Scale mushroom (foliot): edible or not, photos of false and poisonous species

Scale mushroom is not the most popular species among mushroom pickers. It is found everywhere, very bright and noticeable, but not everyone knows about its edibility. Although the genus Scales includes conditionally edible and inedible species, some of them are rated higher by gourmets than mushrooms. To distinguish in the forest and without fear to try an unusual mushroom, you should study the features of the family.

General description of the scale

Scale (Pholiota), foliot, royal honey agaric, willow – different names of the same genus from the family of saprophytes, parasitizing on trees, their roots, stumps. Moreover, different species prefer living, dry, almost decomposed and even burnt wood.

The genus of scales includes more than 100 varieties. Mushrooms can be very different in appearance, taste and even smell, but they have similar features that are easily recognizable in any locality. The fruiting body of any of the scales consists of a cap and a stem. Sizes range from large (18 cm in diameter and more than 15 cm in height) to very small specimens (up to 3 cm). The plates under the mushroom cap are thin, frequent, light beige or brownish, becoming brown as they grow older.

The spathe envelops the youngest specimens. With age, it tears, leaving a hanging fringe and sometimes a ring on the stem. The hat, round, hemispherical in young shoots, unfolds into a flat or slightly rounded shape, sometimes growing to the size of an adult’s palm.

The stem of the fungus is cylindrical, fibrous or hollow. It can be slightly narrowed or widened towards the base. Depending on growing conditions, it remains short or stretches to almost 20 cm.

A distinctive feature of the genus is the presence of frequent, well-defined scales on the cap and stalk. Sometimes they clearly stand out, in other species they fit snugly to the surface, but always differ in color from the fruiting body. In some species, the scales become almost invisible on older mushrooms.

Foliot hats are almost always colored in shades of yellow. All representatives of the genus are distinguished by the presence of a shade of ocher even in the palest specimens, which sharply distinguishes mushrooms against the background of forest litter and trunks. There are types of flakes with bright orange, golden, brown, pale yellow colors.

The flesh of the cap is fleshy, creamy, white or yellowish. The leg is rigid, fibrous or hollow, therefore it is not used for food. In edible specimens, the flesh on the break does not change color. The foliot does not have a pronounced mushroom smell. Different types have their own specific shades of taste or are completely devoid of it. Scale spores are brown, orange or yellow.

Types of scales

About 30 types of foliots are found on the territory of Our Country. The collection of such mushrooms, their culinary use is gaining popularity only in recent years. Not all mushroom pickers know the distinguishing features of different species. Before using unusual mushrooms, it is worth examining the flake from the photo with descriptions.

• Common flake – the most famous species, also called fleecy or dry. The cap diameter is from 5 to 10 cm, the color is beige or pale yellow with brightly colored (to brown) protruding scales. The edges of the opened adult cap are often “decorated” with a fringe from scraps of the integumentary shell. The pulp of the mushroom is conditionally edible, white or yellowish, has a sharp taste and a sharp smell of radish.

  

• Scales golden – the largest of all foliot: the hat can grow up to 20 cm in diameter, the stem up to 25 cm in height. The fruit body is bright, yellow, with a golden or orange tint. Scales sparse, appressed, bright reddish or brown. The pulp has no smell, pronounced taste, but is highly valued among mushroom lovers for a pleasant marmalade texture after cooking.

  

  Advice! The golden flake is edible, and experienced mushroom pickers call it “royal mushroom” and collect it along with other valuable species. Cooking mushrooms must begin with boiling for 30 minutes.
• Flake fiery – an inedible variety of foliot. Mushrooms of this species are smaller (up to 7 cm in diameter), and the caps have a copper or red tint, thickening towards the center. The scales are large, patterned, sometimes tucked up, lighter in shade than the cap and legs. The flesh is dense, yellow, turning brown on the break, with an unpleasant odor and astringent bitter taste. Fire scales are classified as inedible types of mushrooms due to their low culinary qualities.

  

• Flake sticky little known as an edible mushroom due to the poor quality of the pulp and the unpleasant stickiness on the surface of the cap. The scales are pressed and inconspicuous, disappearing as the fungus matures. The cap is medium (up to 8 cm in diameter), the stem is thin, tapering towards the top, it can stretch up to 10 cm. The creamy pulp is edible, has a slight mushroom smell.

