Honey mushroom

Description of honey mushroom

Honey mushroom translated from Latin means “bracelet”. This name is not at all surprising, because if you look at the stump, on which mushrooms are most often snug, you can see a peculiar form of mushroom growth in the form of a ring.

Where do honey mushrooms grow?

Known to all mushroom pickers, mushrooms are able to “capture” rather large areas under their distribution area. They feel great not only near trees, but also next to some shrub plants, in meadows and forest edges.

Most often, mushrooms grow in large groups on old stumps, not far from weakened trees in a wooded area. Honey mushrooms can be found everywhere – both in the Northern Hemisphere and in the subtropical zone. This mushroom does not like only the harsh areas of permafrost.

Honey mushrooms in coking

Our distant ancestors had excellent health due to the fact that they ate the natural gifts of nature. Mushrooms occupied a special place in their diet. Honey mushrooms have been revered since ancient times, and they were prepared in many ways.

It’s nice to open a barrel of oily crispy mushrooms when it’s freezing outside! Cook potatoes, fill the dish with vigorous pickled mushrooms and enjoy your meal!

Usually, fans of mushrooms begin harvesting them in the fall, at the height of the forest harvest. But for those who are engaged in home cultivation of honey agarics, seasons are not a decree! You can harvest mushrooms indoors all year round, and the blanks from them are wonderful!

Honey mushroom dishes

What to cook from fresh homemade mushrooms? There are hundreds of variations on the mushroom theme! Rich soups, juicy casseroles, tender cutlets, dumplings, stews, savory pates, aromatic pies and pancakes … Honey mushrooms are excellent fried and stewed, as main dishes and as an addition to meat and vegetables!

The great thing is that mushroom delicacies are not deposited in fats! Their energy value is only 38 kilocalories per 100 grams. At the same time, honey agaric is a complete nutritious food, equivalent to animal products!

Pickling and salting of mushrooms is very popular. These types of culinary processing make it possible to preserve both vitamins and minerals in mushrooms. And the taste of mushrooms in this form is simply delicious!

Watch how to cook honey mushrooms in the video below:

Honey mushrooms in the cooking of different countries

In Japan, the old drinking miso soup is made from honey mushrooms. For this, fresh fruit bodies of mushrooms are used with the addition of sweet peppers, soybean paste and cheese.

In Korea, a salad of honey mushrooms and fresh onions is popular. It is filled with marinade and kept under pressure for 7-8 hours. Such a salad is a constant decoration of the table on holidays.

Chinese chefs are very fond of serving honey mushrooms with chicken. The poultry is fried and baked with mushrooms.

The inhabitants of Hungary harvest honey mushrooms for future use, pickling them with vinegar and vegetable oil. Mushrooms are prepared in a similar way in Bulgaria.

In the Czech Republic, a thick soup with sour cream, potatoes and a whole egg is made from honey mushrooms. It is generously seasoned with spices and served hot.

Types of honey mushroom, names and photos

There are several different types of honey mushrooms:

Lime honeydew, Kühneromyces mutabilis

Edible mushroom of the stropharia family, genus Küneromyces. Summer mushrooms grow in large colonies mainly on deciduous tree species, especially on rotten and damaged wood. In highlands they grow on spruce trees.

A small mushroom with a leg up to 7 cm high and with a diameter of 0.4 to 1 cm. The top of the leg is light, smooth, and dark scales cover the leg down. The “skirt” is narrow, filmy, and may disappear over time; due to falling spores, it turns brownish. The diameter of the mushroom cap is from 3 to 6 cm.

Young summer mushrooms are distinguished by a convex cap; as the fungus grows, the surface flattens, but a noticeable light tubercle remains in the center. The skin is smooth, matte, honey-yellow with dark edges. In wet weather, the skin is translucent, and characteristic circles form around the tubercle. The pulp of summer honey mushroom is tender, moist, pale yellow in color, pleasant to the taste, with a pronounced aroma of a living tree. The plates are often light, but with time they become dark brown.

Summer honey mushroom is found mainly in deciduous forests throughout the temperate zone. Appears in April and bears fruit until November. In areas with a favorable climate, it can bear fruit without interruption. Sometimes summer mushrooms are confused with a poisonous gallery bordered (lat.Galerina marginata), which is distinguished by the small size of the fruiting body and the absence of scales at the bottom of the leg.

