found, mushrooms are found in forest clearings and edges, and in July, families of milk mushrooms begin to be found in coniferous, birch and birch forests. You need to take a closer look at the hummocks, because under a layer of last year’s needles and leaves, the mushroom often hides from the eyes of the mushroom picker.

August is considered the most mushroom month, of course, and its best gift is saffron milk caps. From the first days of the month they pour out in young spruce and pine forests. Second half of August and first ten days of September - Golden time for a mushroom picker: just have time to collect abundant harvests of mushrooms that are valuable for drying, salting and pickling. At this time there are a lot of boletus, boletus, boletus, saffron milk caps, and milk mushrooms. Grow and less valuable mushrooms- waves, rows, loading. In August you can find autumn honey mushrooms, but their time has not yet come. There are many honey mushrooms in September, when other mushrooms begin to disappear. The sky is frowning more and more often, watering the thinned forest with fine cold rain. Fallen leaves are everywhere - a flowery outfit of autumn, among which it is already difficult to find a mushroom, but honey mushrooms are in plain sight. Having surrounded the stump, they climb up in a crowd, as if they were damp and cold on the ground. Before the first snow, you can carry baskets full of these tasty and clean mushrooms from the forest.

The mushroom calendar is capricious. Not one year coincides with another in terms of the number of types of mushrooms and their yield. Only the order in which mushrooms appear is almost constant.

A real mushroom picker meets the sun in the forest with trophies in a basket. Early in the morning, when there are no obliques yet sun rays, the mushroom is clearer. Those who are late can only get overgrown mushrooms and trimmed mushroom stems. Walk slowly through the forest, some will run around it and return home with an empty basket, but mushrooms love to play hide and seek. Under a thick branch, in moss, among a heap of leaves, they often hide from the eyes of mushroom pickers, especially after a summer dry wind. IN rainy summer mushrooms settle in clearings and along forest edges. If you find a mushroom, then circle around: mushrooms often grow in groups. There is no need to pull the mushroom out of the ground by the roots; it is better to cut it with a knife without scattering it forest floor. If you save the mycelium, you will get good harvest and in the future.

The Russian writer S. T. Aksakov wrote that mushrooms have favorite places where they will certainly be born every year in larger or smaller quantities. And he had such places in mind; he would not come from the forest without mushrooms. “I always have a lot of spotted mushrooms, mostly white,” said Aksakov, “and I take them at the age that I need, or leave them to reach their full development and beauty.”

(S. T. Aksakov. Collected works, vol. 4. M., ed. art literature, 1956, pp. 594-595.)

It is best to collect mushrooms in baskets made of willow twigs, placing them with their caps down or sideways if the mushrooms have long stems. In buckets due to lack of inflow fresh air mushrooms can “burn” and spoil. You cannot collect mushrooms in backpacks and bags - in these containers they wrinkle and crumble.

Fresh mushrooms brought home must be immediately sorted, cleaned and processed; they cannot be stored.

Who, in an exciting mushroom hunt, has not had to wander through an unfamiliar forest, looking for the way to home! Of course, it’s good to have a compass with you, but it’s not always at hand. Therefore, when picking mushrooms, you should often pay attention to the features of the area: a noticeable tree, clearings, bends in the road, etc. It is useful to look back occasionally to remember the way back from the forest.

At night it is easy to navigate by the moon. Full moon opposes the sun, which means that at 7 o'clock. it is in the west, at midnight - in the south and at 19 o'clock. - in the east. A straight line drawn through the two outermost stars of the Big Dipper, which has the shape of a bucket, will go to the bright Polar Star, which is always in the north in our hemisphere.

It's lonely standing tree the crown is always thicker and more luxuriant on the south side. On sections of stumps, the thickness of annual rings is wider towards the south. Resin appears on the trunks of pine trees on the southern side, and moss and lichens grow on stones and trees on the northern side. Anthills are usually located on the south side of a tree or stump.

The sides of the horizon can be easily determined using a watch. To do this, the hour hand is directed towards the sun.

