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It is very easy to recognize from the photo of the boletus mushroom; it has become one of the most famous and widespread in Our Country. However, not everyone knows about its varieties and features.
Why is the mushroom called boletus
Another name for the boletus is the redhead, it is also known as obabok, aspen and leccinum. But much more often it is called the boletus, and the reason is that it usually grows under the trunks of aspens, forming a symbiosis with the roots of these trees.
It should be noted that, in fact, aspen can grow under other trees – birch and oak, pine and spruce. Sometimes it is fashionable to meet him in clearings and edges near any trees. But this rarely happens, most often the mushroom grows near aspens.
What does a boletus look like
In fact, the boletus is called not one specific mushroom, but several varieties belonging to a single genus. Therefore, different aspen mushrooms can differ markedly in appearance – in color, in size, in shades of the leg and in taste.
There are several common features characteristic of aspen of any kind:
- The cap of aspen mushrooms, or leccinums, is noticeably convex at a young age, and in an adult it straightens out, but remains pillow-shaped and dense. The diameter may vary, but the average is about 15 cm.
- From below, the cap of mushrooms is covered with small pores-tubes of a beige, yellowish, reddish hue.
- The leg of the aspen is strong, usually with a thickening in the lower part, up to 10-15 cm tall. Sometimes the leg is fibrous, sometimes it can be covered with small scales, similar to boletus scales.
- The skin on the surface of the boletus cap is usually smooth or slightly velvety, not slippery or sticky, like many other mushrooms.
- A distinctive feature, noticeable in the photo and description of the boletus when cut, is the rapid darkening of the flesh to a blue, purple or almost black hue.
Where does the boletus grow
The redhead mushroom is very common in Our Country, therefore it is widely known. It grows throughout the entire middle zone and in a temperate climate – in the European part of Our Country, in Siberia, in the Far East, in the southern regions.
Aspen can be found in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, next to trees and on the edges or clearings. Mushrooms prefer moist soils and shady areas, and are often found in ferns and mosses.
The most massive fruiting of the redhead begins in August and continues until the end of September. However, the first aspen mushrooms can be found already in June, and they come across in the forest until the first frost.
What mushrooms does the boletus belong to?
The scientific name of aspen is Leccinum, or Leccinum. Also colloquially, the mushroom is called obabk. Under the name of aspen, quite a lot of varieties of mushrooms from the Boletov family are combined. Despite different photos and descriptions of aspen mushrooms, all of them, one way or another, are suitable for eating – no poisonous species are observed among them.
Varieties of the podosovika
In order to harvest a good harvest in early autumn and not pass by tasty, but unusual mushrooms, it is worth studying in more detail all types of boletus mushrooms. Sometimes they are completely different from each other, but, nevertheless, belong to the same genus.
red boletus
It is this mushroom that is most often meant when they talk about the boletus, or redhead. It grows in Siberia, the middle lane, the Caucasus and the Far East, it is found everywhere in deciduous forests under aspens, oaks, beeches and birches.
The mushroom is easy to recognize in the photo of the autumn boletus by a cap about 10 cm in diameter, bright red or reddish-brown. The leg of the red aspen is light beige, but covered with gray-white scales. Because of this, the mushroom resembles a boletus, but its hat is much brighter.
yellow-brown boletus
This fungus is also very common in Our Country, but it can be found mainly in temperate climates, it is rare in the north and south. It grows mainly under aspens and birches, but can also be found in pine and spruce forests. The yellow-brown aspen, or multi-skinned boba, can be recognized by its large size – the hat reaches 15 cm in diameter, and the mushroom can rise up to 25 cm above the ground.
The color of the yellow-brown headstock is sandy-red or brownish-yellow, the leg is usually gray with characteristic black-brown scales.
white boletus
An unusual mushroom grows mainly in Siberia and in the north-west on wet soils in mixed forests – under aspens, spruces and birches. You can recognize it by a large hat, up to 25 cm in diameter in adulthood, and by its characteristic color.
