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Dung beetle gray belongs to the class Agaricomycetes, family Psatirellaceae, genus Coprinopsis. Its other names are gray ink mushroom, ink dung beetle. Found in large groups. Fruiting time – May-September, grows especially actively in autumn, lives only two days. Description and photo of the gray dung beetle mushroom is presented below.
Where does gray dung beetle grows
Grows in vegetable gardens, fields, orchards, near manure heaps, stables, non-forest clearings, landfills, next to trees and hardwood stumps. Prefers fertilized, humus-rich soils.
Refers to cosmopolitan mushrooms that are found on all continents except Antarctica.
What does a gray dung beetle look like
The dung beetle looks like a toadstool.
The cap diameter is 5-10 cm, height is 4-10 cm. Its shape changes with the growth of the fungus. At first, the cap looks like an egg with a wrinkled surface, then quickly turns into a wide-open bell with cracked edges, in the old specimen it turns up. The color is whitish-grayish, gray, dirty brown, darker in the center, lighter towards the edges. On the surface of the cap, especially in the middle, there are dark small scales.
The leg is hollow, curved, fibrous, without a ring. Its color is white, at the base – brown. Height – 10-20 cm, diameter – 1-2 cm.
The plates are frequent, wide, free, evenly distributed along the length. In young they are light – whitish-gray. As they grow, they darken, after full maturation they become inky. The fluid contains spores.
The pulp is fragile, light, darkens immediately on the cut. It has a pleasant mild odor and sweetish taste.
Dung beetle gray edible or not
Ink dung beetles conditionally edible species, but with some reservations:
- Only young specimens can be eaten until their plates turn black. It is advisable to collect them when the hat has just emerged from the ground.
- It should not be consumed simultaneously with alcohol, otherwise acute intoxication will develop.
The taste of the mushroom
The gray dung beetle has a pleasant mild smell and a sweetish taste. According to nutritional value and taste, it belongs to category 4.
Benefits and harm to the body
Inky dung beetle contains the organic substance koprin. With the simultaneous ingestion of coprine and alcohol, poisoning occurs. In terms of symptoms, it is similar to intoxication after taking alcohol in combination with drugs for alcoholism. First, a person has nausea, then severe vomiting. When these manifestations pass, a stable aversion to alcohol is developed. The fungus acts in this way only on a person who has taken an alcoholic drink. In the 50s of the last century, gray dung beetle was used for alcoholism.
The ink fungus was used not only in cooking and medicine. In the old days, ink was prepared from the liquid emitted by it, which was used to sign documents.
Mushrooms were placed in a container, where the process of self-dissolution of cells began, as a result of which an inky liquid with spores was formed. It was filtered, flavored (mainly clove oil) and glue were added. It was believed that documents signed with this ink were reliably protected by a unique pattern that spores formed after drying.
False doubles
The inky dung beetle has several species similar to it.
Dung beetle flickering – a little-known mushroom. It is red or yellowish-rusty, with grooves on the cap. Its diameter is 2-4 cm, the shape is ovoid or bell-shaped, the edges are even or with tears. The leg is hollow, white, brittle, length – 4-10 cm, the surface is smooth, the ring is absent, brownish at the base. The pulp is white, thin, with a sour smell. It got its name because of the shimmering scales located on the surface of the cap. He settles in pastures, in gardens, in the forest. Grows in large colonies around stumps. Fruiting from June to November. Considered inedible.
hay dung beetle. It has a small size – a maximum of 8 cm in height. He has a grayish-brownish or yellowish cap, fused brown plates. Hallucinogen, not suitable for human consumption.
scattered dung beetle. Unsuitable for human consumption. A hat in the form of an egg, a cone or a bell, with a velvety surface, beige or cream color, with granular grooves or folds, up to 2 cm in diameter. The leg is grayish or whitish, fragile, transparent, from 1 to 5 cm in height. Grows on decaying wood and stumps. Found in the temperate climate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Growth time – summer-autumn.
dung beetle. A small mushroom with a yellowish-brown, ribbed or folded cap. In young, it has the shape of a bell, then straightens to a flat one. Its diameter is 0,8-2 cm. The leg is light, with a smooth surface, 4 to 8 cm high. The plates are pale yellow, the flesh is thin. Fruiting from spring to late autumn. Grows singly or in colonies. Not used for food.
dung beetle romagnesi. It looks more like a gray dung beetle than others. The main difference is the strongly pronounced orange-brown or brown scales on the cap. The ink fungus has only a few scales in the very center. In the dung beetle Romagnese, the plates also turn black with age and liquefy to the state of black mucus. It settles in colonies on rotting roots of stumps or on the stumps themselves. According to some reports, it bears fruit 2 times a year: from April to May and from October to November. It is likely that it grows in the summer months in regions with a cold climate or in cool weather. The diameter of the cap is from 3 to 6 cm. It has the correct shape (ovoid or oval), with growth it takes the form of an expanded bell. The surface is whitish to beige in color, covered with adjacent dense brown or brownish-orange scales. The leg is whitish or off-white in color, pubescent, hollow, brittle, sometimes slightly expanded downwards. It reaches a height of 6-10 cm. The plates are frequent, free or adherent, in mature mushrooms they are purple-black, then liquefy and turn black. The flesh is white and very thin, almost odorless. Dung beetle Romagnesi is conditionally edible before the plates begin to undergo autolysis. Data on incompatibility with alcoholic beverages are not available.
Collection rules
Inky dung beetle lives for two days. Only young specimens are edible, so it is better to collect on the first day of his life. It is necessary to cut off the caps that have just appeared from the ground, which have not yet darkened.
Use
Inky dung beetle is eaten boiled, fried, stewed, less often pickled.
First, the mushrooms need to be processed, disassembled, cleaned, washed and boiled. Then they can be immediately fried, stewed or marinated, or stored in the freezer and taken out as needed. Frozen, they can be stored for no more than 6 months.
Gray dung beetle can be boiled in salted water with lava leaf and black pepper.
Before frying, boiled mushrooms should be washed again, then chopped and cooked in a pan in oil along with onions. They can first be darkened under the lid for about 15 minutes, then drained and fried. As a side dish, potatoes or buckwheat are suitable. They can be served with green onions and sour cream sauce.
Conclusion
In Our Country, until recently, gray dung beetle was considered inedible, so many take it for a toadstool and show no interest in it. In some European countries, such as Finland, the Czech Republic, it has long been used in cooking.
