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Purple cobweb is a very unusual mushroom suitable for food consumption. It is quite simple to recognize it, but you should carefully study the description of the cobweb itself and its false counterparts.
Description of the purple cobweb
The mushroom, which is also called the purple marshmallow or lilac cobweb, belongs to the genus Cobwebs and the family Cobwebs. He has a very characteristic appearance, which makes it easy to identify him in the forest.
Cap Description
The hat of the purple cobweb can reach 15 cm in diameter. In young fruiting bodies, it is convex and half spherical in shape, straightens out with age and becomes almost flat, but with a large tubercle in the center. The most striking feature of the cobweb is a beautiful dark purple color in young mushrooms. Mature bogweeds fade to almost white, but may retain a slight lilac hue.
A photo of the purple cobweb mushroom shows that the skin on the cap is fibrous and slightly scaly, on the underside it is covered with wide and rare purple plates. If you break it in half, then the dense flesh on the break will acquire a bluish tint. From the fresh pulp comes a faint pleasant aroma.
Description of the leg
The thin leg reaches only 2 cm in coverage, but in height it can rise up to 12 cm above the ground. In the upper part it is covered with small scales, closer to the base there is a noticeable thickening. The photo of the purple cobweb shows that the texture of the leg is fibrous, the same dark color as the cap.
Twins and their differences
Due to the unusual appearance, it is quite difficult to confuse the purple cobweb mushroom with others from the photo and description. However, the cobweb has similar related species that require careful consideration.
Lacquer amethyst
The lacquer lilac, or amethyst, has a strong resemblance to the bog. This agaric mushroom also has a bright purple cap and stem, similar to the bog in shape and structure.
However, the lacquer can be distinguished, first of all, by its size, it is very small, its hat does not exceed 5 cm in diameter. In the center, instead of a tubercle, there is a recess; at the edges, the cap becomes noticeably thinner and becomes wavy.
The mushroom belongs to the category of conditionally edible, therefore, confusing it with a cobweb, although undesirable, is not dangerous.
purple row
A purple row, an edible agaric mushroom, has a certain resemblance to the cobweb. The varieties are similar to each other in the shade of the cap – young rows are also bright purple on both the upper and lower lamellar sides, and gradually fade with age.
But you can distinguish the fruiting bodies from each other by the stem – in the row it is thick, dense and noticeably paler than the hat. Row is also suitable for eating.
goat web
You can confuse the bog with a related species – goat, or goat, cobweb. The similarity between mushrooms lies in the fact that their caps have the same structure – at a young age they are convex, in an adult prostrate and with a tubercle in the middle part. Young goat cobwebs also have a purple color.
However, with age, the fruiting bodies of the goat web become rather gray, and the plates on the lower part of its cap are not purple, but rusty brown. Another difference is the unpleasant odor emanating from the goat web – mushroom pickers claim that it smells like acetylene.
Brilliant Gossamer
Under certain circumstances, the boletus can be confused with a poisonous double – the brilliant cobweb. Both mushrooms have at first a convex, and then a prostrate cap with a tubercle in the center, a long thin stem and a lamellar underside of the cap.
The main difference is in color. If the violet bog has a rich lilac color, then the cap of the brilliant cobweb is reddish-brown or chestnut with a slight purple tint. The brilliant cobweb is inedible and poisonous. If the found mushroom is more similar to it according to the description, then it is better to leave the find in the forest.
How and where does the purple cobweb grow
According to its distribution, the purple bog is found on the territory of almost the whole world. It grows in Europe and America, Japan, Great Britain and Finland.
In Our Country, the fungus grows not only in the middle lane, but also in the Leningrad and Murmansk regions, near Novosibirsk and Tomsk, in the Chelyabinsk region, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and in Primorye. You can meet the edible purple cobweb mushroom in coniferous and mixed forests, mainly near pines and birches. It grows mostly singly, but sometimes forms small groups. The main fruiting season is in August, and you can find the mushroom until October in humid and shady places.