A line running from the center of the clock through the middle of the angle formed by the hour hand and the direction of the number 1 will indicate where north and south are. Before lunch, south will be to the right of the clockwise direction, and after lunch, to the left. Exactly at 13 o'clock. the sun is in the south. The minute hand is not taken into account. The watch should be kept in a horizontal position.

Nature can help the mushroom picker determine the weather for the coming days. Before bad weather, wood sorrel and wood groats are drooping, meadow clover is folding its leaves, sweet clover is smelling strongly, and the flowers of dandelion, thistle and coltsfoot are closing. Yellow acacia flowers usually have a strong scent in the evening. If their aroma is felt on a sunny morning, it means a thunderstorm.

When going to the forest to pick mushrooms, pay attention to your flower garden. Morning glory, mallow, marigolds have folded their petals and seem to have withered - which means it will rain and you need to put on rubber boots and take a raincoat with you.

Honey mushrooms include several types of mushrooms that share their habitat, namely that they usually grow on tree trunks. Summer honey fungus is one of the most common mushrooms eaten.

What do summer mushrooms look like?

The size of the cap reaches 6 cm in diameter. In a young fruiting body it is convex, and as it matures it becomes flat with a central tubercle. During rain, the color becomes brown, and in dry weather it becomes dull honey. The edge of the cap has clearly visible grooves, usually darker than the central part. The top layer is smooth to the touch and slightly slimy.

At the bottom of the cap there are thin plates that can be adherent or slightly descending. The older the mushroom, the darker the color of the plates. The cap flesh is watery and pale yellow-brown in color.

The thin leg, no more than 7 cm high, has a dense structure. The color is uneven: the upper part is lighter than the base. In addition, there are small dark scales below. Young individuals are characterized by the presence of a remnant of the veil in the form of a thin ring, which disappears over time.

Places and rules for collecting summer mushrooms

The season for collecting summer honey mushrooms begins in June and continues until the beginning of autumn. Mushrooms are found in all forest plantations in Russia. Experienced mushroom pickers go out in search of crops after long rains, especially if it's worth it warm weather. Most often, honey mushrooms settle in hard-to-reach or impassable places. If you come across a tree with a rotten hollow on your way, it is recommended to look into it, otherwise you may miss a whole nest of mushrooms.

Summer honey mushrooms, in addition to fallen trees and clearings, can settle on healthy wood or at the base of a tree, in leaves or tall grass. Mushrooms love birch, oak and hazel.

Varieties of honey mushrooms (video)

So as not to return from a quiet hunt with empty handed, it is recommended to go for mushrooms in a forest that is over 30 years old, since its forest area has many suitable places for mushrooms: windbreaks, rotten stumps, protruding root system. It is important to adhere to established rules collection forest gifts:

  • do not cut off unfamiliar or unfamiliar mushrooms;
  • if there are suspicions about the edibility of a mushroom, it is better not to pick it;
  • It is not recommended to collect very young or, conversely, old specimens, since the fruiting body absorbs toxic substances;
  • It is advisable to twist the tubular type, and break or cut off the marsupial mushrooms;
  • When picking a mushroom, it is important not to cause damage to the mycelium;
  • since honey mushrooms grow in colonies, if you find one mushroom, you should carefully search nearby;
  • Instead of a bucket, it is recommended to take a basket to provide air access and avoid spoilage of the mushrooms;
  • Mushrooms should be placed in the basket with their caps down or sideways.

It is best to go for mushrooms early in the morning, while their freshness and density have not yet been lost after the coolness of the night. The fruit bodies are not fragile, but easily bendable, which makes them easier to transport.

Description of the taste and nutritional value of summer mushrooms

Fruits belong to category 4 taste qualities. Their soft and pleasant taste, as well as the delicate aroma of fresh wood, is valued in Russian cuisine. Universal mushrooms are used in the preparation of any dishes, since heat treatment does not affect the nutritional properties. The legs are not recommended due to their hardness.

Having studied the properties of honey mushrooms, experts came to the conclusion that it is not only delicious product, but also good for health.

