Unique mushrooms of Crimea. Edible and poisonous mushrooms of Crimea Mushroom season in Crimea
I read articles on the Internet and feel the approach of autumn, although here in Crimea we don’t feel autumn yet, but in other cities located to the north we have already felt the arrival of autumn. My relatives living in the Urals and Tyumen region felt the arrival of autumn.
But the arrival of autumn is not only about cooling. I call the Urals, ask how things are going, and they answer me - yes, they came from the forest to pick mushrooms. And how envious I became, I also went mushroom picking before when I lived in the Urals, but I also went mushroom picking here in Crimea. So I wanted to tell you, my readers, about Crimean mushrooms.
In some sources, mushrooms are classified as flora , That's why I'm adding the rest of the article about mushrooms.
In Crimea, thanks to the special climate and geographical location grow very rare plants, found only in Crimea, I wrote about this in the article ““. Crimean forests are also rich in mushrooms.
Somehow it happened that in the Crimean cuisine of real peoples, and even ancient ones, there are no dishes with mushrooms. No matter how, neither the Crimeans, nor the Karaites, nor the Crimean Greeks, nor Crimean Tatars, nor the Crimean Armenians paid much attention to mushrooms. The reason seems to be that in Crimea there was always enough food and they didn’t pay much attention to mushrooms.
Perhaps in vain. It cannot be said that there are a lot of mushrooms in Crimea, but if you know mushroom places, then you will not be left without mushrooms. Mushrooms are collected in Crimea all year round. The peninsula is not large, despite this, in one place autumn mushrooms are still being collected, and in another spring mushrooms have already begun to grow.
1. Mushroom places in Crimea
Mushroom places in Crimea can be found everywhere, both in the Crimean mountains and in the steppe, and can also be found on the villages. Mushroom lovers most often climb mountains to a height of 300–700 meters and collect mushrooms in the forests. Known as a mushroom place, Ai-Petrinskaya Yayla, as well as the Bakhchisarai forest, which stretches from Sevastopol. Forests are good for mushroom hunting in the area of the old Crimea and Feodosia.
But in Crimea the landscape is completely different; even in the steppe you can find mushrooms, especially in the Donuzlav and Sasyk regions. There are also unique mushrooms, listed in the Red Book, and written about them.
I personally went to the forests outside Simferopol, near the village of Lozovoy. My neighbor and I climbed for a long time to the top of the mountain, about 500 meters up, we climbed slowly and all the mushroom pickers overtook us; when we got to the top, it turned out that many mushroom pickers had already collected full baskets.
We went for boletus. But we had no reason to worry that we wouldn’t have enough mushrooms. No one left with empty baskets and neither did we. In the young pine forest they collected butternuts in a basket and also in bags.
2.What mushrooms are most often collected
On the peninsula there are various mushrooms and those that grow in most of the territory of the former union and very rare mushrooms.
1.Saffron milk caps
The time for these mushrooms usually occurs in Indian summer. They grow in forests until mid-October. In good weather, they can be collected until December.
Ryzhik loves mixed forest (oak with pine), shady places under pines and spruces, longitudinal grooves, pits and ravines. It's very easy to recognize him.
The mushroom cap is usually up to 15 centimeters in diameter. It is almost flat, but sometimes it can be depressed in the middle, with the edges wrapped down. Later, the cap straightens and becomes funnel-shaped. Its color is red, light orange, reddish or bluish green. The skin is smooth, moist and sticky. The stem is usually up to 9 centimeters long.
Everyone can cook mushrooms possible ways. In any case, it will turn out very tasty. In Europe, it is generally referred to as a delicacy. It is highly nutritious yet easy to digest.
Salted mushrooms are especially good. Their peculiarity is that they do not need spices. And you can eat them the very next day after salting. You can eat these mushrooms right in nature. It is enough to chop them finely and sprinkle with salt - in an hour you will have at your disposal lovely snack. But the flora of Crimea is rich not only in these mushrooms.
2. Honey mushrooms
In the wet and warm autumn they are collected in the Crimean forests. You can collect honey mushrooms in the garden and vegetable garden literally in buckets.
