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White plaque on mushrooms may appear after collection or during conservation storage. Sometimes in the forest there are mushrooms covered with white bloom. Experienced lovers of “silent hunting” know what to do with such mushrooms, and for beginners this raises many questions.
What does white bloom on mushrooms mean
White bloom on the caps of fresh mushrooms is not always a sign of the development of pathogenic microflora. Sometimes it is associated with the peculiarities of the growth of mushrooms in the forest. If a raid appears on already collected mushrooms or canned ones, then urgent measures must be taken, otherwise the entire workpiece will have to be thrown away.
White plaque on honey agarics in the forest
Noticing autumn mushrooms covered with white bloom in the forest, many mushroom pickers try to bypass them. This is justified by concern for one’s safety; false twins may be hiding behind such specimens.
Often a white coating on the hats of mushrooms is a spore powder, it is harmless to health. But more often this feature is manifested in large specimens, with a straightened hat in the form of an umbrella. Experienced mushroom pickers do not refuse large, mature mushrooms if their flesh is not inferior in properties and appearance to young ones. You can wipe off such a plaque at home with a dry kitchen sponge.
It is possible to collect mushrooms with white bloom if they have a characteristic mushroom aroma, and spore powder gives them a strange whitish color.
Moldy yellow plaque on mushrooms is easily distinguished by a characteristic, unpleasant odor. If most of the cap and stem are covered with mold, such samples cannot be collected in a basket. They have accumulated dangerous toxins that can cause severe poisoning.
White plaque on honey mushrooms in a jar
After salting the mushrooms, a white coating sometimes appears on the surface in the jar. It’s not mold, it’s kahm yeast, it’s not harmful to health. If the lid does not tightly close the jar, the brine or marinade evaporates, and the surface of the mushrooms is again covered with a white coating.
It is possible to save the situation only if the beginning of the process is noticed in time. The specimens covered with plaque are thrown out, the remaining ones are washed, boiled for 5-10 minutes, and poured with fresh brine, increasing the concentration of salt. Preservation is laid out in clean sterilized jars, and after cooling, they are stored in a dark, cool place.
So that a white coating does not appear on the plates in a jar of salted mushrooms, use a cotton cloth soaked in vodka. She covers the surface of canned mushrooms. The jar is filled tightly so that there are no gaps and air spaces between the mushrooms, this is where the mold begins to grow during storage.
If after a while a white coating appears on the surface of the rag, it must be thrown away, take a clean cloth soaked in vodka, wipe the coating with a sponge from the edges of the jar. Cover with a clean cloth, put pine chips as a brisket, and add a little brine (1 tbsp. salt per 1 liter of water). The brine should cover the product by 1-2 cm. Then close with a tight lid. It is also desirable to moisten it in vodka.
Is it possible to eat mushrooms with white bloom
When honey mushrooms are covered with white bloom during salting, this is a natural process. Typically, such a coating covers a cloth or gauze that covers the product; it must be changed from time to time to a clean one soaked in vodka.
It is impossible to eat mushrooms covered with mold. They accumulate dangerous toxins that can cause fever, vomiting, dizziness and other unpleasant symptoms. Biologists refer mold to the kingdom of microscopic fungi. They have a similar structure, like large, edible specimens familiar to people, only several thousand times smaller.
All representatives of the kingdom have a root system – mycelium, which absorbs nutrients from the soil, and above the ground there is a fruiting body – a reproductive organ containing millions of spores. She is the ancestor of mycelium or mycelium. When it gets into favorable conditions, it gives a lot of branched processes-threads. They grow by absorbing and processing the nutrient substrate. The process has two phases: the first is the growth of threads and the second is the formation of the body. In it, new spores mature.
Colonies of mold fungi have different colors – gray, black, yellow, green, reddish. Mold causes allergies, it affects the body invisibly, like radiation and heavy metals. The most dangerous mold is Aspergillus black. To see it, sometimes it is enough to look into the cellar where food stocks are stored. Having noticed mold on the surface of canned food, they must be thrown away without regret. By scraping off the upper, moldy part, only the visible side of the “iceberg” can be removed, and the toxins that the mushrooms produce will remain inside the product.
Mycotoxins are not destroyed even by boiling, and slowly accumulate in the body. These substances are pathogenic even in small concentrations. They affect the liver, can cause malignant tumors. Therefore, you need to throw away food even with a small island of mold on them, and never take moldy specimens in the forest.
But you may not see mold, often canned food is already contaminated before it hits the table. This is especially true of conservation, bought from hands in spontaneous markets.
Conclusion
White plaque on honey agarics is formed in the forest from spore powder, it is completely safe for health. If a white coating appears in jars on top of the mushrooms, such preservation should be used with caution. Heat treatment does not destroy accumulated toxins. Therefore, if several layers are covered with mold in a jar, it is better to throw it away.
