Great appetizer: Salted milk mushrooms. Why do milk mushrooms taste bitter?

Bitter milk mushroom popularly known as bitterweed, it is also called bitterling, red bitterling, and bitterweed. Found in groups and singly in coniferous or mixed (with pine, birch, spruce) forests. The growth period occurs at the end of June - end of October. Prefers damp places, edges of swamps, mossy litter.

The cap with slight pubescence from 3 to 10 cm in diameter first has a convex shape with a tubercle, then convex-spread with a small sharp tubercle, later funnel-shaped with thin straight edges. The surface is dry. matte, red-red-brown in color with a darker red-brown center and lighter edges. In wet weather it becomes shiny and sticky.

The plates are frequent, not wide, adherent or slightly descending. The color of the plates is first yellowish-cream, then red-brown with a whitish coating from fungal spores.

The leg has a length of 5-9 cm and a diameter of up to 2 cm. The shape is cylindrical, the structure is first dense and solid, then hollow. The color is the same as the hat. At the base, the leg is slightly thickened, slightly darker, and has white pubescence.

The pulp is dense, brittle, has a woody smell and bitter taste. In young individuals the flesh is whitish, in older individuals it is fawn or brownish. It produces abundant white milky juice, which is very caustic and bitter. The juice does not change color when exposed to air.

Consumed salted and pickled. Requires pre-soaking in cold water followed by boiling for at least 15 minutes.

The medicinal qualities of the mushroom are due to the presence of a substance that can slow down the growth of pathogenic bacteria (such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and subtilis).

Photos and pictures of bitter milk mushrooms (bitter mushrooms)

This is a quite satisfying and tasty dish, which sometimes (for example, during fasting) can even replace meat. They are served with potatoes, rice, and also used as a side dish. Chanterelles are often prepared this way. Is it possible to fry milk mushrooms? There is no clear answer to this question. On the one hand, this method of preparation is hampered by their rather specific bitter taste, which goes away only during long-term processing (for example, salting). On the other hand, if recipes exist, it means that someone uses them. However, in order to clearly answer the question: “Is it possible to fry milk mushrooms?”, it is best to try it from your own experience.

How to get rid of bitterness?

Before frying milk mushrooms, you need to soak them thoroughly. This usually takes 2 days. Moreover, the water should be changed at least 8 times. Next, you need to boil them in salted water for 10 minutes, drain the water and repeat this action, adding fresh water. After this, they are placed in a colander or sieve and left for half an hour to drain all the liquid. And then you can proceed directly to cooking. In addition, experienced housewives recommend frying exclusively caps. Stiffer legs are better used for other purposes (for example, soup).

How to fry milk mushrooms?

For half a kilo of fresh mushrooms you will need salt and garlic to taste, a little vegetable oil (you can use olive oil). Soaked hats boiled milk mushrooms Place in a dry, hot frying pan, cover with a lid and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then drain all the resulting liquid, add oil and fry for about 5 minutes, adding salt and squeezing the garlic through a press. At the end, chopped parsley is poured into the frying pan. It turns out to be a very tasty dish, which is recommended to be served with mashed potatoes.

Is it possible to fry white milk mushrooms?

This type of mushroom is very common in deciduous forests. Experienced mushroom pickers manage to collect several hundred kilograms during the season. Salting is still considered the ideal way to prepare white milk mushrooms. The question of whether it is possible to fry milk mushrooms usually arises at the stage when the traditional recipes for this mushroom have already been exhausted. If you soak them well and cook them, then, in principle, you get a good dish. Although the specific taste will still remain.

How to fry milk mushrooms in sour cream?

For a kilogram of fresh mushrooms take 2 cups of sour cream, 50 g of butter, half a cup of flour. You will also need salt, breadcrumbs (50 g) and pepper to taste. If the question: “Is it possible to fry milk mushrooms?” If you answer positively, then you can try to diversify the dish a little.

The milk mushrooms should be soaked and boiled as indicated above. Then the flour is mixed with salt and pepper. You need to roll the mushroom caps in it and fry them in hot oil for 5 minutes. Then add sour cream and crackers and continue cooking, stirring. After 15 minutes the dish is ready. It can play the role of a main dish (with potatoes or rice) or become a chic side dish for meat. Thanks to the combination of sour cream and butter, a very delicate taste is obtained, and crackers make the dish more satisfying.

