Konrad’s umbrella (Macrolepiota konradii) photo and description

Konrad’s zontic (Macrolepiota conradii)

:

• Lepiota excoriata var. conradii
• Lepiota konradii
• Macrolepiota procera var. konradii
• Macrolepiota mastoidea var. Conrad
• Agaricus mastoideus
• Thin agaric
• Lepiota rickenii

• Description
• How to cook Conrad’s umbrella
• How to distinguish Konrad’s umbrella from other mushrooms

Konrad’s umbrella grows and develops in the same way as all representatives of the genus Macrolepiota: when young, they are indistinguishable. Here is a typical “umbrella embryo”: the hat is ovoid, the skin on the hat has not yet cracked, and therefore it is completely incomprehensible what kind of hat an adult mushroom will have; there is no ring as such yet, it has not come off the hat; The leg hasn’t fully formed yet.

At this age, it is possible to more or less reliably identify only the reddening umbrella, according to the characteristic reddening of the pulp on the cut.

head: diameter 5-10, up to 12 centimeters. In youth, it is ovoid, with growth it opens, acquiring a semicircular, then bell-shaped shape; in adult mushrooms, the cap is prostrate, with a pronounced small tubercle in the center. The brownish thin skin, which completely covers the cap at the “embryo” stage, cracks with the growth of the fungus, remaining in larger pieces near the center of the cap.

In this case, the remnants of the skin quite often form a kind of “star-shaped” pattern. The surface of the cap outside of this dark skin is light, whitish or grayish, smooth, silky, with fibrous elements in adult specimens. The edge of the cap is even, slightly furrowed.

In the central part, the cap is fleshy, towards the edge the flesh is thin, which is why the edge, especially in adult mushrooms, looks furrowed: there is almost no pulp.

Leg: 6-10 centimeters in height, up to 12, in a good year and under good conditions – up to 15 cm. Diameter 0,5-1,5 centimeters, thinner at the top, thicker at the bottom, at the very base – a characteristic club-shaped thickening, which does not follow to be confused with the Volvo that the Amanitovs have (toadstools and floats). Cylindrical, central, whole when young, hollow with age. Fibrous, dense. The skin on the stalk of young mushrooms is smooth, light brownish, cracking slightly with age, forming small brown scales.

plates: White, creamy with age. Loose, wide, frequent.

Ring: there is. Pronounced, wide, mobile. Whitish above and brownish brown below. On the edge of the ring, as it were, “forked”.

Volvo: missing.

Pulp: white, does not change color when broken and cut.

Smell: very pleasant, mushroomy.

Taste: mushroom. Slightly nutty when boiled.

spore powder: whitish cream.

Споры: 11,5–15,5 × 7–9 µm, colorless, smooth, ellipsoid, pseudoamyloid, metachromatic, with sprouting pores, contain one large fluorescent drop.

Basidia: club-shaped, four-spored, 25–40 × 10–12 µm, sterigmata 4–5 µm long.

Cheilocystids: club-shaped, 30-45?12-15 μm.

Konrad’s umbrella bears fruit abundantly in late summer – early autumn, a slightly different range is indicated for different regions. The peak of fruiting probably falls on August-September, but this mushroom can be found from June to October, with warm autumn – and in November.

The fungus is distributed throughout the middle lane, in forests of various types (coniferous, mixed, deciduous), can grow on edges and open glades, on humus-rich soils and leaf waste. It is also found in urban areas, in large parks.

An edible mushroom, inferior in taste to a motley umbrella. Only the caps are eaten, the legs are considered hard and too fibrous.

The mushroom is suitable for eating in almost any form. It can be fried, boiled, salted (cold and hot), marinated. In addition to the above, Conrad’s macrolepiot is perfectly dried.

Hats do not need to be boiled before frying, but it is recommended to take only young mushroom caps.

The legs are not eaten, as it were: the pulp in them is so fibrous that it is difficult to chew it. But they (legs) can be dried, ground in a dry form on a coffee grinder, the powder can be closed in a jar with a tight lid, and in winter it can be used when preparing soups (1 tablespoon of powder per three-liter saucepan), when preparing meat or vegetable dishes, as well as sauces .

A life hack from the author of the article: if you come across a huge meadow with umbrellas… if you are not too lazy to mess with the marinade… if you feel sorry for throwing away such strong young legs of umbrellas… and a bunch of “ifs”… That’s it, but I warn you, my marinade is brutal!

For 1 kg of legs: 50 grams of salt, 1/2 cup of vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar, 5 allspice peas, 5 hot pepper peas, 5 cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 3-4 bay leaves.

Rinse the legs, boil 1 time for no more than 5 minutes, drain the water, rinse the legs with cold water, put in an enamel pan, pour boiled water so that it only slightly covers the mushrooms, bring to a boil, add all the ingredients, simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, hot spread in jars and close. I use euro caps, I don’t roll them up. The photo shows a cinnamon stick.

This is my lifesaver during spontaneous parties. They can be finely chopped into almost any salad, you can put them finely chopped on a toast next to the sprat. It is especially wonderful to ask one of the guests, “Please run to the pantry, there on the shelf of the bank with the inscription “Feet of flies”, drag it here!”

Among the similar edible species are other macrolepiotes, such as the Umbrella motley – it is larger, the cap is much fleshier and the skin of even fairly young mushrooms is already cracking on the stem, forming a pattern similar to “snake”.

The umbel blushing at any age turns red on the cut, the surface of the cap is very different and in general is also somewhat larger than Conrad’s umbel.

Pale grebe – a poisonous mushroom! – in the “just hatched from an egg” stage, it can look like a very young umbrella, in which the skin on the hat has not yet begun to crack. Look closely at the base of the mushroom. Volva in fly agarics is a “pouch” from which a mushroom grows, this pouch is clearly torn in the upper part. A fly agaric leg can be twisted out of this bag. The bulge at the base of the stem of umbrellas is just a bulge. But if in doubt, do not take newborn umbrellas. Let them grow up. They, the kids, have such a small hat, there is not much to eat there.