The cap of the mushroom is 3-10 centimeters in diameter, and the stem is very long and often reaches 15 or even 20 centimeters. The cap is grayish-yellowish above with dark scales, lamellar below, white. The mushroom often grows in groups on stumps, hence its name. Loves fallen trees, sometimes grows in the foundations of living ones.
There is no consensus on the taste qualities of this mushroom. For example, it is not popular in the West. There it is considered of little value, and sometimes even inedible. In our area, honey fungus is one of the most beloved mushrooms among the population. But it is worth remembering that honey mushrooms cannot be eaten raw. Even a slightly undercooked mushroom can cause digestive upset.
3. Butter
If you love these mushrooms, then be sure to go to the Ai-Petri plateau. The diameter of the cap of this mushroom can range from 3 to 14 centimeters. It has a hemispherical shape. The color of the cap is brown and can take on a variety of shades. The leg is from 3 to 11 centimeters long.
The mushroom grows in forests and prefers bright places, such as clearings and forest edges. Sometimes it can be found in the meadow under a tree. In Crimea, boletus often grows around stones.
In summer, at the beginning of the season, most mushrooms are eaten away by insects. But as autumn approaches, the situation improves.
Butter is loved all over the world. The most delicious mushroom is considered to be salted and pickled. Then this is practically a gourmet dish. But it is worth remembering that boletus can cause allergies in some people.
4. Gray row (mice)
Perhaps the most popular mushroom in Crimea. The cap is usually round-conical with a diameter of 4 to 12 centimeters, gray. The leg is very long - from 8 to 12 centimeters, but it is often immersed in moss. In most cases, the mushrooms are very small. But there are also real giants.
The mushroom grows from mid-September to November. It is collected in coniferous and mixed forests. Mice can be found in middle-aged pine trees, on sandy soil, in moss and under fallen leaves and pine needles. One of the places where row trees grow is the observatory area.
Many people consider the gray row to be very delicious mushroom. You can cook it in every possible way.
5. Chanterelles
These mushrooms have a cap and stem that are a single unit, and the color ranges from light yellow to orange-yellow. The cap is usually wavy-rimmed, with curled edges and depressed in the center. It is smooth and matte, and the skin is difficult to separate from the flesh of the cap.
The pulp tastes sour and smells a little like dried fruits or roots, and turns slightly red when pressed. The most interesting thing is that chanterelles do not harbor worms or insect larvae. Chanterelles grow in families, on open places in the grass or moss. Chanterelles can be found in the forests near the village of Mramornoe.
6.Porcini mushroom
In the mountainous part of Crimea, in the clearings and among the bushes, you can find mountain White mushroom. His hat can be convex, less often spread out. The surface is smooth or wrinkled, in dry weather it can crack, and in wet weather it can be slightly slimy. The flesh of the mushroom is dense, white, with a pleasant smell, and does not change color when broken. The plates are adherent, sparse and white.
7.Raincoats
This mushroom belongs to the champignon family. In Crimea it can be found in deciduous forests. We have three types of raincoat: prickly (the surface is covered with soft small spines), pear-shaped (looks like a pear, covered with a rough, thin-lumpy skin) and giant raincoat - it can grow up to 34 centimeters in height.
4.Unusual fine in Ukraine
I would like to remind you that a fine of about 39 UAH has been introduced for the unauthorized collection of wild fruits, nuts, mushrooms and berries in Crimea. On all the paths into the forest there are cordons that collect money, so when going for mushrooms, do not forget to take your wallet with you.
Categories:/ from 09/14/2013Reading time: 7 min
The climate of Crimea is characterized by its unpredictability. And it is difficult to predict when the mushroom season will begin. In one part of the peninsula they may not yet appear, but in another the “silent hunt” will already be in full swing. Crimean mushroom pickers know another feature of their region: mushrooms grow not only in the forest. Most of them grow in the steppes, preferring soil rich in organic matter. For example, the steppe single-barrel can be found right in the grass, in a clearing near a populated area.
The mushroom season lasts from early spring until late autumn. But the fact remains that the snow has not yet had time to melt, and from under it the tiny heads of marsupial morels are already appearing. Puffballs and bigheads appear early.