Among mushroom pickers, the strong mushroom is held in special esteem - it is an enviable find, a real gift of the forest, which can displace both saffron milk caps and mushrooms in the basket. An incredibly thick mushroom aroma comes from dishes using it, as if the dense white pulp had absorbed all the aroma of the forest.

A bunch of different types milk mushroom hides under pine needles, fallen leaves, slightly lifting the loose wet ground. They are nourishing and tasty, thanks to their dense structure they “reach” the kitchen without loss, and in addition, they are very generous - on a good day you can pick up not just a few pieces, but several buckets of excellent mushrooms.

Main types of milk mushrooms

The most famous species with excellent taste. The cap is fleshy, at first spread out and then pressed in the center, with curved fringed edges, reaching a diameter of 20 cm. The skin is milky or yellow in color, sometimes with reddish spots, slimy in rainy or foggy weather.

The leg is smooth, up to 6 cm high, with frequent creamy-white plates descending onto it. The pulp is tight, white, with acrid juice, turning yellow at the break. This best view for pickles, in which fruiting bodies take on a light blue tint.

The cap is at first flat-rounded, with an elevation in the center, later concave, up to 30 cm in diameter, white, with reddish or purple streaks, slightly pubescent. The plates are dense, white with a pink tint, descending onto a dense stalk up to 8 cm high, which becomes narrower at the base. The pink tint of the plates is the main difference between this species and other laticifers.

The pulp is milky-white, with a fruity aroma; when crushed, it releases a caustic white liquid that does not darken in air.

A beautiful mushroom, with an appetizing golden cap up to 15 cm in diameter, concave in the center and fringed at the edges, slimy in the rain and glossy on a sunny day. The leg is strong, small, up to 5 cm tall, with a yellowish tint and patterned golden streaks or spots.

The often located plates are creamy and descend onto the stem. The pulp is juicy, a burning juice appears at the break, which then darkens. During collection and transportation, dark spots may appear at touch points.

The cap is spread out, then funnel-shaped with edges turned down, up to 12 cm in diameter. The skin is brown-orange, with a reddish tint, covered with brown spots. Yellowish plates descend on the stem of the same color.

The pulp is fleshy, creamy white, when broken it acquires a pink tint and releases a watery white liquid with a pungent taste and a slight mushroom odor. The mushroom is used for pickling and is considered conditionally edible.

Another name for oak milk mushroom is oak milk cap. If you are interested in learning more about saffron milk caps, read the article “”.

This dark mushroom is very tasty in pickles, acquiring a wine-like, reddish hue. The cap is rounded-flat, later sunken, up to 20 cm in diameter, brownish-yellow with an olive tint or dark green, the surface may be covered with concentric circles. The edges are curved, slightly fringed. The skin is slimy, especially in rainy weather.

A greenish sticky stalk up to 8 cm high, tight and full, becoming hollow towards the base, the surface is covered with dents. In the upper part, thinned plates of a yellowish-olive color descend on it. The white flesh is fleshy, greyish when crushed, releasing a milky liquid that turns purple when exposed to air. The cap is often dirty, the surface is covered with soil particles and debris, and it has to be scraped off before cooking.

White milk cap (dry milk mushroom) (Russula delica)

White cap is a tasty and aromatic type of russula, the cap is whitish-cream with brown streaks, up to 20 cm in diameter, rounded-convex and then concave. The plates are frequent, creamy-white, falling on a straight or slightly curved strong stem. The pulp is tight, creamy, with a subtle mushroom aroma and pungent taste.

The surface is usually covered with ingrown soil particles. In dry weather, dry fabrics can crack like parchment, which is why the padding gets its second name.

Places of distribution and time of collection

More often these mushrooms grow in large groups, families or, as mushroom pickers say, “flocks”, in late summer and autumn in deciduous or mixed forests.

Real milk mushroom- a common species, found quite often in light deciduous or mixed forests, among linden and birch trees. It inhabits small clearings and sometimes quite large colonies. Best soils for its development - with white clay, suitable close to the soil surface. Mushrooms are collected from July until frost. Connoisseurs especially value autumn harvests - the fruiting bodies are not so well stored, but also do not have an acrid bitterness.

Under thin aspen trees, according to its eloquent name, there is aspen mushroom, forming neat clearings, not far from one another, fused together in the form of chain links. It likes to settle near the root system of poplars of various types, often growing in poplar plantations and forest belts. The collection time is only two months long - August and September.

