Contents
Red ginger is a edible and very tasty mushroom. It does not contain toxic substances in its composition, with proper processing it will be a good addition to many dishes.
Where do red mushrooms grow
The red ginger belongs to the Syroezhkov family and is not very widespread in Our Country. Most often it can be found in coniferous forests and mountainous areas, and it usually grows in small groups of several fruiting bodies. The fruiting season is the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, in the period from August to September it can be seen in the greatest quantities.
What do red mushrooms look like
A fungus from the genus Milky has a cap from 3 to 10 cm in diameter, flattened in young fruiting bodies and funnel-shaped in adults. The edges of the cap are slightly wrapped, the skin is moist and sticky to the touch. On the underside, the hat is covered with thin plates of pinkish, ocher or rich red colors, depending on age. The plates themselves can go down quite deeply along the leg. The color of the cap itself is usually reddish-orange, occasionally there are blood-red saffron milk caps with a barely noticeable greenish tint.
The red camelina does not rise much above the ground, its leg reaches an average of 6 cm. It narrows slightly towards the base, and its surface is often covered with powdery coating. The photo and description of the red camelina show that the color of the leg is usually pinkish-orange or purple-lilac, in young mushrooms it is dense and fleshy, and in adults it is hollow from the inside.
If you break the red camelina, you can see a dense and fragile beige flesh with red spots. At the site of the fracture, milky juice of a reddish hue is released.
Is it possible to eat red mushrooms
The forest product belongs to the first edible category. This means that it is allowed to eat it, and even long and careful processing is not required – there are no toxic substances in the composition of the pulp.
Taste qualities of mushrooms
Red camelina has a very pleasant taste and a good dense texture. In cooking, it is customary not only to salt, but also to boil, pickle, fry. The red mushroom is suitable for drying, in which case it can be stored for a long time and enjoy its beneficial qualities and taste several months after harvest.
Benefits and harm to the body
Red camelina has a rich chemical composition, including vitamins, trace elements and antioxidant compounds. For human health, it can bring great benefits.
Red Ginger allows you to:
- improve digestion – the product helps to remove toxic substances from the body;
- strengthen immunity, vitamins in the composition make a person more resistant to viral and infectious diseases;
- improve skin condition – useful substances in the composition contribute to the renewal of epidermal cells, it is not for nothing that the product is used to heal cuts and burns;
- increase overall endurance, red camelina contains a lot of proteins and amino acids, so it is considered a very nutritious product.
Especially worth noting is the substance lactarioviolin in the composition of the pulp, this natural antibiotic has anti-tuberculosis properties. Lactarioviolin is used by official pharmacology to create drugs aimed at treating a serious illness.
Of course, in some cases, the red mushroom can harm the body. It is not recommended for constipation, chronic gallbladder problems, or severe liver damage. Stale specimens can do great harm – before use, you must make sure of their high quality, especially when it comes to a purchased product.
False doubles
It is almost impossible to confuse a red camelina with a dangerous poisonous one. However, it has a strong resemblance to other members of its genus, so it is important to study the photo of the red saffron mushroom and its counterparts.
real ginger
Pine, upland or real camelina is a completely edible mushroom with excellent taste. With red, it is very similar in structure, also has a slimy red or white-orange cap with a depression in the center and a cylindrical leg.
But at the same time, real camelina is usually larger in size, and lighter in color than red. In addition, the real mushroom is much more widespread and grows in coniferous forests throughout Our Country from the European part to Siberia.
Spruce camelina
Mushroom spruce is another delicious edible specimen that can be confused with red. It also has a cap that is convex at a young age and funnel-shaped in adult mushrooms, the diameter of which can reach 8 cm. The skin on the spruce cap is slippery and sticky, the leg rises above the ground by an average of 6 cm.
The color of the spruce is usually red-orange, and in this way it looks like a red camelina. But in the spruce mushroom, you can notice a pronounced greenish tint. Spruce is found everywhere in the forests and is far from being as rare as its red counterpart.
Collection rules
The bulk of red species appears in coniferous forests closer to autumn – in late August and early September. It is better to go for mushrooms after rainy days – in wet weather they grow especially quickly and abundantly. When looking for red mushrooms, you need to carefully look under your feet, due to the orange color, the mushrooms often merge with the falling autumn leaves.
It is necessary to collect the red species in clean forests, located away from noisy highways, railways and industrial facilities. Since mushroom pulp easily accumulates toxins that grow in a disadvantaged area, fruiting bodies can be harmful.
How to cook red mushrooms
The culinary use of red mushrooms is very wide, they can be eaten in almost any form. Since the mushrooms do not have a bitter taste, they do not need to be soaked before processing, it is enough to clean and rinse under cold water:
- Most often, red mushrooms are boiled – in time, this process takes 15 minutes after boiling salted water. Boiled mushrooms are added to salads or eaten as a snack with salt.
- They can also be fried and stewed with meat and vegetables, added to soups or even pie fillings.
- Sometimes they are used together with apples – the combination is unusual, but pleasant.
- The classic recipe is red mushrooms with potatoes and sour cream.
Salting red mushrooms and pickling is popular – this processing allows you to save them for the winter. Harvested mushrooms can be dried and used after a long time for culinary or medicinal purposes.
Conclusion
Red ginger is a rather rare, but very tasty noble mushroom. It practically does not cause harm to health, but the benefits from it can be very large, especially if the rules of use are observed.