Summer allows you to fully enjoy the rich variety of mushrooms. More than 100 species of mushrooms can be found in forest-steppe, steppe and forest areas. Mushroom professionals give preference to a few: mountain porcini mushroom, boletus, honey mushroom, saffron milk cap, aspen boletus, boletus mushroom and several more.
Until the very frost, the black and white (or gray) row is collected and eaten with appetite. It is also called little mice. Surprisingly, these mushrooms can be collected even a week before the winter holidays, just for the New Year's feast. And now more about the most favorite mushrooms of Crimea.
Mountain white mushroom
Crimean white mushroom
It has many names: giant pigwort, huge leusopaxillus. But the most accurate thing is the giant talker (Trichlomocha family). Prefers soil of deciduous and coniferous forests. Found from early summer to mid-autumn.
Mountain porcini mushrooms grow in groups. If one is found under a birch or pine tree, there is a high probability that there are several more nearby. It's easy to spot them. The caps are large and fleshy (up to 20 cm in diameter). They can be completely white, but they also come in a pleasant coffee-with-milk color. If the mushroom is completely white, it means it is young and fresh. The hat should be smooth on top and covered with plates with bridges on the bottom.
The stem of a real white mountain mushroom is dense, but rather short, considering the size of the cap - only 3-8 cm. Closer to the cap, there may be villi on it. Sometimes a flour coating is observed. The leg is thickened from below.
Pulp of porcini mushrooms too white, sometimes creamy. The smell is pleasant. It is described as mealy. Mature mushrooms may have a slightly bitter taste, so they are best used for drying. But in young mushrooms, the taste is more appreciated, and more useful substances are preserved in them. One of them is the antibiotic clitocybin, which is detrimental to tubercle bacillus.
The mushroom can be confused with several other species. The smoky talker looks like him. It is often found in the Crimean forests and is slightly inferior to mountain white in taste. It is more dangerous to encounter a poisonous gall mushroom. If you come across a whole clearing of whites, then you need to make sure whether this is a “witch’s” “ring”.
Crimean white mushroom is a welcome guest in every kitchen. It can be consumed stewed, salted, fried, baked or pickled. He is able to decorate and complement any dish with fried chicken, potatoes, buckwheat porridge. You can’t list them all.
But mountain mushrooms cannot be stored for a long time. Immediately after collection, it is better to rinse them in cold water and leave for half an hour in salted water. After cleaning the forest soil and leaves, the mushrooms should be kept in the refrigerator. No more than two days.
Little mice or (gray row)
There are several types of rows that can be eaten. But they are quite difficult to distinguish from inedible ones. More often, mice are found in coniferous and mixed forests, in moss or on sandy soil. Rows can grow singly or in groups.
In Crimea they are found in early or mid-autumn. Experienced mushroom pickers go specifically for them to the forests near the village of Kolchugino or to the area of the Crimean Astrophysical Laboratory.
Hats of young mice (5-10 cm) have a conical shape with rolled edges. In mature rows, it is flat, fleshy, with irregularities. The edges are unraveled and have small cracks. A small bump protrudes in the center. The plates in it are rare and widely spaced. The color of the cap is gray (from light to dark shade). After rain, it looks slimy and becomes slightly sticky, which causes leaves and small clods of earth to stick to it, and it becomes difficult to notice.
The stem of the row is dense, long (up to 12 mm), thickened at the base. In mature rows it becomes hollow inside. The color of the leg is pale yellow or grayish below. A plaque is visible next to the cap. The pulp of the mushroom has a dense but fragile structure with a faint powdery odor.
Mice can be salted, boiled, marinated. After cooking, they prefer to fry and serve as a delicious addition to the main dishes. Although they are very tasty in soups, casseroles, salads, and sauces.
Before cooking, they need to be sorted out, removing wormy mushrooms, dirt and pine needles. It is advisable to then soak for two hours in salted water with the addition of citric acid. If the mushrooms have a strong aroma, you can add a bay leaf or a couple of black peppercorns to beat it into the water.