Bright yellow milk mushroom has taken a liking to spruce forests - under the thick paws of dark spruce trees grow small close groups of these mushrooms, less often it forms entire clearings. Harvesting occurs in late summer and early autumn.

Oak milk mushroom grows in numerous families in oak forests, prefers soft calcareous soils, and settles in abundance on the slopes of warm, sun-warmed hills. Tight greenish fruiting bodies of this species are found from late summer until frost.

Individually or in large groups, it lives in birch groves. black breast. It is collected by carefully cutting off the short stem during the period of mass offering - from mid-July to the end of summer.

Loader white grows singly or in clearings in oak groves, birch and mixed forests. The collection begins in mid-summer and lasts until September.

False milk mushrooms and doubles

Conditionally edible milk mushrooms and some similar species are not poisonous, but have an unpleasant taste. They are successfully used in cooking after preparatory treatment - prolonged soaking or boiling in lightly salted water.

Light mushrooms grow in clearings or rows in deciduous forests, rarely among conifers; they love dampness and dense shade. The cap is up to 20 cm in diameter, convex or flat, then concave, cream-colored, with a lighter shade along the edges; brown spots quickly appear at the site of damage.

The pulp is dense, but fragile; at the break, a viscous white liquid is released, the taste is acrid, with a taste of hot pepper. Eating is permissible in salted form and only after prolonged soaking with frequent changes of water. Dry powder from fruiting bodies is used as a spicy, hot seasoning.

Camphor milkweed often grows near conifers on damp, mossy soil and on decaying wood. The cap is 5–6 cm in diameter, convex, then concave, with a wavy edge, glossy, reddish-brown. The plates are pinkish, then brown, descending onto an even thin stalk up to 5 cm high, tuberous in shape at the bottom.

The pulp is brittle, loose, brick-brown, with a very strong, rather unpleasant smell of camphor or dry clover. At the break, a whitish juice is released that does not change color in air. The characteristic smell will prevent the mushroom from being confused with others, as well as being used as food.

In oak forests and birch forests from mid-summer to October you can find violin - a conditionally edible mushroom with a pungent taste that grows in large clearings. The white cap is fleshy, covered with villi, concave, later taking the shape of a funnel, with folded edges, up to 25 cm in diameter. The plates are creamy-white, sparse, descending onto a rounded stalk up to 8 cm high.

The pulp is white, fragile, and when broken it releases an acrid milky-white juice. The leg is almost completely buried in the ground, so only the violin caps are collected. Before cooking, they are soaked for a long time and then used for pickles.

In the dampness of conifers or mixed forests, as well as in birch forests, singly or in clearings, golden milkweed grows, classified as a conditionally edible mushroom. The fleshy cap is light yellow, darkens and turns purple where touched, the velvety edges are curved down. The shape is prostrate, then concave, the surface is sticky. The plates are yellowish, frequent, descending on a pale yellow high stalk.

The pulp is creamy-white, secretes a caustic milky liquid with a pleasant odor. Suitable for pickles and preparing marinades after soaking or cooking.

Beneficial features

Highly nutritious, fleshy mushrooms are rich in easily digestible proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. Content protein in fruit bodies is high - up to 33 g per 100 g of dry matter; when boiled, they can be successfully used in dietary nutrition as a replacement for meat or fish.

Significantly represented B vitamins, carotene and ascorbic acid, positively influencing the functioning nervous system, immunity stability, work of hematopoietic organs.

Unique mushrooms of their kind contain the active form vitamin D, in this form it is found only in products of animal origin. This important element necessary for the prevention of osteoporosis, maintains healthy skin and hair, directly affects the absorption and balance of calcium and phosphorus.

Minerals present in mushroom tissues – sodium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus are in an accessible form, are quickly absorbed and replenish the content of these substances in the body.

Active substances were found in pepper milk antibacterial substances, inhibiting the tuberculosis bacillus, it is also known positive influence in the treatment of kidney diseases, in particular urolithiasis. These healing properties are widely used in folk medicine.

During the preparation of pickled pickles, during fermentation with the participation of lactic acid, special substances are produced that have an anti-inflammatory effect and lower cholesterol levels.

Contraindications

Mushroom dishes are too heavy food for people with impaired function of the pancreas, liver and gallbladder.

Constant excessive consumption of these products, saturated with a large number of active substances, can lead to sensitization of the body, increasing its sensitivity, and the manifestation of allergic reactions.