Edible purple cobweb or not
Spiderweb purple from the Red Book is an edible mushroom with a very pleasant gourmet taste. It is suitable for all types of food processing and does not require special preparation.
How to cook purple cobwebs
Bolotnik is rarely fried and added to soups – much more often it is salted or marinated. According to mushroom pickers, it tastes much better when cold. But before any processing, it is necessary to carry out initial preparation.
The preparation consists in the fact that the boletus must be cleaned of forest debris, rinsed in cold water and peeled from its cap. It does not require soaking, since there are no toxic substances in it, and there is also no bitterness in the pulp. Immediately after cleaning, it is immersed in salted water and boiled for an hour.
Pickled Purple Spiderweb
A simple mushroom recipe suggests pickling purple boletus for further storage. It’s very easy to do this:
- First, put 2 liters of water on the fire and add salt, sugar and vinegar to it, 2 large spoons each, as well as 5 cloves of garlic, 5 peppercorns and bay leaf.
- After the marinade boils, 1 kg of boiled boletus is placed in it and kept on fire for another 20 minutes.
- Then the mushrooms are laid out in pre-prepared sterile jars and pour hot marinade to the top.
The blanks are closed with lids, allowed to cool under warm blankets, and then put in the refrigerator for long-term storage.
Salted purple cobweb
Pre-boiled mushrooms can be salted – the recipe is very simple and accessible even for beginners. In small layers, the purple bog should be laid in glass jars, generously sprinkling salt on each layer so that in the end there is a layer of salt on top of the jar. If desired, you can also add a little garlic, dill, pepper or bay leaves.
The filled jar is covered with gauze or a thin cloth, and pressed on top with a heavy load. After a couple of days, juice will stand out in the jar, which will cover the whole mushrooms, and after another 40 days, the bog will be ready for use. In the process of salting, it is necessary from time to time to remove the oppression and change the fabric or gauze so that it does not become moldy from moisture.
Useful properties and contraindications of purple cobweb
A rare mushroom purple bog is not only tasty, but also very healthy. In large quantities in its pulp are present:
- B vitamins;
- copper and manganese;
- zinc;
- vegetable protein.
Bolotnik has pronounced anti-inflammatory properties, is able to strengthen the immune system. It also benefits the heart and blood vessels, in particular, lowers glucose levels and prevents the development of diabetes.
There are not so many contraindications for the fungus, but it is not recommended to use it for allergies and severe diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and liver during an exacerbation. From cobwebs, like any other mushrooms, it is better to refuse pregnant women and nursing mothers, and you should not offer mushroom pulp to children under 7 years old.
The use of purple swamps in pharmaceuticals
It is necessary to mention the medicinal properties of a rare mushroom. Thanks to vitamins and other valuable substances in the composition, purple boletus is used to create antifungal drugs and antibiotics. You can also meet the boletus in the composition of funds that help with hypoglycemia – the fungus lowers blood sugar levels.
Interesting facts about purple cobwebs
Not all mushroom pickers have heard of the purple cobweb. This is partly due to the rarity of the Red Book mushroom. But another reason is that the bright colors of the swamp make many people mistake it for a poisonous mushroom and bypass it.
Purple bog is used not only in cooking and medicine, but also in industry. With the use of a boletus, environmentally friendly paints are made. The natural dye in the pulp of the mushroom is completely safe, but has a high resistance.
The purple mushroom is called cobweb due to the fact that young fruiting bodies on the underside of the cap are covered with a continuous dense cobweb. With age, this cover is torn and disappears, but even in adult bog-weavers, you can sometimes see its remnants on the edges of the cap and on the stem.
Conclusion
Purple cobweb is a very rare, but beautiful and tasty mushroom. Finding it in the forest will be a real success, but at the same time, mushroom pickers throughout Our Country have a chance, since the mushroom is widespread everywhere.
