The season of gathering honey mushrooms is September. It is in this month that a rather large percentage of poisoning by false counterparts is observed. The main danger is that poisonous mushrooms are very difficult to distinguish from edible. Therefore, each mushroom picker, going on a "silent hunt", is simply obliged to know how to distinguish false mushrooms from real ones. This knowledge can save from severe poisoning, and maybe even from death.
Golden mushroom picker
First of all, it is worth remembering the golden rule of the mushroom picker - you can put in the basket only those mushrooms that you know well and have repeatedly collected. If in doubt, it is better not to take a suspicious mushroom. It is unreasonable to risk health due to such trifles!
What you need to know in order not to become a victim of false mushrooms
Mushrooms should have clear signs of "edibility." The honey agaric is primarily distinguished by a strong mushroom smell, which manifests itself immediately if the mushroom is slightly broken. All types of false mushrooms are distinguished by a pronounced earthy smell.
In addition, real autumn mushrooms grow on stumps in such huge quantities that without leaving one place at a time they can collect a bucket or a huge basket. That is why, as soon as the harvesting season begins, inveterate mushroom pickers, most often, run to places that have long been beloved, where they gather a large harvest of honey mushrooms from year to year. However, no matter how proven the mushroom place is, you should not lose vigilance.
And yet, smell is not the only sign that you should pay attention to. There are several more ways to distinguish false mushrooms from real ones. It is necessary to carefully consider the hats. In real mushrooms, they do not have a bright color, always light brown. While the color of the false honey hats varies from bright yellow to deep red. The catchy color directly indicates the “falsity” of the mushroom.
Following the coloring, it is necessary to pay attention to the presence or absence of a characteristic ring under the hat. In mushroom pickers, it is customary to call it a "skirt." This name was given because of its direct resemblance to the subject of a female wardrobe. Such a sign ("skirt") is possessed only by real edible mushrooms. However, here too the mushroom picker needs to be careful. In young, just "hatching" mushrooms, the film-ring can grow to the head. For a clear example of how to distinguish false mushrooms from real ones, below is a photograph of edible young mushrooms with an unformed "skirt". Although, if you look closely, you can find that it is still present in the young mushroom, but not yet opened, and merges with the base of the hat, forming a kind of cobweblike cover, similar to the usual thickening of the mushroom leg. False mushrooms do not even have a hint of a skirt.
