Meadow mushrooms (Marasmius oreades) often called non-rotten, marasmius, meadow mushrooms or cloves. After adding water to dried mushrooms, they come back to life and can produce spores. Many mushroom pickers have seen a picture when, after rain, dry mushrooms “came to life” again and continued to bear fruit.
Below you can see photos and descriptions of meadow mushrooms, find out how they look and when to pick these mushrooms.
What meadow mushrooms look like
Category: edible.
Hat (diameter 3-9 cm) ocher, red-brown or yellowish. In dry weather, the cap of the meadow agaric mushroom fades to a light brown or cream color, in wet weather it becomes sticky and sticky. It has the shape of a hemisphere with a small central tubercle, which eventually changes to a slightly convex or almost prostrate. The edges are uneven and ribbed, almost transparent, paler than the center.
The photo shows what meadow mushrooms look like: the leg of these mushrooms, 4-11 cm high, is thin and sinuous, has a cylindrical shape and tapers slightly from bottom to top. It is velvety to the touch, with a slight powdery coating. The color rarely differs from the hat.
Records: ocher or light cream. In young mushrooms, they adhere tightly to the stem, in old ones, on the contrary, they are free.
[ »»]
Pulp: thin, white or yellowish in color, which does not change when cut and exposed to air. The aroma is reminiscent of the smell of bitter almonds or cloves.
Mushroom twins meadow agaric: young poisonous whitish talker (Clitocybe dealbata) and wood-loving collibia (Collybia dryophila). But the talkers do not have a tubercle on the hat and the smell of the pulp is mealy. And collibia have very frequent plates and an extremely unpleasant smell.
When to collect meadow mushrooms and their use
Meadow mushrooms can be collected when consistently warm weather sets in: from the end of May to the middle of October. These mushrooms grow in the countries of Eurasia, North Africa and America. On the territory of Our Country – in the North Caucasus and Primorye.
Where can I find: exclusively in open spaces – meadows, pastures, fields and forest edges.
When using meadow mushrooms for food, cooks use only hats, since the legs are very hard.
The use of meadow mushrooms in traditional medicine (data are not confirmed and have not been clinically tested!): tincture of meadow agaric contains a large amount of marasmic acid, effective in the fight against many bacteria, in particular Staphylococcus aureus.