How to distinguish summer honey mushrooms from false types of mushrooms

Among the representatives mushroom kingdom There are inedible individuals that are similar to their edible relatives, not only in appearance, but also in where they grow. So that a poisonous specimen does not end up in the basket with summer honey mushrooms, It is important to know some differences:

  • an edible mushroom is characterized by the presence of a ring (skirt) on the stem, formed from a protective film, which, as the mushroom matures, comes off the cap, remaining on the stem;
  • on the surface of the cap of natural representatives (except for old individuals) there are small scales, painted in a darker palette than the cap;
  • the color of the surface film on the caps of false specimens is much brighter and depends on the location of the fungus;
  • the color of the plates in twins is slightly green, yellowish or dark olive, in summer mushrooms it is beige-cream or light yellow, depending on the age of the mushroom;
  • in contrast to the musty smell emitted by inedible species, real mushrooms have a pleasant aroma.

Considering the signs of edible mushrooms, even a novice mushroom picker will be able to distinguish false specimens from forest mushrooms.

Where do honey mushrooms grow (video)

Features of growing summer honey mushrooms at home

Honey mushrooms are natural product, which is cultivated in an artificial environment. There are several growing methods that do not require special preparation, using:

  • logs;
  • banks;
  • package;
  • greenhouse or open area.

Only winter and summer varieties are suitable for self-cultivation. When using wood, it is important to adhere to following rules:

  1. The trunk must have a dense structure, but not rotten (birch, aspen, poplar) with a diameter of 15 cm or more;
  2. Provide sufficient humidity. If the material for growing mushrooms is dry, then a few days before sowing it should be watered abundantly or immersed in water;
  3. After sowing, bring the trunk into a cool room (not lower than 15°C);
  4. As soon as the mycelium begins to germinate intensively, the wood can be taken out to the site and buried a little with earth;
  5. You can collect mushrooms after a couple of years, until the wood is completely destroyed;
  6. To obtain mycelium, you can use fruits, wood pieces, or purchase mycelium in specialized stores. It is recommended to use a refrigerator to store it.

If desired, dilute mushrooms personal plot, wood is usually used. At the same time, labor costs are very low. In addition, you can grow mushrooms on your own in a greenhouse or in a jar. In the case of using a greenhouse, the following technology is used:

  • logs prepared in advance are stacked in the greenhouse;
  • wood is infected with mycelium using spores or mycelium;
  • Before the mushrooms appear, the wood is constantly moistened.

In addition to wood, you can use substrate blocks purchased ready-made, or jars or bags. If desired, you can make the blocks yourself from a mixture of sawdust, barley (oats) and chalk. You need to take 200 g of sawdust, 70 g of cereals and a teaspoon of chalk. Then boil the sawdust in water for a third of an hour, drain the water and dry it. After this, add the remaining ingredients, mix and place tightly in a container. This method is usually used for cultivation.

To grow summer honey mushrooms, territories with large area. 15-20 sq.m. is enough. m. Regardless of the chosen location, it is important to maintain temperature regime, varying from 20-25°C to 10-15°C. Keeping high level humidity, you can increase the rate of mycelium development. Mushrooms do not require lighting, therefore on open area It is better to choose a shady place so as not to dry out the wood.

How to cook honey mushrooms (video)

Due to the unpretentiousness of honey mushrooms and easy care, many mushroom pickers decide to grow them at home. Breeding technology is selected depending on living conditions and available funds. Besides, this type mushrooms are very tasty and can be stored for a long time without losing its properties.

Honey mushrooms are such small and inconspicuous-looking mushrooms that, out of ignorance, they can be mistaken for toadstools. With an abundance of other mushrooms of a more presentable appearance, honey mushrooms often remain untouched. And only when the range of mushrooms in the forests is small, they remember honey mushrooms.

Where and when do honey mushrooms grow?

Honey mushrooms grow from May to late autumn.

Most often they appear near stumps or on fallen trees, which is why they got their name. Even if honey mushrooms have chosen a clearing, it’s not just like that. This means that roots extend deep underground, extending from a stump that was once a powerful tree.