Chanterelles
Chanterelles or Cockerels
Another name is cockerels. The lands of the Simferopol region are rich in them. There are many of them near the village of Mramornoe. Mushroom pickers also go to the forests of Belogorsk, Kirov, and Bakhchisarai regions.
Chanterelles grow in numerous groups in sunny places, in clearings or next to clearings. They are also found in moss, among birches, pines, and spruces. Appear from the beginning of June. You can collect all summer until the first autumn frosts.
Distinctive feature structure: the mushroom does not have a pronounced transition from the stem to the cap. Uniform color: yellow (shades vary from light to dark, almost orange).
The hat has an irregular shape with wavy, unfolded edges that form a depression in the center. But its surface is absolutely smooth. The leg tapers downwards, the length is about 5 cm. The flesh is fleshy, dense, with a slightly sour taste. When pressed, it acquires a reddish tint. The smell is weak.
Need to be distinguished from false chanterelle, in which the cap has no bends and resembles small funnels. In addition, their color is always orange, closer to red. The yellow hedgehog also looks like a chanterelle. This is an edible mushroom yellow color. It has a fleshier cap and a thicker white stalk.
Chanterelles are very good for health. They help get rid of helminths, have a beneficial effect on liver cells (containing ergosterol in mushrooms), and are a source of vitamins. Increases the body's resistance to infections.
Chanterelles are easy to transport; they do not break when carried. You can cook it in any form. True, in fried they lose some of their taste. Pairs well with other mushrooms, such as porcini and boletus.
Autumn honey mushrooms in Crimea
In young honey mushrooms, the cap is concave inward, with growth it opens and becomes flat (size from 2 to 15 cm). The legs are long - up to 10 cm. The color of the caps and legs is the same - honey, but they have flake-like scales of a dark color, which is why honey mushrooms look brownish and slightly fluffy. There is a filmy ring under the cap.
False poisonous honey mushrooms have a gray-yellow color. The cap is whitish at the edges and has no scales. The pulp is light yellow with a bitter taste and earthy smell. The spore powder is brown, while in the autumn honey mushroom it is white.
Honey mushrooms can be prepared in different ways. It is better to boil peeled honey mushrooms in salted water for about five minutes. Be sure to then place them in a colander and allow the water to drain. Before serving, they are crushed, poured with sour cream or sprinkled with green onions. For pickling, cook for 20 minutes, after rinsing and removing dirt. After cooking, place in a glass container, add bay leaf, pepper, onion and dill. It is good to place mushrooms and additives in layers, one on top of the other.
Common boletus
Common boletus
They are distributed everywhere, but there are especially many of them in the Belogorodsky region of Crimea, in the village of Zelenogorskoye, as well as in Strogonovka and on the Ai-Petri plateau. Growing season: June – end of October. They love bright meadows and forest edges. Found in meadows. Insects like to eat boletus, so in the summer mushrooms are often simply eaten away by them. But by autumn the situation will normalize.
It is very difficult to confuse boletus with other mushrooms. Their name speaks for itself. The fleshy, juicy caps seem to be smeared with oil: they are slippery and slimy, brown or light brown in color. In mature butterflies, the caps open, taking on the shape of hemispheres. How older mushroom, the higher the edges. The skin is easy to separate from the pulp. Under the cap there is a tubular layer with small yellow pores.
The legs are lighter than the cap, thin, up to 10 cm long. A white ring is clearly visible on a mature mushroom.
Butternuts cannot be stored for a long time, so after harvesting they must be cooked quickly. Before cooking (frying, boiling, canning), you need to remove the thick skin and sort them. All wormy mushrooms are thrown away. Then they are soaked for an hour in water with salt and completely cleaned of dirt.
Before marinating, they are boiled for 15-20 minutes. During cooking, you can add a little onion to the water, this will add piquancy to the future dish. Next, they need to be tipped into a colander and dried a little. Pickled in any way.
Boiled butters are frozen, boiled in water (cooking time - 5 minutes), dried and arranged in small portions in plastic bags. After defrosting, butter mushrooms are stored for only a short time, so you only need to take out the required amount of mushrooms from the freezer.