Armillaria mellea

A species of edible mushrooms, a representative of the physalacria family, a genus of mushrooms. A parasitic fungus that grows singly or in large families on almost 200 species of living trees and shrubs. It is also a saprophyte, growing on stumps (providing the glow of stumps at night) and fallen trees, on broken off branches, cuttings of fallen leaves. In rare cases, it parasitizes plants, for example, potatoes.

The height of the leg of the autumn mushroom is from 8 to 10 cm, the diameter is 1-2 cm. At the very bottom, the leg may have a slight expansion. Above, the leg is yellowish-brown, downward becomes dark brown. The cap of the autumn mushroom, with a diameter of 3 to 10 cm (sometimes up to 15-17 cm), is convex at the beginning of the growth of the fungus, then it becomes flattened, with few scales on the surface and a characteristic wavy edge. The ring is very pronounced, white with a yellow border, located almost under the cap itself.

The pulp of autumn mushrooms is white, dense, fibrous in the stem, fragrant. The color of the skin on the cap is different and depends on the type of trees on which the mushroom grows.

Honey-yellow autumn mushrooms grow on poplar, mulberry tree, common robinia. Brown ones grow on oaks, dark gray – on elderberry, red-brown – on coniferous tree trunks. The plates are rare, light beige, darken with age and are covered with dark brown spots.

The first autumn mushrooms appear at the end of August. Depending on the region, fruiting occurs in 2-3 layers, lasting about 3 weeks. Autumn mushrooms are widespread in swampy forests and clearings throughout the Northern Hemisphere, except for permafrost regions.

Flammulina velutipes

Edible mushroom of the 4th category, a representative of the physalacria family, the genus Flammulin. In addition, this genus of mushrooms belongs to the family of non-nippers. Winter honey mushroom parasitizes weak, damaged and dead deciduous trees, mainly willows and poplars, gradually destroying the wood.

The leg is 2 to 7 cm high and 0.3 to 1 cm in diameter, has a dense structure and a distinctive, velvety brown color, turning into brown with yellowness closer to the top. In young honey mushrooms, the cap is convex, flattens with age and can reach 2-10 cm in diameter. The skin is yellow, brownish or brown with orange. The plates are rarely planted, white or ocher, of different lengths. The flesh is almost white or yellowish. Unlike the bulk of edible mushrooms, winter mushrooms do not have a “skirt” under the hat.

It grows throughout the temperate part of the forest park zone of the northern regions from autumn to spring. Winter honey mushroom grows in large, often accrete groups, during thaws it is easily found on thawed patches. According to some reports, the pulp of winter honeydew contains a small dose of unstable toxins, so it is recommended to subject the mushroom to a more thorough heat treatment.

Marasmius oreades

Edible mushroom. Typical soil saprophyte growing in fields, meadows, pastures, summer cottages, along the edges of glades and ditches, in ravines and on forest edges. Differs in abundant fruiting, often grows in straight or arched rows, sometimes forms “witch circles”.

The leg of the meadow is long and thin, sometimes curved, up to 10 cm in height, and from 0.2 to 0.5 cm in diameter. It is dense along its entire length, widened at the very bottom, has a cap color or is slightly lighter. In young meadow honey mushrooms, the cap is convex, flattens over time, the edges become uneven, a pronounced blunt tubercle remains in the center.

In damp weather, the skin becomes sticky, yellow-brown or reddish. In good weather, the hat is light beige, but always with a center darker than the edges. The plates are sparse, light, darker in rain; there is no “skirt” under the cap. The pulp is thin, light, sweet in taste, with a characteristic clove or almond aroma.

At the meadows it is found from May to October throughout Eurasia: from Japan to the Canary Islands. It tolerates drought well, and after rains comes to life and is again capable of reproduction. Meadow honey fungus is sometimes confused with wood-loving collybia (Collybia dryophila), a conditionally edible fungus with biotopes similar to that of a meadow. It differs from a meadows mushroom in a tubular, hollow leg inside, more often located plates and an unpleasant odor.

It is much more dangerous to confuse the meadow with the furrowed gossip (Clitocybe rivulosa), a poisonous mushroom characterized by a whitish cap devoid of a tubercle, often sitting plates and a mealy spirit.