In young fruiting bodies, the cap is almost white, but with age it darkens slightly and acquires a brownish-gray tint. The leg of the white aspen is also light, covered with small whitish scales.
oak boletus
Oak boletus is widely distributed in the temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere. As the name implies, it grows most often in mixed and deciduous forests under oaks. You can recognize the mushroom by its large cushion-shaped coffee-brown hat with a slight orange tint. The leg of the oak tree is beige, covered with brownish-reddish scales.
Painted-legged boletus
An unusual mushroom looks a little like other aspen mushrooms. His hat more often than other mushrooms is flattened, while he has an uncharacteristic pinkish skin color. Pink or reddish scales are also located on the leg of the painted-legged aspen. Fruiting bodies are quite small in size. Photos of small aspen mushrooms show mushrooms on average up to 10 cm in height and 6-11 cm in diameter.
Most of all, the colored-legged obobok is common in North America and Asia. In Our Country, it can be found quite rarely and mainly in the Far East or Eastern Siberia.
Pine boletus
Obabok of this species grows in temperate coniferous forests throughout Eurasia. Most often, the fungus is found under pines, it can also come across under spruces. The pine aspen is characterized by a dark crimson hat up to 15 cm in diameter, and the leg is covered with brown scales.
Black-scaled boletus
The black-scaled obabok has quite standard dimensions for the species – about 15 cm wide and high, rarely more. The cap of the mushroom can be dark red, red or brick in color, and the leg is covered with reddish scales, but from a distance it seems dark gray, almost black. If the leg is damaged, it will quickly turn black or turn purple.
Spruce boletus
This mushroom does not come across very often in Our Country, but is common throughout the entire middle zone. You can find it in mixed and coniferous forests where spruces grow, mostly spruce aspen grows in groups, but sometimes it comes across singly.
The spruce boletus has a dark brown, chestnut hat and a light leg covered with brownish scales. Like the rest of the pasta, it is quite edible, although it cannot boast of the same pleasant taste as the common redhead or yellow-brown aspen.
Boletus edible or not
Despite the huge number of varieties, the boletus is known for being certainly suitable for eating. There are no poisonous mushrooms among redheads, although some species may be more or less tasty.
Since the aspen pulp does not contain toxic substances, this mushroom does not need to be soaked before cooking. It is enough to clean it, remove the scales from the leg and cut it off at the bottom, and then rinse it under cold water and send it to boil in salted water. After cooking, the broth will need to be drained, and the boiled fruiting bodies can be used for further processing.
In culinary use, boletus is completely versatile. They are equally well suited for frying, pickling and salting for the winter, in all dishes they delight with a pleasant taste and dense texture. That is why collecting a basket of redheads is considered good luck for a mushroom picker. Fruiting bodies can be processed in any way and not spend much effort on their preparation.
Interesting facts about boletus
There are many interesting facts associated with redhead mushrooms. Some of them are widely known, others are known only to experienced mushroom pickers:
- Aspen, or redhead, is a unique mushroom that does not have poisonous counterparts. It is especially recommended for novice mushroom pickers to collect it, since the photo of the red boletus is so recognizable that it simply cannot be confused with a toxic variety. Rarely, by mistake, it is mistaken only for a gall fungus, but even that does not harm health, but is simply unsuitable for food due to its bitter taste.
- The composition of the pulp of the redhead includes a huge amount of valuable substances. Eating it is not only tasty, but also healthy. The high protein content in mushroom pulp deserves special mention – aspen dishes are in no way inferior to meat dishes in terms of their nutritional value.
You can meet boletus in the forests throughout the warm season. There is even a special popular classification of mushrooms according to the timing of fruiting.
For example, yellow-brown and white aspens are called spikelets, since they come across mainly in early summer. Oak and black-flake mushrooms appear in large numbers in July-August and therefore are called stubblers. But ordinary redheads are called deciduous, since they are found in forests from the beginning of September until the very frosts.
Photo of the redhead mushroom (Boletus)
To better study the appearance of the boletus and its characteristic features, you should look at the photo of these edible mushrooms.
Conclusion
Photos of the boletus mushroom can differ greatly from each other, since there are quite a few subspecies of the redhead. However, they have a similar structure and size, and all are suitable for food consumption.