Milk mushrooms
Mushroom pickers come across mushroom pickers in mixed forests in summer period. Rarely found in the foothills and mountainous regions of Crimea. The main harvest season is July and September. Active growth begins after heavy rains.
There are no real milk mushrooms in Crimea, but oak, pepper and dry milk mushrooms grow. Pepper milkweed can be distinguished by its funnel-shaped white cap with grayish spots. On its narrow plates drops of milky juice are noticeable, which tastes very bitter. The leg is short, narrowed below. You can eat the mushroom after repeated soaking.
The dry milk mushroom also has a white cap, but with brown spots. The plates have a bluish color.
The bitter juice does not appear after breaking. The mushroom is ideal for pickling and pickling (after pre-soaking).
In the mountainous part of Crimea you can find oak milk mushrooms. These reddish lamellar mushrooms grow in deciduous forests. Brown stripes are easily visible on their caps. Legs with yellow pits lose their density as they grow. Suitable for marinating, frying, boiling.
Saffron milk caps
Appear in forests from July. They love shade and cool places under trees. They grow in large groups. In Crimea, their recognized place is Rybachye; they are also often found in forests South Bank Crimea.
The orange caps grow up to 12 cm in diameter. The bottom has reddish plates that turn green when pressed. the skin on them is a little sticky. The hollow legs, up to 2 cm thick, have dimples. The flesh of saffron milk caps is dense, sweet and has a fruity aroma.
Ryzhiki can be prepared in any way. They are salted very quickly: within two hours you get delicious salted mushrooms. The main thing is to add more spices.
Raincoats
Raincoat
Puffballs are mushrooms that cannot be poisoned. But when collecting them, you still need to check their flesh: in a real raincoat it is always white. Giant and pear-shaped raincoats are common in Crimea. The first has a fruit body that is round and white, but becomes yellowish over time. Can reach a height of 34 cm.
The fruiting body of the pear-shaped puffball is very similar in shape to a pear. The skin is rough with small tubercles. Raincoats grow in the foothills, choosing rotten wood for themselves.
Only young mushrooms are suitable for food. They are dried or fried. They also make a delicious mushroom soup. By content nutrients can compare with whites.
Hiking in Crimea
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Fungi (Fungi or Mycota) are eukaryotic organisms that combine some of the characteristics of plants and animals. They are distributed almost everywhere. The soil and climatic conditions of Crimea are characterized by unpredictability, and the mushroom season here can last from early spring until late autumn.
Spreading
Nowadays, more than one and a half thousand species of micromycetes and about four hundred varieties grow on the territory of Crimea cap mushrooms. The description and names of the most popular ones and their distribution area are known not only to specialists, but also to experienced amateurs. quiet hunt. In the forest-steppe, as well as steppes and forest areas, slightly less than a hundred species of mushrooms are found. Crimean mushrooms grow not only in forest areas and steppes, but also on the outskirts settlements, in clearings and forest edges.
Steppe and field mushrooms are represented by marsupial morels, puffballs and bigheads, which appear almost immediately after the spring melting of snow. Experienced Crimean mushroom pickers prefer the so-called noble mushrooms, which include mountain porcini mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, boletus mushrooms and boletus mushrooms. Lovers of quiet hunting also value honey mushrooms, chanterelles or cockerels and saffron milk caps. Mice or black-and-white and gray rows are also in demand.
Mushroom picking in Crimea (video)
Photo gallery
Edible mushrooms
Majority edible species Suitable for boiling, frying, marinating or salting. Some varieties can be used for drying. Edible mushrooms have a high nutritional value and excellent taste, for which they are widely used in the cuisines of many countries and peoples of the world. In our country, mushrooms are used to prepare first and second courses, snacks and preparations for the winter.
