Valui mushrooms (gobies, cams, kulbiks, snots): photo and description

Mushroom valui is not the most common and favorite among mushroom pickers. However, with proper processing, it will not only please with a pleasant taste, but will also be very valuable for health.

Where and when do valui mushrooms grow?

The first valui can be seen in the forests already in the middle of summer. However, the most active growth of the fungus occurs in August and continues until October. The mushroom valui of the genus Russula is found throughout the country – in Western Siberia and the north of the Caucasus, in the Far East and in the middle lane. In the world, the fungus also grows in Europe, Asia and North America.

Most often, valui grow in deciduous or coniferous forests with a high level of humidity. Fungi choose shaded places under pines, birches and oaks, hide in tall grass on forest edges.

Photo and description of valuya mushroom

Valuy russulafoetens, or goby, is a rather small mushroom. Its leg can rise 15 cm above the ground, and its girth is 3,5 cm in an adult fungus. The leg is cylindrical, dense, light in color and tightly covered in the upper part with a valuya hat. The hat itself can be up to 14 cm in diameter, and you can recognize it by its light brown color and slippery surface. In shape, in young fungi, the cap is rounded and bent down, in adults it is flatter or even slightly concave.

According to the photo and description of the valuya mushroom, the underside of the cap is covered with yellow-white or creamy thin plates that secrete a yellowish liquid. From here comes another name for the valuya fungus – snot. After this liquid dries, dark spots remain on the underside of the cap, they are completely natural and do not indicate any diseases.

The flesh of the fungus is white on a fresh cut, but darkens with time, is fragile in structure and breaks easily. Therefore, when collecting a cut mushroom, it is recommended to lay it with a hat down, otherwise it will crumble even before the walk through the forest ends.

Mushroom Valuy edible or not

Goby fungi have a neutral smell, and the taste is quite pungent. However, at the same time, the valui belongs to the category of conditionally edible fungi – since it belongs to the safe Syroezhkov family.

Not everyone will like the taste of the fungus, and it must be processed very carefully before use. But with proper preparation, the fungus will not harm and even have a positive effect on the body due to its valuable properties.

Taste qualities of kulbik mushrooms

Adult goby fungi do not have a very pleasant taste – they are bitter and burning, they belong to only the third group in terms of taste. But correct processing helps to improve the taste characteristics of valuya – long soaking of the fungus and subsequent salting, boiling or frying. It is easier to remove bitterness from young mushrooms than from old ones, therefore it is necessary to collect them for food purposes.

The benefits and harms of cam mushrooms

Valui is eaten not only for the sake of taste characteristics, especially considering that they remain rather weak. The mushroom is valued for its health benefits when cooked properly. Values ​​have the following valuable properties.

• Mushrooms are rich in protein, including the important amino acids arginine, leucine, and tyrosine.
• Valui contains beta-glucan compounds that are important for maintaining immunity, and antioxidants with anti-cancer effects.
• Valui has hematopoietic properties and has a beneficial effect on blood vessels and cardiac activity.
• You can use the mushroom with a tendency to increase sugar levels, values ​​​​do not lead to jumps in glucose, but, on the contrary, improve metabolic processes.

You can also eat well-processed valui with inflammatory processes in the body – the beneficial properties of mushrooms will help to cope with the infection.

In addition to useful properties, valui also have some harmful qualities.

• The composition of the fungi contains substances that give the pulp a bitter taste and have an irritating effect on the mucous membranes. That is why you can not eat gobies without a long soak.
• As in all mushrooms, chitin is present in the valui – a substance that is not digested in the body. Therefore, it is necessary to use fungi in moderation so as not to provoke diseases of the stomach and intestines.

Rules for collecting goby mushrooms

You can start picking goby mushrooms from July, and the fruiting time continues until October. Valui must be collected in birch, oak and coniferous forests far from industrial facilities and large highways.

It is not recommended to cut and put in a basket all valui, but only young mushrooms – they are easy to recognize by a small hat about 6 cm in diameter, which has not fully opened, and by the absence of wet drops on the underside of the hat.

Upon arrival home, the snotty mushroom must be placed in cool water for soaking for 3 days. You need to change the water at least three times a day – this will eliminate the bitter pungent taste of fungi. After that, the mushrooms can be processed as desired – boiled, salted or fried.

False twins of Valuev mushrooms

Valuev have inedible and toxic counterparts with a particularly unpleasant taste and smell. Several of them can be listed.

false value

This fungus is popularly called “horseradish” because it smells like horseradish. The mushroom is very similar to an edible valu, but it also has several differences. Namely:

• the leg of the false value becomes thicker towards the base, and, in addition, it is covered with small scales;
• the shade at the stem and cap is equally brown or dark yellow;
• in the center of the mushroom cap there is a small tubercle, which real gobies do not have.

You can meet a false value later than usual, it appears only at the end of summer, and already disappears at the beginning of September. Despite the fact that the false mushroom is not poisonous, it can still lead to poisoning.

Straw yellow fly agaric

A goby can be mistaken for a mushroom, a dangerous straw-yellow fly agaric, it has a similar size, structure and shape. On the underside of the cap, the fly agaric, like the gobies, has cream or yellowish thin plates. You can meet a poisonous mushroom in the habitats of the value – in deciduous and coniferous forests.

At the same time, there are many differences between Valuev and straw-yellow fly agaric. First of all, the fly agaric is characterized by a light yellow or slightly brownish color, a leg thickened at the base and a distinct pungent smell of radish. It is even easier to recognize the fly agaric by the presence of white dots or warts on the top of the cap, but, unfortunately, sometimes a poisonous mushroom may not have such identification signs.

The use of goby mushrooms

After prolonged soaking in cold water, goby mushrooms can be processed by any of the existing methods. However, even without unpleasant bitterness, the taste of gobies remains not too bright, so fungi are rarely boiled or fried, but much more often salted for the winter. As a rule, mushroom caps are eaten, and the legs are cut off and thrown away.

You can salt the gobies with horseradish and pepper, with bay leaves and herbs. In a large glass jar, gobies must be laid in layers, interspersed with other ingredients and salt, it is taken at the rate of 40 g per 1 kg of fungi.

For about 3 days, the container with salted mushrooms is kept at room temperature, and then cleaned in the cellar or in the refrigerator. In total, salting takes 1,5 months, after this time the bulls can be eaten with any dishes and snacks, combining them with onions and garlic.

Goby fungi are a dietary product that quickly saturates, but does not contribute to weight gain. Therefore, high-quality mushrooms can be used on a weight loss diet.

Conclusion

Mushroom valui is not the most delicious, but quite pleasant edible mushroom, found everywhere in forests. It is strictly not recommended to use it raw, and the fungus must be soaked for quite a long time. However, when properly processed, it is excellent for pickling or other use in culinary dishes.

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