Consumption of improperly prepared fruiting bodies, especially conditionally edible species, will cause disruption of the gastrointestinal tract and excretory system.

People suffering from hypertension and kidney disease should carefully include spicy, salty and sour mushroom dishes in their diet, in small portions and only occasionally.

Children under seven years of age and pregnant women should not eat wild mushroom dishes.

The best recipes for preparing dishes and preparations

All milk mushrooms are suitable for food after soaking for two to three days, and the water is changed several times, adding fresh water. This is the only way to get rid of the bitter taste of pulp and acrid juice. Salted fruit bodies are not only exclusively delicious snack, this is an excellent preparation for first courses and stewing.

Pickled black milk mushrooms

For 5 kg of prepared mushrooms, take 200 g of salt, blackcurrant leaves, garlic, dill, black peppercorns and other herbs and spices to taste.

Pickles can be prepared using the cold method, and then the preparation will be more tasty, and using the hot, faster method.

Cold salting

The peeled fruiting bodies are immersed in cold water, which is replaced several times a day. After this, they are placed with their caps down in a vessel, sprinkling the rows with salt and spices, covered with a cloth and a load is placed. The shelf life of pickles is 30–45 days.

Hot salting

The mushrooms are boiled until tender and placed in a suitable container, sprinkled with salt, spices and pressed down with a weight, as in the previous case. With this method, the pickles are prepared for two weeks.

Canned pickles

For one liter jar of preserves, take 4 tablespoons of 5% vinegar, salt, black pepper, and several bay leaves. Prepare hot brine at the rate of 20 g of salt per 1 liter of water.

Mushrooms salted for 30–45 days are placed in a colander, inspected, removing damaged fruiting bodies, and washed with running water. As soon as the water has completely drained, the workpiece is placed in jars on a layer of spices, then vinegar and the prepared hot brine are poured. The preservation is placed for sterilization, keeping the liquid in the jars at a boil for at least one hour, then sealed.

Pickled milk mushrooms

For 5 kg of prepared mushrooms take 200 g of salt, 300 g of sugar, 400 g of sour milk.

The fruiting bodies are cut into pieces, dipped in hot water, salted to taste, boiled for two minutes and drained in a colander. Place it in a vessel in layers, add salt, add sugar, press down, releasing excess air, and pour in sour milk, covering the fermentation with a cloth, and place a weight on top.

At a temperature of 17–19°C, the product can be consumed after two weeks. For long-term storage, the workpiece is packaged in jars, filled with brine at the rate of 20 g of salt per 1 liter of water and sterilized for 40–50 minutes, after which it is sealed.

Milk mushrooms are a favorite in folk cooking due to their inimitable aroma, excellent taste properties, and undoubted nutritional value deserves the closest attention of mushroom pickers. Obvious advantages - excellent productivity, lack of poisonous doubles and high transportability make this species one of the best trophies for lovers of “quiet hunting”.

More information about milk mushrooms and their distinctive features you will find out from the video.

There is a fairly widespread belief that white and black milk mushrooms are suitable for food only when salted or pickled. It's all about that specific and clearly noticeable bitterness that is characteristic of this type of mushroom. But experienced mushroom pickers and skilled housewives know perfectly well how to fry milk mushrooms in such a way that the result is a very tasty dish that can be used both as a main dish and as a side dish.

Why are milk mushrooms bitter?

Many people, answering the question whether it is possible to fry milk mushrooms, give an unequivocal negative answer, rightly pointing out the excessive bitterness of these mushrooms.

Curious. In most European countries, for a very long time these mushrooms were considered, if not poisonous, then inedible. Later they began to be eaten salted or pickled. But the recipe fried milk mushrooms in the majority European countries still remains virtually unknown.

The reason for the bitter taste lies in the biochemical composition of these mushrooms. Their pulp contains a significant number of so-called milk vessels. At the slightest damage to the structure of the mushroom, these vessels secrete a special juice, which imparts the characteristic astringency and bitterness during heat treatment.

How to get rid of bitterness

In addition, one cannot fail to take into account the financial benefits of using various types of milk mushrooms in the diet. Even store-bought mushrooms are quite comparable in cost to most types of meat and fish products. And when collected independently, their cost practically approaches zero. In addition, in addition to purely gastronomic pleasure, we must not forget about the pleasure that “silent hunting” brings to a real mushroom picker.