Honey mushrooms are permanent mushrooms. They don't like to "jump" from place to place. And if a family of honey mushrooms was once discovered near some fallen tree, then experienced mushroom pickers will say with one hundred percent certainty that next year it will be possible to harvest a good harvest of mushrooms here. And until the stump of this tree (or the tree itself) turns into dust, honey mushrooms will appear near it.

Honey mushrooms differ from each other in appearance and time of appearance. This comes from the fact that there are several types of honey mushrooms: summer honey fungus, meadow honey fungus, autumn honey fungus and winter honey fungus.

In May, when there are no other mushrooms in the forests, mushrooms appear in clearings, pastures, pastures, and along the edges of fields. honey fungus. It grows until November.

Honey fungus is a sociable mushroom. It grows in such groups that you can pick a whole basket of mushrooms from one clearing. It is noteworthy that meadow honey fungus often grows not just in bunches, but as if forming a circle, which is popularly called the “witch’s circle.” And these circles are sometimes quite large diameter. This is a mycelium meadow honey fungus it grows so much. Of course, if it is not disturbed or damaged by vandal mushroom pickers.

The meadow honey fungus has a yellowish-brownish or cream-colored cap with a tubercle in the middle. The edges of the cap are always lighter than the center. The leg is high, thin, tortuous, dense. The meadow honey fungus emits a pleasant smell of mushrooms and cloves. The taste is sweetish.

Summer honey fungus grows from July to September. He appears on the stumps hardwood, as well as logs, rotten wood and other remains deciduous trees. It does not grow on a living tree. This is a small mushroom with a yellow-brown cap, the edges of which are darker than the middle, and a brownish stem. Below the ring on the stem, the color changes to brown-green.

Autumn honey fungus differs from other honey mushrooms in the brown color of the cap and unusual scales that cover the entire cap, especially in the young mushroom. The flesh of the mushroom is light brown or beige. Autumn honey mushrooms have a pleasant smell and a sour-sweet taste.

Autumn honey fungus grows on stumps, dead wood, and also often moves onto living trunks of coniferous and deciduous trees, causing irreparable damage to them. After all, if autumn honey mushrooms completely take a fancy to some tree, it means that it will soon die.

Autumn honey fungus appears in August and grows until October, sometimes longer.

The difference between honey mushrooms and inedible and poisonous mushrooms

It happens that mushrooms grow at the wrong time. This does not happen with honey mushrooms. Therefore, confuse honey fungus with inedible or poisonous mushroom difficult. Especially if you know appearance not only honey mushrooms, but also inedible mushrooms.

For example, honey fungus can be confused with wood-loving collibia. It grows from May to December. The difference is a hollow stem, more frequent plates and an unpleasant odor.

It also grows in the same places as honey mushrooms. talker whitewashed. It is distinguished by a light cap without a tubercle in the middle and a floury smell.

Candol's false honey fungus has a white or brownish cap with purple-brown plates (in adult mushrooms) and a thin, hollow stalk.

Gray-yellow honey fungus has a yellow cap, a thin yellow stem and bitter flesh.

Seroplate honey fungus grows on wood coniferous trees and is distinguished by grayish plates.

Honeycombs are inedible. Their distinctive feature is the bright color of the cap, greenish, reddish or yellow-sulphurous.

All fresh honey mushrooms have a pleasant smell, which cannot be said about false honey mushrooms and other inedible mushrooms that can be confused with honey mushrooms.

Winter honey fungus- most late mushroom- is slightly different from the rest of the honey mushrooms precisely in the color of the cap, which can be cream, light yellow and even yellow-red.

Winter honey fungus grows in groups not only on dead wood, but sometimes settles on living weakened trees, thereby destroying them.

Winter honey fungus does not disappear even during short frosts, but only becomes covered with a thin ice crust. And as soon as the sun warms it, it will thaw.

All types of honey mushrooms are eaten fresh, boiled, or fried. They are also salted, dried, pickled and frozen. But you need to remember that most mushrooms have a hard stem, especially adult mushrooms, so when picking mushrooms, most often only the caps are cut off or a small stem is left. Since honey mushrooms have a thin leg, scissors are used instead of a knife.