| Name | Description of the cap | Characteristics of the leg | Peculiarities |
| Giant pig | Smooth, lamellar, whitish in color | Short, dense, without cavity | Presence of a pleasant mealy aroma |
| Gray row | Conical, with rolled edges, any shade of gray | Dense and long, with a thickening at the base | After rain the surface becomes mucous |
| Chanterelle | Irregular in shape with a wavy, unfolded edge and a central depression | Middle length, with a pronounced narrowing in the lower part | The pulp becomes reddish when pressed. |
| Autumn honey fungus | Honey-colored with flaky dark scales | Long, same color as the cap | The presence of a filmy ring under the cap |
| Common oiler | Juicy, uneven in shape, brownish in color, with a slimy surface | The legs are thin and quite long, light in color | Presence of a ring on the stem in young specimens |
| Pepper milk mushroom | Funnel-shaped, white, with grayish spots on the surface, dry | Short, with a characteristic narrowing at the base | The plates have a bluish color |
| Ryzhik | Orange-brown color with reddish large plates | Hollow, shortened | The pulp is sweetish, with a fruity smell |
| Giant raincoat | The round white fruiting body changes color to a yellowish color with age. | Short, white, not pronounced | Edible puffballs have white flesh. |
Poisonous mushrooms
Based on the nature of the poisoning they cause, poisonous mushrooms are usually divided into the following groups:
- cause food poisoning;
- provoke disruption of activity nervous system;
- deadly poisonous.
Inedible or poisonous mushrooms differ markedly from edible ones not only in the structure of the hymenophore, but also in shape or color. fruiting body. In some cases, poisonous mushrooms have a very characteristic, unpleasant odor.
| Name | Group | Description of the cap | Description of the leg | Peculiarities |
| Death cap | Deadly poisonous | No more than 15 cm in diameter. Gray or greenish in color. Hemisphere-shaped, with a tendency to flatten | Height no more than 18 cm with thickness up to 2.5 cm | The presence of a wide white volva at the base of the leg |
| Lepiota brown-red | Deadly poisonous | Thin fleshy, covered with dark scales, lamellar, no more than 7.5 cm in diameter | Thin, dark cherry and white, sometimes curved, with a ring | The mushroom pulp has a distinct fruity smell |
| Spring white fly agaric | Deadly poisonous | White in color, flat in adult specimens, with a diameter of no more than 10.5 cm | Up to 11-13 cm high and 2.5 cm thick, thickening downwards, with a white ring | Has an ovoid volvo formation |
| False honey fungus sulfur-yellow | Deadly poisonous | Up to 2.5-6.5 cm in diameter, with a grayish-yellow colored surface | The surface is leveled, with fibrous | The ring on the leg is completely missing |
| whitish talker | Convex or saucer-shaped, with wavy edges, up to 4.5 cm in diameter, whitish-pink | The leg is low, of medium thickness, with a cavity | Presence of powdery coating on the surface of the cap | |
| fiberglass | Nervous system dysfunction | Silky surface, golden yellow, pale yellow or brownish | Tall, with a thin powdery coating at the top | The hat looks like a bell or an umbrella |
| Boletus purpurea | Irregular hemispherical shape, rough, pronounced brown-purple color | Barrel-shaped, with a reddish-brown tint | When pressed, a dark blue color appears | |
| Volnushka pink | Causing food poisoning | Grayish-pink or white-pink, funnel-shaped, slimy | Cylindrical in shape, quite dense | Presence of white milky juice |
| Satanic mushroom | Causing food poisoning | Hemispherical, with a dry surface, grayish-white with a dark shade of color | Globular or barrel-shaped, dense, with a red tint | Similar to boletus and porcini mushroom |
Dates and places of collection
Crimean peninsula rich not only in its historical heritage, which rightfully includes the sights of the South Bank, Sevastopol and stone mushrooms in the Sotera tract. Crimea has an unusually rich natural landscape and many mushroom spots that are known to all experienced mushroom pickers.
