If we evaluate mushrooms in terms of suitability for food, then they are all divided into two groups: suitable and unsuitable for consumption. Each of these groups, in turn, includes two subspecies, depending on the degree of “edibility” of those mushrooms that are included in it. Suitable mushrooms can be edible or conditionally edible, and unsuitable mushrooms can be inedible or poisonous mushrooms. It should be remembered that there may be discrepancies in the classification. For example, in Our Country, a real mushroom is considered a conditionally edible mushroom, but in the west of Europe it belongs to the category of inedible mushrooms. It also happens vice versa. Our people do not even consider oyster mushrooms, a motley umbrella or dung beetles to be mushrooms, while Europeans collect them with pleasure and even classify them as delicacies. In general, a lot depends on culture and traditions. Consider each category of mushrooms in more detail.
Edible mushrooms are those that contain absolutely no harmful or unpleasant substances. These mushrooms have a characteristic “mushroom” flavor and are edible even when raw.
Conditionally edible mushrooms are not characterized by the most pleasant smell and contain harmful or bitter substances. You can eat them only after pre-treatment (for example, boil or soak), as well as dried or salted. Each type of mushroom has its own proven processing technology. For example, bitter russula or morels require cooking for 3-5 minutes. Black mushrooms, valui or volushki need to be cooked a little longer – 10-15 minutes. These mushrooms are also well suited for salting, only they must be kept in salt water for two days before that. But the lines are boiled twice: first for 5-10 minutes, then they change the water and leave it on the stove for another 15-20 minutes. And even such careful processing does not guarantee one hundred percent harmlessness of the lines.
Inedible include those representatives of the mushroom kingdom that have a very unpleasant taste and smell, contain harmful substances. Such mushrooms cannot be turned into edible by any processing. Therefore, they are not prepared as an independent dish, but only sometimes used as a seasoning.
And finally, poisonous mushrooms. As the name implies, these mushrooms contain toxic substances that pose a danger to human health and even human life. Depending on how exactly poisonous mushrooms act on the body, they are divided into three types. The first group is mushrooms with the so-called local action. These include false raincoat, some bitter russula, red mushroom, tiger row and spring mushrooms (undercooked). Such mushrooms strike the digestive system within 15-60 minutes after ingestion. Symptoms last from two days to a week, depending on the individual characteristics of the organism. Fatal outcomes are rare, but not excluded, especially in people with weak immunity.
The second group includes fungi that affect the central nervous system, causing various disorders in it (up to hallucinations and fainting). Severe indigestion may also occur. The first symptoms appear, as a rule, in the interval from half an hour to two hours. The mushrooms of the second group include russula vomit, hebeloma, entolomy, some rows and fibers, as well as fly agaric widely known to everyone.
The third group of poisonous mushrooms is the most dangerous and insidious. They begin their destructive plasma-toxic effect on the body immediately after they are eaten. But for a day or two, no alarms are observed. A person may not even suspect that he has been poisoned, and fungal toxins are already killing liver and (sometimes) kidney cells. Approximately one third of these poisonings end in death. The third group of mushrooms includes spring fly agaric and smelly fly agaric, blood red cobweb, pale grebe, lines and almost all lobes.