  

• Scales mucous distinguished by a bright brown or yellow hat, covered with abundant mucus. The scales are light, along the edge of the cap there are fragments of a membranous coverlet. In hot weather, the surface of the fungus dries up, and mucus appears at high humidity. The flesh of the mushroom is thick, yellow, with a bitter taste, and has no pronounced odor.

  

• Flake destroying found on dry, weakened poplars, its second name is poplar foliot (poplar). The vital activity of fungi actively destroys the wood of the host plant. Hats grow up to 20 cm, their surface is light brown or yellow, the scales are light. The pulp is inedible, but only in terms of taste, there are no toxic or poisonous substances in the flake.

  

• Flake edible (nameko honey agaric) is the only cultivated species grown on an industrial scale in China and Japan. For successful cultivation, it requires humidity above 90%, therefore it grows indoors. The mushrooms are small, the cap diameter is up to 2 cm. The fruit bodies are pale brown or orange in color, completely covered with jelly-like mucus. In taste, as well as in appearance, they resemble mushrooms.

  

• Upland flake – an edible mushroom that grows in pine, mixed forests, in clearings, among deadwood. The diameter of an adult prostrate cap is about 8 cm, young fruiting bodies are hemispherical. Regardless of the main color (yellow or red), the hat becomes greenish towards the edge. The surface is smooth, the scales are frequent, yellow, becoming rusty with time. The leg is round in cross section, thin (about 1 cm in diameter), hollow, densely scaly. The light color at the cap turns into rusty towards the base. The pulp is odorless, except for specimens growing on pine. Such mushrooms acquire a specific aroma, but remain edible.

  

• Scales yellow-greenish has a second name – gum-bearing and belongs to conditionally edible species. Most often grows on stumps or fallen hardwood trunks, sometimes found in open glades with sparse grass. The cap of a young mushroom is bell-shaped, an adult one is prostrate, slightly convex, with a diameter of about 5 cm. The plates under the cap are lemon-green in color, the color of the mushroom body is pale yellow or creamy green, the flesh is thin, edible, odorless.

  

• Alder flake (moth) is more like mushrooms than relatives due to the fact that the scales on it are poorly distinguishable. Similarity is dangerous due to the presence of toxins in the composition. This is the only one of the flakes, the use of which poses a serious threat to health. As can be seen in the photo, the poisonous flake has a lemon hue of the entire fruiting body, the remains of the ring from the bedspread on the leg are visible, the hat does not grow more than 6 cm in diameter. The fungus prefers to settle on alder or birch wood, but can appear on a wide variety of hardwoods. On the conifers, the moth does not grow.

  

• bulging-scaly – a type of flake that is not dangerous to confuse with mushrooms. Both mushrooms are edible and also similar in preparation. Young caps are rounded, adults are flat or domed, often more than 15 cm in diameter. To the touch, the mushrooms are dry, light. Color – from straw to red or brown. The scales are frequent, clearly expressed, long and curved towards the edge of the cap.

  

  Important! The flake is scaly, according to the photo and description it is similar to the fiery one, recognized as inedible, it differs from it in a weak rare aroma and a slight spicy aftertaste. The pulp does not have a repulsive odor.

• Cinder (coal-loving) flake it is always powdered with soot and ashes, because mushrooms grow on the sites of old fires or forest fires. The hat is sticky, so it quickly acquires a dirty brown hue. The scales on the low stem are reddish. The pulp is yellow, rough, tasteless, odorless, therefore it is of no value for culinary use.

  

When, where and how do scales grow

Mushrooms from the genus Scales grow and develop well on living or rotten trunks of hardwoods, on conifers, in forests, parks, and on separate trees. Less common are specimens located on the forest floor or open soil.

The distribution area of ​​​​the flake is temperate latitudes with high humidity. Mushrooms are common in North America, Australia, Europe, China, Japan, Our Country. Especially often you can find flake in dead woods. Most species require deep shade to grow.

How to collect correctly

There are no false flakes dangerous to health that can be confused with them when harvested. The characteristic roughness, easily found in most species, always distinguishes mushrooms from poisonous “imitators”. Another feature that distinguishes the flake is bright colors with an admixture of ocher.

Mushrooms are harvested according to the general rules: they are carefully cut with a knife, leaving the mycelium in place. After a few weeks in the same place, you can collect flakes again. Most often, mushrooms appear in the middle of summer, sometimes the first foliot families are found in May. Harvesting continues until late autumn, mushrooms can withstand even slight frosts.

