Contents
Collibia chestnut, or oil money, despite its unattractive appearance, belongs to conditionally edible mushrooms of the Omphalote family. Settles in groups among coniferous and deciduous trees. Fruiting from July to November.
What does Collibia chestnut look like?
Collibia oil is often confused with grebes, so only experienced mushroom pickers collect this species. In order not to make a mistake during a quiet hunt, you need to familiarize yourself with the external description, know the places and the period of fruiting, study the photo.
Cap Description
Collibia oil has a hemispherical cap, up to 12 cm in diameter, which opens with age, leaving a small mound in the center. The edges are wavy and raised. The surface is covered with an oily skin, which, depending on weather conditions, turns into a different color. In dry weather, it acquires a brown-red, yellow-brown or coffee color. After rain, the hat is much darker.
The spore layer is covered with uneven plates with jagged edges. At a young age, they are painted white, in adult specimens they become gray-yellow. Collibia oil propagates with snow-white elongated spores, which are located in a light pink spore powder.
Description of the leg
The leg is cylindrical, expanding towards the bottom, up to 10 cm in height. Hollow, its pulp is fibrous, colored brown.
Is the mushroom edible or not?
The variety belongs to conditionally edible, since the taste qualities of colibia oil are not pronounced. When mechanically damaged, the pulp exudes a faint smell of dampness or mold. Therefore, before cooking, mushrooms are soaked and boiled. In cooking, only the upper part of young specimens is used, since the flesh in the leg is hard and fibrous. Prepared specimens are good fried, stewed and canned.
Where and how does oil money grow
Collibia oil prefers to grow on acidic soil, among coniferous and deciduous trees. They grow in large families, rarely found in single copies. Money oily comes into fruiting from July, it lasts until the first frost.
Twins and their differences
Collibia oil, like any representative of the mushroom kingdom, has twins. These include:
- Tuberous – Poisonous species of small size. The edges of the hemispherical, red-brown cap are fragile and folded inward. Grow throughout the autumn in small families. Often the variety is confused with mushrooms and russula, so in order not to make a mistake when collecting, you need to know the varietal characteristics.
- Spotted – conditionally edible copy. The bell-shaped hat is whitish in color at a young age, with age it straightens and becomes covered with rusty spots. The pulp is dense and fleshy. The variety grows from August to September in acidic, moist soil in large groups.
Conclusion
Collibia chestnut belongs to the 4th group of edibility. Prefers to grow in large groups in coniferous and deciduous forests. The variety has poisonous counterparts, in order not to get food poisoning, you need to know the external data of the edible species.