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Chanterelle gray is a nondescript, but usable mushroom from the Chanterelle family. To correctly recognize the gray fox, you need to familiarize yourself with its description and photographs.
Where do gray chanterelles grow
The fungus, which is also called the winding funnel, grows almost everywhere in mixed, deciduous and coniferous forests. Chanterelles prefer high humidity, usually hiding in damp grass in clearings, edges, under trees and along forest paths.
For the first time, funnelworts appear in the forest in the middle of summer, but most of all they can be found in September. Mushrooms grow most often in large groups of up to 10 specimens each. However, it should be noted that it is still not easy to see them, especially against the background of fallen leaves – the nondescript color serves as an excellent disguise for chanterelles.
What do gray foxes look like?
At the mention of the chanterelle mushroom, thoughts immediately appear about bright red mushrooms, noticeable against the background of green grass. However, gray chanterelles do not just bear their name – their colors are very faded, dark gray on the upper side or even black. In Germany, mushrooms bear the gloomy name of “pipes of the dead”, at first glance at the gray chanterelle it is difficult to suspect that it has a rather pleasant taste and useful properties.
According to the photo and description of the gray chanterelle mushroom, the hat has the shape of a cone, its edges are wavy and curve outward with a funnel, hence the second name of the mushroom, a sinuous funnel. Often the edges of the cap are torn. From below, the hat is bluish-gray, with flat plates, the diameter of the upper part of the mushroom usually reaches 6 cm.
The cap of the gray chanterelle gradually turns into a gray leg, short and tapering downwards. According to the structure, the leg is hollow inside, but with dense walls, and at the same time, most of the leg is underground, and it protrudes very slightly above the soil surface. Cut chanterelle gray has fibrous light gray flesh with a neutral odor.
Is it possible to eat gray chanterelles
At first glance, the gray convoluted crowberry seems absolutely unappetizing – dark and shriveled when fresh, after cooking it becomes completely black. But in fact, you can eat the mushroom in food. With proper processing, it is able to please with a pleasant taste and give an unusual shade to familiar dishes.
Palatability
According to taste characteristics, the sinuous funnel fungus belongs to the 4th category of mushrooms. This means that the gray chanterelle is significantly inferior to the “noble” counterparts, such as white fungus, boletus, and so on.
However, connoisseurs still respond very positively to the taste of gray chanterelle. Experienced mushroom pickers note its pleasant smell with notes of mango, melon and peach.
Benefit and harm
The gray chanterelle is valued not only for its taste and smell, but also for its health benefits. The nondescript mushroom has a very rich vitamin composition, which contains:
- vitamins B and D;
- pantothenic and nicotinic acids;
- manganese, selenium and phosphorus;
- potassium and iron;
- riboflavin;
- trametalinic acid;
- chitinmannose.
Due to such a rich composition, the gray chanterelle improves immunity and fights infectious processes, helps with a tendency to allergies and has an anti-cancer effect. Eating a mushroom is useful for protecting the liver from hepatitis A and B viruses, as well as for improving brain function and increasing attention.
Gray chanterelles have not only useful properties, sometimes they can harm the body. It is not recommended to eat mushrooms:
- with chronic and acute ailments of the stomach and intestines;
- during pregnancy;
- in the period of breastfeeding;
- under the age of xnumx.
Do not eat gray chanterelles raw – this will help provoke a strong allergic reaction.
Collection rules
It is customary to collect funnelworts, including gray ones, from mid-August to late autumn, until mid-November. You need to look for inconspicuous gray-black mushrooms in mixed and deciduous forests. Winding funnelworts often disguise themselves as fallen leaves, so dark areas in the autumn grass should be looked at especially carefully.
Gray chanterelles, like any mushrooms, perfectly absorb all harmful and toxic substances from the air and precipitation. You need to collect fungi only in clean forests, away from major roads, factories and other enterprises.
When collecting gray funnelworts, it is recommended not to dig them out of the ground, but to cut them off near the surface with a sharp knife. This will keep the mycelium intact, from which new fruiting bodies can then grow.
False twins of gray chanterelles
Due to the unusual color, the mushroom stands out clearly from the background of others – it is difficult to confuse it with any fungi. However, the black fox or the horn-shaped funnel is very similar to the gray fox.
Varieties of the mushroom are united by the dark color of the cap and a similar structure. However, there are differences – the black fox is darker and richer in color, and its hat looks more like a distinct funnel. In addition, in the gray chanterelle, the lower surface of the cap is covered with wrinkles of the plates, while in the black variety, the underside is smooth.
Gray Chanterelle Recipes
Among culinary specialists, the gray chanterelle is not very famous, it is not so common, it can be difficult to find it, and the mushroom looks unattractive. However, the fungus can be used in food in any form – dried, boiled, fried and pickled.
From the gray chanterelle in combination with chicken fillet, you can cook a very healthy and dietary dish. The recipe looks like this:
- a small amount of fresh mushrooms are washed and cut lengthwise into pieces of the desired size;
- then onions are cut into half rings and fried in a pan with olive oil together with funnels;
- pepper and salt the chicken fillet, and then also spread it on a frying pan greased with vegetable oil and fry on each side for 2 minutes so that the meat is slightly crusted;
- a small amount of fried mushrooms is laid out on each of the pieces of chicken fillet, poured over with sour cream, and also sprinkled with grated cheese and herbs, salted and peppered again;
- cover the pan with a lid and fry the fillet with mushrooms on low heat for about 5 minutes.
Another recipe suggests cooking meatloaf with the use of gray fungi. You will need quite a lot of ingredients for it, but they all belong to the category of inexpensive.
- 2 peeled potatoes are grated, and then mixed with 1,2 kg of minced meat, chopped boiled egg and 100 g of boiled semolina.
- The ingredients are salted to taste and a little pepper is added, and then left to brew for a while.
- Meanwhile, 300 g of gray mushrooms with onions are fried in oil in a pan, salted and mixed with a few peas of pepper, preferably black.
- The minced meat in a separate container is laid out on a piece of foil in the shape of a rectangle, and 300 g of boiled rice is added on top and fried mushrooms with onions are placed on it.
- The foil is rolled up to form a roll and placed on a baking sheet.
Bake a roll with gray fungi for 35 minutes at a standard temperature of about 200 ° C. Then the finished dish is cut into slices and served on the table.
The recipe for cold pickling of gray chanterelles is very popular.
- About 1,5 kg of mushrooms are washed, then the caps are cut off and poured with boiling water.
- Peel and cut into small slices 3 heads of fresh garlic.
- In a jar for pickling, 2 bunches of dill are placed on the bottom, half of the total number of funnelworts is poured on top.
- 3 large spoons of salt, half of chopped garlic and 2 more bunches of dill are added to the ingredients.
The next layer is to lay out the remaining chanterelles, cover them with salt, the remnants of garlic and dill, and then close the jar or pan so that there is little access for air. A heavy object, or oppression, is placed on top of the lid, and the chanterelles are left to be salted for a day.
After a day, oppression and the lid are drained, and the mushrooms are completely filled with oil.
Conclusion
Chanterelle gray is a very nondescript mushroom, which usually does not attract the attention of mushroom pickers. But if at least once you try the sinuous fungus in salted, boiled or fried form, the impressions of this fungus will remain only positive.