Armillaria lutea, Armillaria gallica

Edible mushroom of the physalacria family, genus honey fungus. It parasitizes heavily damaged trees, more often on spruce and beech, less often on ash, fir and other types of trees. But most often it is a saprophyte and grows on fallen leaves and rotten trees.

The leg of the thick-legged honey fungus is low, straight, thickened from below, like a bulb. Below the ring, the leg is brown, above it is whitish, gray at the base. The ring is pronounced, white, the edges are distinguished by star-shaped breaks and are often covered with brown scales.

The diameter of the cap is from 2.5 to 10 cm. In young thick-legged honey mushrooms, the cap has the shape of an expanded cone with rolled edges, in old mushrooms it is flat with descending edges. Young thick-legged mushrooms are brownish, beige or pinkish.

The middle of the cap is abundantly strewn with dry conical scales of gray-brown color, which are preserved in old mushrooms. The plates are often planted, light, darken over time. The pulp is light, astringent in taste, with a slight cheesy smell.

Oudemansiella mucida

A type of edible mushroom of the physalacria family, the genus Udemansiella. A rare mushroom that grows on the trunks of fallen European beech, sometimes on still living damaged trees.

The curved leg reaches 2-8 cm in length and has a diameter of 2 to 4 mm. Under the cap itself it is light, below the “skirt” it is covered with brown flakes, at the base it has a characteristic thickening. The ring is thick, slimy. The caps of young honey mushrooms have the shape of a wide cone, open with age and become flat-convex.

At first, the skin of the mushrooms is dry and has an olive-gray color, with age it becomes slimy, whitish or beige with yellowness. The plates are sparsely arranged and differ in yellowish color. The flesh of the mucous honey fungus is tasteless, odorless, white; in old mushrooms, the lower part of the leg turns brown.

The slimy honey fungus is found in the broad-leaved European zone.

Gymnopus dryophilus, Collybia dryophila

A type of edible mushroom of the non-nylon family, genus hymnopus. Grows in separate small groups on fallen trees and leafy leaves, in forests, with a predominance of oak and pine.

The elastic leg is usually even, 3 to 9 cm long, but sometimes has a thickened base. The hat of young mushrooms is convex, with time it acquires a wide-convex or flattened shape. The skin of young mushrooms is brick-colored; in mature individuals it brightens and becomes yellow-brown. The plates are frequent, white, sometimes with a pink or yellow tint. The pulp is white or yellowish, with a weak taste and odor.

Spring mushrooms grow throughout the temperate zone from early summer to November.

Mycetinis scorodonius

Medium-sized edible mushroom of the non-nipple family. It has a characteristic garlic odor, which is why it is often used in seasonings.

The hat is slightly convex or hemispherical, it can reach 2.5 cm in diameter. The color of the hat depends on humidity: in rainy weather and fogs it is brownish, sometimes with a deep red hue, in dry weather it becomes creamy. The plates are light, very rare. The leg of this mushroom is stiff and shiny, darker below.

Mycetinis alliaceus

Belongs to the genus Garlic of the family of nonnium. The mushroom cap can be quite large (up to 6.5 cm), slightly translucent closer to the edge. The surface of the cap is smooth, yellow or red, brighter in the center. The pulp has a pronounced garlic aroma. Strong stem up to 5 mm in thickness and 6 to 15 cm long, gray or black, covered with pubescence.

The mushroom grows in Europe, preferring deciduous forests, and especially decaying leaves and twigs of beech.

Tricholomopsis rutilans

A conditionally edible mushroom belonging to the row family. Some consider it inedible.

The cap is convex, with aging the fungus becomes flatter, up to 15 cm in diameter. The surface is covered with small red-purple scales. The pulp of the honey fungus is yellow, its structure is more fibrous in the stem, and dense in the cap. The taste can be bitter, and the smell sour or woody-putrid. The leg is usually curved, hollow in the middle and upper part, thickened at the base.

5 Useful properties of honey mushroom

Honey mushrooms are one of the most popular mushrooms, which got their name from their place of growth. Since honey mushrooms do not grow separately, but live in whole families, about one stump you can easily collect a whole basket of tasty and healthy mushrooms, which, by the way, are considered a very low-calorie product.

