Many different mushrooms grow in Russia. But experts of the “silent hunt” are sure that those who get to the place where the breasts grow are especially lucky. After all, here you can very quickly fill a huge basket with fragrant mushrooms. An experienced mushroom picker easily distinguishes this white mushroom, which has a pubescent hat and a yellowish mycelium.
Why mushrooms are so called
To answer this question, you need to know how and where they grow. These mushrooms "live" in large families, they are popularly called piles or heaps. Many believe that it is for this feature that edible breasts were so named.
Even if you know well where these wonderful mushrooms grow, you need to learn how to look for them. They are perfectly masked under a layer of foliage, fallen needles. Mushroom pickers leave for the lumps in the early morning - about five hours. You need to take a long stick with you, with which you can probe all the suspicious tubercles under the birches, or near the stumps. It is with these trees that these fungi prefer to grow in symbiosis, creating mycorrhiza.
There is another version why these mushrooms were named that way. The word "breast" appeared from Hebrew and in translation means "having a notch." True, it is well known that the cap of this fungus is funnel-shaped. Therefore, experts do not take this version seriously.
What do the breasts look like?
Mushrooms have several varieties. They all grow in groups. Hats of adult specimens often reach 30 cm in diameter. Mushrooms, photos of which you can see in our article, are edible mushrooms. They are suitable for pickling and pickling.
Yellow breast
This conspicuous fungus is distinguished by a yellow hat, which in diameter can reach 28 cm. But more common are medium specimens, with a hat size from 6 to 10 cm. Sometimes it is painted in brown or golden color, with small scales. The cap of young mushrooms is slightly convex, then it straightens or becomes concave. Its edges are usually bent inward. It is smooth to the touch, in wet weather it can become mucous.
The leg of the yellow lump is 5-12 cm, has characteristic bright yellow fossae and notches, sticky. It is hollow, but very strong. The plates are frequent, in adults there are brown spots. The flesh of the yellow lump is white, but on the cut it quickly turns yellow when interacting with air. It has a weak but very pleasant aroma.
Yellow breasts are similar to fringe, real and purple. Fringed lumps are found in deciduous forests. He has no dents on his leg. And the inedible purple lump is distinguished by lilac milky juice.
Yellow mushrooms, the collection time of which is from early July to mid-October, are most often found in temperate Eurasian countries.
Mushroom pickers believe that this is a very tasty kind of mushrooms. Before use, they are pre-soaked and boiled.
Bitter bitter
This variety is slightly smaller than yellow bunches. Their hat rarely exceeds 10 cm. As a rule, it is painted brown or reddish in the shape of a bell, with time it straightens, and a small tubercle appears in the center. Mature specimens have a sunken hat. It is smooth to the touch, has a slight pubescence, in wet weather it is sticky. Bitter breasts, photos of which can often be seen in special publications for mushroom pickers, have a leg up to 9 cm high. It is thin, cylindrical in shape. Her color is similar to a hat. Covered with light, light fluff, noticeably thickened at the base. The plates are not wide and frequent.
The pulp of these mushrooms is characterized by brittleness; on the cut, it secrete white milky juice. It has virtually no smell. The mushroom was named for its bitter pepper taste.
These breasts, the description of which resembles an inedible hepatic hepatic lactifer, are distinguished by the fact that in the latter the milky juice turns yellow in air.
A bitter breast grows from the first half of July to the beginning of October in almost all countries in northern Europe and Asia. It prefers acidic soils of coniferous forests, less commonly found in dense birch forests.
These mushrooms are suitable for salting, but after prolonged (10-12 hours) soaking with a change of water. This is necessary to remove bitterness. Under the influence of brine, these edible breasts darken noticeably.
In folk medicine, these mushrooms are not used. But scientists managed to isolate from them a special substance that inhibits the growth of bacteria of hay and Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus.