| Name of the mushroom | Distribution area | Features of collection |
| Mice or gray row | The village of Kolchugino or the area of the Crimean Astrophysical Laboratory. Coniferous and mixed forests, moss or sandy soils | Peak fruiting occurs in early or mid-autumn |
| Chanterelle | Simferopol, Belogorsky, Kirov and Bakhchisaray districts, the village of Mramornoye | Collection from the first ten days of June until the onset of autumn cooling |
| Autumn honey fungus | Distributed almost everywhere. Prefer forested areas with wet soils | Mass harvest occurs from the end of August to the end of autumn |
| Common oiler | Belgorod district of Crimea, the village of Zelenogorskoye, Strogonovka and the Ai-Petri plateau | Mass fruiting from mid-summer until the last ten days of October |
| Common breast | Mixed forests throughout the peninsula | The peak harvest season is from July to the end of September |
| Ryzhik | Shady forest areas of Rybachy and the forests of the South Coast | Active collection begins in mid-summer |
| Raincoat | Foothills, forests and woodlands with abundant rotting wood | Spring-summer period, before the onset of a sharp cold snap |
| Rogatik yellow and bunch | Appears en masse in almost all deciduous forests of the peninsula | Mass collection is carried out from June to September |
September and October in Crimea were sunny and clear this time. The rare rains only had time to knock down the dust. The ground was dry and cracked - the usual Crimean autumn “summer”.
Avid Crimean mushroom pickers complain about the season - this time they rarely had the opportunity to feast on white and delicious chanterelles - maybe we’ll go for them next year!
But the late autumn weeks, which were surrounded by clouds and prolonged rains, gave us a whole mushroom menu: different types champignons, umbrella mushrooms, russula...
People on social networks still boast about photos of butterflies, but because of the cold weather, their days are numbered, but saffron milk caps, moths and mice calmly tolerate and even love low temperatures, and in a good year they can generally be collected in winter under the snow. So we take a sharp “gun”, the largest basket - and go hunting!
I'm going to the wet
What do mushrooms look like? The hat and the leg are definitely them! But if you are interested specifically edible mushrooms, take a close look at these photos.
Wet. These mushrooms look a little like butter cans. Only the wet ones have plates under the cap, and not tubes, like the butter ones.
Little mice, otherwise they are called gray or earthy rows.
Anise talker- beautiful and unusual mushroom green in color, with dense pulp and a pronounced anise smell. This smell persists during cooking.
Single barrels. They grow in open areas - in the steppe, in forest glades and forest edges, for this they are often called steppe chanterelles, another name for this mushroom is bear's ear.
Ryzhik- the most valuable autumn mushroom - a mushroom of the highest category.
There are other edible rows - greenfinch, purple row, and blueberry.
Rows are found in deciduous forests, in pine forests and on yailas - the flat tops of many Crimean mountains of the Main Range - on Chatyrdag, Karabi, Dolgorukovskaya.
Talkers and honey mushrooms also hide in deciduous forests in the mountains and foothills throughout the Crimean Mountains from Sevastopol to Feodosia, but for boletus, mokrukha, saffron milk caps and little mice you need to go to the pine forest. The rocky woodlands and pine forests of the South Coast can also please the mushroom picker. It’s warmer here, and you can hunt one-legged prey until mid-winter.
STAY UP TO DATE
First we went for mushrooms, and then they followed us
Experienced mushroom pickers never take mushrooms that cause them doubt. But inedible mushrooms not as scary as it might seem. They may not be poisonous, but simply tasteless - tough or smelly.
Some cause digestive upset. But poisonous mushrooms are much more dangerous.
Sometimes one mushroom in a large basket is enough to cause serious poisoning in the whole family, and the worst of these mushrooms is the toadstool.
Its strong poison is not destroyed by any processing methods, but the main problem is that signs of poisoning appear too late - the next day, when irreversible destruction begins internal organs and no measures to remove poison from the body help. Look like pale grebe white fly agaric. It is a little lighter, but also very poisonous. If you have a good sense of smell, you can smell the questionable mushroom. And the pale toadstool, and the white fly agaric, and many others poisonous mushrooms an unpleasant specific smell, not like a mushroom one.
All collected mushrooms you need to carefully examine the houses to make sure that some unknown person is not hiding among your friends. It is better to use only young mushrooms, without stains or mold. Mushrooms that are too wormy should not be eaten either. To be more sure, it is better to lightly boil all collected mushrooms before cooking and drain the broth, at least if you decide to stew, fry or make soup.
Only redheads, okay recognizable mushrooms, when salting, it is better not to heat them so that they do not lose their wonderful “crunch”.