Useful substances that make up honey mushroom:

• vitamins of group B, C, PP and E;
• trace elements (phosphorus, potassium, zinc, iron, and so on);
• cellulose;
• amino acids;
• proteins;
• natural sugars.

1. Why are honey mushrooms useful? It is interesting that in terms of the content of some useful microelements, for example, phosphorus and potassium, which are part of their composition, honey mushrooms can safely compete with river or other types of fish. Therefore, it is advisable to use these mushrooms for vegetarians to prevent bone and bone tissue disorders.
2. Due to the high content of magnesium, iron, zinc and copper in mushrooms, honey mushrooms have a positive effect on the processes of hematopoiesis, therefore, it is recommended to take them in case of anemia. Just 100 g of these mushrooms is enough, and you will be able to fill the body with the daily norm of trace elements necessary to maintain hemoglobin.
3. Numerous species of honey mushroom differ significantly in their vitamin composition. While some types of these mushrooms are rich in retinol, which is useful for strengthening hair, promotes youthful skin and healthy eyes, others are endowed with a large amount of vitamins E and C, which have a beneficial effect on the immune and hormonal system.
4. Honey mushrooms are also considered natural antiseptics, as they boast anti-cancer and antimicrobial properties. In their strength, they can be compared with antibiotics or garlic, so they are useful to take in the presence of E. coli or Staphylococcus aureus in the body.
5. Regular use of honey mushroom can prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases. In folk medicine, this mushroom is often used to treat liver and thyroid pathologies.

Harm and contraindications of honey mushroom

Despite all the benefits of these mushrooms, this product can be harmful:

Honey mushrooms should not be given to children under 12 years old;
The vinegar contained in pickled mushrooms is harmful to patients with gastrointestinal diseases, ulcers and gastritis.

Cooking honey mushrooms

As for the use of honey mushroom in food, it should be borne in mind that the lower part of the leg is harsh, so it is advisable to use only a mushroom cap. After collecting mushrooms, you must thoroughly wash and remove debris. The main methods of cooking honey mushroom are such as frying, pickling and salting. Honey mushrooms can be stored frozen.

False mushroom: description and photos. How to distinguish edible mushrooms from false ones

An experienced mushroom picker can easily distinguish false mushrooms from edible ones, and although certain types of false mushrooms are considered conditionally edible, it is better not to risk it, but to be guided by the rule: “Not sure – don’t take it.”

What do false mushrooms look like? The color of the cap of real honey mushrooms is light beige or brownish, the caps of inedible mushrooms are more brightly colored and can be rusty brown, brick red or orange.

False sulfur-yellow mushrooms, which have a color similar to real ones, are considered especially dangerous.

To distinguish mushrooms from false mushrooms, you also need to know that the surface of the cap of edible mushrooms is covered with special specks – scales, darker than the hat itself.

False heaps have a smooth cap, which is damp in most cases, and becomes sticky after rain. As the fungus grows, the scales disappear, such a moment should be taken into account by lovers of overgrown mushrooms.

The difference between false mushrooms also lies in the plates of the fungus. The back of the cap of real edible mushrooms consists of many white, cream or white-yellow plates. The plates of poisonous mushrooms are green, bright yellow or olive-black.

False brick-red honey fungus often has a cobweb formation under the cap.

Edible mushrooms have a characteristic mushroom aroma, false mushrooms usually give off a strong mold or smell unpleasantly of earth, and also have a bitter taste.

To protect himself from painful torment and serious poisoning, a novice mushroom picker should still focus on the main difference – the presence of a “skirt” under the head of a real honey mushroom.

More about distinguishing good and bad honey mushrooms watch in the video below:

3 Interesting facts about honey mushrooms

1. All varieties of honey mushroom are great workers: usually settling on diseased or almost completely non-viable remains of wood and overly depleted soils, these mushrooms perfectly process any biomass into useful trace elements, restore the balance of the soil substrate, making it suitable and healthy for the growth of other plants.
2. The peel of meadow honey was used according to the principle of a modern adhesive plaster: it perfectly healed shallow wounds from cuts, relieved the burning sensation after burns and soothed pain.
3. In ancient times, the mushroom mushroom was credited with a magical property to indicate a treasure: it was believed that where there are many honey mushrooms, the treasure must be buried.