The inhabitant of dry coniferous forests - bile fungus - grows from July to October, both on the soil and on stumps. Sometimes he chooses mixed, rarely deciduous forests. Among the people, he received the nickname "bitter" for a pronounced bitter taste. In Latin, its name is Tylopilus felleus. It can be easily confused with porcini mushrooms, but if you take a closer look, the differences will be very noticeable.
The bile fungus has a thick pillow-shaped hat; its color varies from golden to red with a gray tint. The diameter of the hat is from 5 to 20 cm, it is dull, dry, sometimes velvety. It is this solid tubular “hat” that so often misleads mushroom pickers.
Leg 5-10 cm high, thin and thickened at the top in the lower part, its surface is covered with red or brown scales. The pulp is bluish-white, dense, on the cut it turns pink; almost not affected by worms. On the back of the cap there is a white tubular layer, spore powder is located in the tubes. Unripe spores are light, but eventually turn pink. The bile fungus is an inedible mushroom. It has an unpleasant bitter taste and practically does not smell. However, it is not considered poisonous because it does not contain heavy toxins.
Fertility of mycelium directly depends on weather conditions. In a warm, favorable summer, it bears fruit actively, but huge colonies are rare. Bile white fungus grows locally, sometimes solitary, sometimes in small groups. He is called white for similarity, albeit not one hundred percent, but inexperienced mushroom pickers often make mistakes. The consequences are the spoiled taste of the dish; poisoning, as a rule, does not occur.
The main distinguishing feature that should alert is the pinkish leg on the cut, which in an ordinary mushroom always remains white. The second thing that should catch your eye is the pronounced scales that form a mesh pattern on the leg. The bile fungus, the description of which is presented above, is also distinguished by illegibility in the choice of the place of growth. This inhabitant of the forest was noticed both in the foliage on the ground, and under the trees, near the stumps, and on the stumps, and even in the rotten roots of the trees. At the same time, the appearance of the fungus is so variable that it can be mistaken for a boletus, mushroom or boletus.
While the mustard is very young, it looks like a strong birch tree, only the net on the leg is not gray, but reddish, and on the cut it does not darken, but turns pink. In old age, huge specimens are very similar to white ones, but their thin leg (only 3-4 cm in diameter) looks awkward, and suggests the falsity of this fungus.
Before you cook the dish, you should bite off a small piece, and everything will fall into place. The sharp bitter taste possessed by the bile fungus excludes the possibility of eating it. Even a small slice of pulp caught in the frying can completely ruin the taste of the whole dish. However, an interesting fact was noticed: not everyone feels the bitter taste of this fungus, for some it seems sweet. And someone carefully soaks the mushrooms in salt cold water and then fries or pickles. Due to the fact that the mustard is not poisonous, eating it is not contraindicated. Those who tried to dry thin slices of the mentioned mushroom, claim that as a result of drying, the bitterness goes away.