Recipe "KP"
Single barrels stewed in sour cream or cream
Sort the mushrooms, remove leaves, lumps of soil, put in a pot of water and let stand for half an hour, stirring occasionally. After this soaking, the stuck grains of sand and remaining soil are more easily washed off the mushrooms and remain at the bottom of the pan, rather than squeaking on your teeth later. Take out the mushrooms, drain the water with the settled debris, pour in clean water and put on fire. Do not cover the pan with a lid, otherwise you will not notice how it boils over. Once boiling, let simmer for a couple of minutes and drain through a colander. If the mushrooms are small, you can cook them whole; if they are large, cut them into pieces when they have cooled slightly. Now take the onion, peel and cut into half rings. In a preheated frying pan, melt the butter and bring the onion until golden brown, add the mushrooms, fry over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, add sour cream or cream, salt, a little pepper, bring to a boil, remove from the heat and leave covered for 20 minutes.
Money
If you want to try a mushroom dish made from wild mushrooms, but don’t have any time. you will have to trust the sellers on the market. Today you can buy boletus, baby mice, saffron milk caps, single barrels and rows at a price from 150 to 250 rubles per kilo.
When purchasing, you need to check the documents for the products and carefully inspect the mushrooms to ensure they are fresh. If you buy mushrooms at a wild market, carefully consider how much risk you are willing to take. As they say, it is better not to eat a kilogram of champignons than to eat one toadstool.
Every year approximately in November and December the mushroom season begins in Crimea. The rains have passed and it's worth warm weather, just for mushrooms, there is no heat at this time of year, but it is warm.
Butter
In transport you can meet mushroom pickers with baskets and buckets, and these containers are not empty. Forest hotels can be found both in the mountains of the peninsula and in the steppe zone.
In October, in a young pine forest, in the mountains from the village of Stroganovka, it was possible to collect “butterfly”, and now in this place they are collecting “butterfly” or gray row.
Little mice I met “little mice” for the first time in Crimea; I had never seen these mushrooms before either in the Urals, or in the north of the European part of Russia, or in Siberia, and I had never heard of these mushrooms being found in central Russia. They are gray and not big, which is where they got the name “little mice”; they really look like gray mice.
These “mice” are found almost everywhere on the peninsula, on the Ai-Petrinskaya Yayla, in the Demerdzhi Mountains, near the village of Kolchugino, as well as in the forests near the Crimean Observatory. “Little mice” can be boiled and made into mushroom soup; fried and marinated mice are excellent.
In addition to “mice”, you can find entire families of chanterelles, and they grow both in open places in the steppe and in coniferous and deciduous forests in mountainous areas.
Chanterelles “Chanterelles” are excellent mushrooms, they are not wormy, well, the worm does not eat them, he does not like them, but a person eats these mushrooms with great pleasure, both fried and salted, pickled, boiled.
I like chanterelles, they are so elegant, the hats are like wavy sundresses of yellow-orange color. Most often, chanterelles are found in the area of the village of Mramornoe, where they grow big families occupying entire fields.
You can also find honey mushrooms now, they grow in clearings and meadows, but for some reason there are not many of them. We have already gone for mushrooms twice, the first time for boletus mushrooms, and the second time we picked up “baby mice”, we wanted to find honey mushrooms, I saw them on sale at the market, but we didn’t find honey mushrooms.
Although I really love these luxurious mushrooms, it’s nice to collect them; you come across a family and half the basket is already there, but they always grow in families. I like pickled honey mushrooms, but they are also delicious fried, and you can’t resist the salted ones.
We usually go for mushrooms in the area of Stroganovka and the village of Lozovoye, but this time we visited the forest behind the village of Druzhnoe, walked to stone mushrooms and picked up full baskets. I wrote about what kind of mushrooms grow in Crimea, we always go for mushrooms during the mushroom season, so this year we collected these forest riches, and at the same time we got great pleasure from walking through the forest.
"Stone" mushroom I mentioned the expression “stone mushrooms.” Crimeans who often visit the mountains and climb the Dolgorukovskaya yayla from the village of Druzhnoe probably know and have encountered “stone mushrooms” themselves, these are menhirs three to five meters high, shaped like mushrooms.
