How to distinguish among themselves types of mushrooms edible and inedible. How to cook mushrooms

White, birch bark, boletus, amanita and pallid grebe, mushrooms and champignons are the largest kingdom on the planet. According to scientists, in general, edible and inedible mushrooms have about 100 000 items! The three elements - water, land and air - have been inhabited by them for a long time. Even the rock painting of the period BC contains their images. For the first time the species of edible mushrooms were described in the works of ancient Greek scientists in the 3rd century BC. E.

Areas of use

Many kinds of fungi are used in medicine and science. All kinds of medicinal extracts and infusions, rinses for the oral cavity are made of them. In recent years, the United States is actively exploring the potential of hallucinogenic fungi in the treatment of mental disorders. But the most widespread use of all kinds of mushrooms edible or conditionally edible.

There are several reasons why mushrooms have gained importance in human nutrition:

• High nutritional value (not inferior to meat);
• Excellent taste qualities;
• Simplicity of obtaining;
• Possibility to prepare for future use.

In the present age of nanotechnology, fungi grown artificially are increasingly used. Basically, the love of "quiet hunting" is preserved only among the Slavic peoples.

Mushrooms that can be eaten

It is customary to divide the types of edible mushrooms into four categories, based on their taste and nutritional characteristics:

• The first category includes the elite. Every mushroom picker knows them: white and their varieties, the Caesar mushroom (it is considered a delicacy from the time of the Roman Caesars, hence the name).
• The second category is the Polish mushroom, butter mushroom, birch bark and boletus, black mushrooms.
• The third group includes mushrooms, which can be found almost everywhere: chanterelles, mushrooms, oyster mushrooms.
• The last, the fourth, are edible, but have a small nutritional value and distribution - greens, all kinds of ryadovki, raincoats.

You can eat a poisonous mushroom , but only once in a lifetime ...

Edible mushrooms, fortunately, more than inedible. Amateur mushroom pickers collect only the most popular kinds of edible mushrooms, photos of which have been seen somewhere or exactly sure in them. How not to collect poisonous mushrooms?

For this you need:

• To study the underside of the cap. If it is spongy, then it is likely that the fungus is edible (only two species of fungi with such a structure - "bilious" and Satanic - are poisonous).
• Sniff the mushroom. With a sharp smell of garlic or onions are not dangerous, but they hardly want to make a festive dish.
• Make a slice. If it is covered with milk secretion, the fungus is probably not dangerous.
• To know that at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn in the forest, the species of edible mushrooms are mostly common, the poisonous almost never occur.
• Break the hat. If the color of the fracture changes color, it is better not to take such a mushroom.
• Remember that white, spherical or pear-shaped fungi are not poisonous.
• Inspect the leg. Skirt or ovoid thickening of 100% indicate the toxicity of the fungus.

The main rule - I'm not sure, do not take this mushroom!

Mushrooms have an interesting feature to absorb and process all kinds of harmful substances. Therefore, under no pretext, they can not be collected near industrial plants, landfills, near livestock farms, fields where pesticides are used, near roads, in particularly hot weather.

How to cook

Despite the nutritional value and lack of fats, mushrooms are a heavy food. The walls of their cells contain chitin (a substance stiffening the shells of insects and arthropods). The human stomach is not able to digest it. To increase the digestibility of fungi, they must be crushed as much as possible during cooking. If they are dried, then, if possible, it is worth using them finely ground. Mushroom flour can be added to the first dishes, porridge. Since it is a strong allergen, it should be used with caution. From such flour it turns out the original cookie. It can be taken on a hike - places take up little, and hunger is satisfied even with a small amount. Mushrooms should not be abused by people with gastrointestinal diseases.