Contents
In the mushroom kingdom, the hard field field (hard agrocybe) belongs to conditionally edible species. Some sources claim that it is not suitable for food. But, as practice shows, the fruiting body of the fungus can be used as food and as a medicine.
Agrotsibe can often be found in household plots, vegetable gardens, orchards, and even in greenhouses.
Where does the hard field grow
This type of mushroom is very often found within the city. It grows from spring to early autumn mainly in such places:
- lawns;
- roadsides;
- fields;
- meadows;
- gardens;
- greenhouses;
- gardens.
The field mushroom has a round cap with an implicit yellow tubercle
What does a field worker look like
The field mushroom has a flat white cap, with a diameter of about 3 cm to 10 cm. It is slightly yellowish in the center, there is a not pronounced tubercle. The cap of the field worker is almost smooth; there are neither scales nor any wavy formations on it. But sometimes the edges of the bedspread remain. The cap of the correct shape occurs mainly in young mushrooms of the hard field field. Over time, it changes, as if blurring, covered with cracks, from under which one can see a white cotton-like pulp.
The plates located under the field cap are even, clean, not too densely spaced, not white, but grayish-brown. They darken even more with age. On this basis, mushrooms are sometimes confused with champignons.
The leg of the hard field is thin and long, up to 12 cm long and 1 cm wide. Remains of a white film are visible at the top. As a rule, it has a smooth surface, but sometimes there are mushrooms with a shaggy or rough texture. The leg of a hard field worker is straight, cylindrical in shape, only at the very end, where it connects to the ground, it is slightly curved. It can also thicken at the bottom, but this is not always the case.
The field mushroom is hard to the touch, dense, firm. But if you cut it, there is a very small, barely noticeable cavity inside. Its flesh is white, slightly darker in the plates. It has a slight mushroom smell, quite pleasant.
With age, the shape of the caps becomes vague, its surface is covered with cracks.
Is it possible to eat a field worker hard
Polevik hard belongs to the Strophariyev family. Like all its relatives, the mushroom has a rather pronounced bitterness. You can’t call it tasty, but it is edible. Of course, you need to consider where the mushroom grew. And if this is a city lawn or a roadside, then it is advisable not to eat fruiting bodies collected in such areas.
The taste of the mushroom
Because of the bitter taste, mushroom pickers usually ignore the hard vole, which is also a conditionally edible mushroom, that is, it has no particular nutritional value. This mushroom is of interest to specialists in traditional medicine, pharmacologists. Contains in its composition the antibiotic agrocybin, which is active against:
- pathogenic bacteria;
- fungi.
In modern pharmacology, since the middle of the twentieth century, when penicillin was discovered, every second antibiotic is now obtained from fungi. Such drugs compare favorably with synthesized drugs, as they are devoid of severe side effects. Mushrooms, including the hard field, are interesting to pharmacologists for another substance that is contained in large quantities in the fruiting bodies.
This is chitin, a polysaccharide that is part of the cell membranes. It has found wide application in both medicine and agriculture. As it turned out, this substance is an excellent sorbent, surpassing activated carbon in its qualities. It copes well with food poisoning, other disorders of the digestive tract, promotes the rapid healing of wounds and burns. In agriculture, it is used to make plants resistant to adverse environmental factors, such as pests and diseases.
The early vole, like two drops of water, looks like a hard agrocybe
False doubles
The hard vole does not have poisonous twins. This mushroom is often confused with:
- thin-legged champignons;
- vole early.
Externally, they are very similar. Often these fruiting bodies are collected as one species.
Collection rules
The rules for collecting mushrooms for both food and medicinal purposes are almost the same. First of all, you need to ensure that poisonous specimens, false twins, do not get into the basket. Mushrooms intended for drying do not need to be washed, it is enough to clean them of forest debris. Overripe, moldy, rotten and gnawed fruit bodies should not be collected.
If strong young mushrooms are best suited for culinary purposes, then it is preferable to collect fruiting bodies of middle age for the preparation of medicines. The fact is that during the period of maturation of spores in fungi, the highest concentration of antimicrobial and other biologically active substances is reached. So the mushroom organism tries to protect the most valuable from microbial and animal attacks coming from the outside world.
Young specimens are suitable for eating. As soon as they are born, they already have a sufficient amount of nutrients. What is further considered growth, in fact, is not. This is just a stretching of fruiting bodies while maintaining the same organic composition. No new nutrients are produced anymore.
Use
Medicinal preparations created from mushrooms are, as a rule, extracts (alcohol, water) or extracts (oil, alcohol). If you simply dry and grind the fruiting body, encapsulating it or taking it in powder, tablet, then it will give only a small part of its useful substances. The insoluble chitin shell is almost indigestible and thus retains the beneficial substances contained in mushrooms. Therefore, it was the extracts that became the main form of medicines created from mushrooms.
If there is strong bitterness, soak in cold water for about a day before cooking.
Conclusion
Polevik hard refers to conditionally edible mushrooms. It can be used both as food and medicine. In folk medicine, it is used as an antiseptic in the form of alcohol, water infusions.