You need to know that this variety is able to accumulate in its tissues radioactive substances (cesium nuclide-137), which are deposited in the muscles and liver of a person, therefore this mushroom is strictly prohibited to collect in areas with high levels of radioactive contamination.
Breast red brown
Another variety of edible mushrooms. These mushrooms have rather large hats - their diameter reaches 18 cm. They are dull, painted in light brown tones, much less often with a bright orange or red tint. In young specimens, the hat is round, but gradually it straightens, and then acquires a depressed shape. To the touch, it is usually smooth and dry, but sometimes covered with a network of small cracks, and in wet weather it becomes sticky and mucous.
The red-brown breast has a leg from 3 to 12 cm in height. It is quite strong, has a cylindrical shape, to the touch - velvety. Its color usually does not differ from the color of the hat. There are frequent and narrow plates, which are painted in a light pink or yellow shade, but more often completely white. When pressed, brown spots appear on the surface.
These mushrooms are distinguished by very brittle flesh, which can be colored white or reddish. It tastes sweet. Another characteristic feature is a freshly cut mushroom that smells of boiled crabs or herring.
These mushrooms have a double - the milky milky. How to distinguish the mushrooms? The miller is much smaller, and the skin on his hat is almost never cracked.
Red-brown breasts grow from the first of August to the second half of October in all countries of Europe. They can be found in various forests. Feel good on wet shaded areas. These mushrooms are very tasty in fried and salted form.
Peppercorns
For its pungent and pungent taste, this mushroom was so named. What do peppercorns look like? They have a whitish hat, which does not have zones marked on the surface, and is thick and fleshy. Records are arranged very often. They are painted yellowish white. In young specimens, the flesh is white, later it turns yellow, at the break - a light greenish tint.
Peppermint belongs to the lowest grade variety. Nevertheless, such mushrooms can be salted if they are well soaked or boiled. They are very reminiscent of a violin player and a white boot, but from the first they differ in frequent plates, an unhandled smooth hat and greenish flesh on a break, and from the second - milky juice.
White real chest
So we got to the "king" of all the mushrooms. Since the beginning of the 19th century, peppermint lumps have been called in Russia. But in 1942, the famous scientist, mycologist B. Vasilkov proved that the species Lactarius resimus should be considered real.
A real mushroom is a rather impressive mushroom. Its hat is white or yellowish in color can reach a diameter of 25 cm. In young specimens, it is flat, but gradually takes the form of a funnel. On the inside, the edges of the cap are bent, there is almost always a noticeable fluff.
In our article you see a real lump. Look carefully at the photo. On his hat is always plant debris, which sticks to the breast more often than other types of mushrooms.
The real breast is firmly on the leg, the height of which is from 3 to 9 cm. It can be white or yellowish, always hollow, has a cylindrical shape.
The pulp is white with milky juice. Please note that when interacting with air, it acquires a dirty yellow or grayish color. The real aroma is similar to the aroma of fresh fruit.
Looks like real breasts:
- white preload that does not have milky juice;
- a violin player whose hat is more pubescent;
- white creeper, a much smaller mushroom;
- aspen breasts, found under aspen trees, where true breasts never grow.
This wonderful mushroom appears in early July and can be harvested until the end of September in Siberia, the Volga region and the Urals.
Where grows
The real breast is most often found in pine-birch and spruce forests of Central Russia, in Transbaikalia, in Western Siberia. In the Urals and in the Volga region they are called raw breasts. This is due to the mucous surface of the cap. In Siberia, they received the name of legal breasts, i.e. real ones.
Eating
Real breasts are usually salted after prolonged boiling. This allows you to remove the bitterness. Juicy and fleshy breasts after they are poured with brine, acquire a slightly bluish tint. Forty days later they are ready for use.
Traditionally, in Siberia, real breasts are salted along with saffron mushrooms and milkwort. Pies are prepared with them, and guests are offered cold breasts with horseradish and butter. In Western Europe, these mushrooms are considered inedible, and in Russia they have long been called "kings of mushrooms."