An unpleasant smell or bitter taste warns of the inedibility of the mushroom. Toxic species of flake are distinguished by breaking the cap or stem. The pulp in the air changes color, becoming brown. Conditionally edible species are rather pungent in smell and taste, there is no real bitterness in them.

The chemical composition and value of the flake

Foliot pulp is low in calories and contains many valuable substances. Its nutritional value and chemical composition vary somewhat depending on the place or growing conditions. So the flakes growing in polluted places absorb toxins, becoming unfit for food.

Nutritional value of foliot per 100 g of edible part:

• total caloric content – 22 kcal;
• proteins – 2,2 g;
• fats – 1,2 g;
• carbohydrates – 0,5 g;
• dietary fiber – 5,1 g.

The flesh of the flake contains significant amounts of vitamins and minerals that are valuable for the human body. The vitamin composition includes: B1, B2, E, nicotinic and ascorbic acids. The mineral composition is characterized by a high content of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, sodium, and iron compounds.

Useful properties of flakes

The pulp of mushrooms, after proper processing, can serve as a source of almost all essential amino acids, and in terms of the content of calcium and phosphorus, the flake competes with fish fillet.

Even the mucus that envelops the fruiting bodies of some types of mushrooms reveals useful properties. Golden flakes and the look of hinto, due to the jelly-like substance, exhibit the following properties:

• enhance the immune defense of the body;
• normalize cerebral circulation;
• tone up, relieve fatigue.

Due to the presence of potassium, magnesium, iron, blood formation improves, the work of the heart muscle increases, the passage of impulses through the nerve endings normalizes. Low calorie content allows the use of mushrooms in the diet for diabetics. A large amount of fiber in the product prevents constipation and has a beneficial effect on bowel function.

What damage can fungi cause?

Only a few of the described species can harm the human body, others are rejected due to low taste. But even edible flake has its limitations for taking.

Absolute contraindications and risk factors:

1. Children’s age, pregnancy or lactation completely exclude the intake of flakes inside.
2. Simultaneous use with alcoholic beverages of any strength causes severe intoxication (disulfiram-like syndrome).
3. With cholecystitis, pancreatitis, gastritis, taking flakes, most often, provokes an exacerbation.
4. It is forbidden to use for food overripe, wormy specimens or mushrooms collected in places with questionable environmental conditions (including soil pollution with household waste, the proximity of animal burial grounds, chemical industries).
5. All edible types of flakes must be boiled before use. The meconic acid found in raw mushrooms can cause mental health problems.

Sometimes there is an individual intolerance or an allergic reaction to edible types of flakes.

The use of flakes in folk medicine

The presence of squarrosidine gives the foliot unique properties. The substance, entering the human body, reduces the crystallization and deposition of uric acid. This action alleviates the condition of patients with gout. The properties of an inhibitor with the same composition are used by official medicine in the traditional treatment of the disease. The property of some compounds in the composition of fungi of the genus scaly to stop the spread of cancer cells is being studied.

From edible foliot, decoctions or tinctures are prepared for the treatment of such diseases of the heart and vascular bed:

• arterial hypertension;
• phlebeurysm;
• thrombophlebitis;
• atherosclerosis.

Therapeutic compositions based on flakes increase hemoglobin, help with anemia, disorders in the thyroid gland. Alder moth remedies are used in folk medicine as a strong laxative and emetic.

Cooking application

In the list of edible and inedible mushrooms, flake mushrooms take the place of conditionally edible ones, which means their culinary use after preliminary boiling (at least ½ hour). According to nutritional value, the pulp of foliot belongs to the fourth category. Flake has a mediocre taste, but can be prepared according to the usual recipes for mushrooms.

Culinary uses of foliot:

1. For soups, second courses, sauces, fillings in pastries, caps of adult flakes or young, round mushrooms are collected whole.
2. For salting, marinades, the entire fruiting body is suitable, excluding hollow legs.
3. If the pulp is bitter, it is recommended to soak it overnight, boil it, and then pickle it with spices.

Fresh mushrooms are boiled, the first water is drained, and then canned, fried or added to soups. For flakes, any recipes for honey mushrooms are applicable. After cooking, the pulp acquires a beautiful bronze color and an almost transparent consistency of dense marmalade.

Conclusion

The scaly mushroom is gaining popularity due to its prevalence and unpretentiousness to weather conditions. Of the types of foliot that grow in deciduous forests, one should distinguish the most suitable for food types of golden, common, gum flakes. Moderate consumption of these mushrooms in food can significantly improve the body, energizing it and supplying it with rare, necessary substances.