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Birch white fungus is highly valued for its pleasant taste. But in order to correctly recognize it in the forest, you need to study the description of this species and its photograph, as well as false twins.
What do birch boletus look like
White birch fungus is also called spikelet, since its fruiting falls on the period when rye begins to ripen. The species has a large, hemispherical or cushion-shaped hat, characteristic of boletes, in adulthood, reaching 15 cm in diameter. The skin on the surface of the cap is smooth or slightly wrinkled, gleaming, but without sliminess. The color of the birch boletus is usually light yellow or whitish-ocher, sometimes there are fruiting bodies with an almost white color.
From below, the hat of the birch bolet is covered with whitish or light yellow tubules in adulthood. The flesh on the break is whitish, dense in structure and with a pleasant mushroom smell.
According to the photo and description of the white birch mushroom, it rises up to 12 cm above the ground, and its stem reaches 2-4 cm in girth.
Where do porcini birch mushrooms grow
You can meet the species almost throughout the country. But more often it comes across in the northern regions with a rather cold climate – in Siberia and the Murmansk region, in the Far East. The white birch bolt chooses mixed forests and birch groves for growth, appears most often under birch trees, but can also grow near other deciduous trees. You can see the spikelet on the forest edges and not far from the road shoulders.
Is it possible to eat porcini birch mushrooms
The birch spikelet is completely edible and at the same time has an excellent taste. After boiling, it is consumed in any form – boiled and fried, pickled and salted. Also, white birch bolet can be dried without boiling, then it can be used for a long time after harvest.
Interestingly, even after drying, the spikelet remains white, its flesh does not darken or turn brown.
False doubles
Birch spikelet can be confused with some other species. Basically, false twins are edible or conditionally edible, in these cases the error will not lead to unpleasant consequences. However, the spikelet also has twins unsuitable for food consumption, and here it is worth paying special attention.
gall fungus
Mushroom mustard, or bile, is very similar to many representatives of the Boletov family and therefore often ends up in the basket of inexperienced mushroom pickers. Gorchak is similar to birch fungus in external structure. It is also characterized by a cushion-shaped or hemispherical hat at a young age with a lower tubular layer, a strong stem and a yellowish-brown skin tone. The species are similar in size – bitter gourd rises above the ground up to 10-12 cm and grows up to 15 cm in diameter.
But at the same time, there are important differences between the varieties:
- The hat of the mustard is darker, and it is easy to remove the skin from it, while it is difficult to remove it from the birch white.
- There is a mesh pattern on the leg of the gall fungus, but it is not light, but darker against the background of the main color of the leg.
- The lower tubular surface of the mustard is white or pinkish, if you press on the spongy layer, it will turn pink distinctly.
- The pulp of the mustard on the break changes color, it becomes pink, but the birch spikelet does not change the white shade of the pulp.
- If you lick the mushrooms on the cut, then the taste of the spikelet will be neutral, and the taste of the mustard will be very bitter.
Spruce porcini mushroom
This species is a close relative of the white birch boletus and is therefore very similar in appearance to it. The species combine identical hemispherical or cushion-shaped caps, dense legs and a tubular bottom layer.
But you can distinguish a spruce bolet by several characteristic features. His hat is darker, closer to chestnut brown. In addition, the species differ in their habitat – white spruce is also found in deciduous plantings, but it can be seen much more often under spruce trees, in coniferous forests.
Spruce fungus is suitable for eating. It is necessary to distinguish it from birch white simply in order to improve your mushroom picking skills.
common boletus
In the absence of experience, it is possible to confuse a white birch mushroom with an ordinary boletus. The species are similar to each other with a hat – in the boletus it is also large and pillow-shaped, up to 15 cm in diameter.
However, there are far more differences between species than similarities. The boletus is usually darker in color, its color is closer to chestnut, although yellowish-ocher fruiting bodies are also found. In wet weather, the cap of the boletus is covered with mucus. The easiest way to distinguish species is by the stem – in the boletus it is covered with characteristic dark gray scales, which the white birch bolet does not have.
The boletus is a good edible mushroom, and the error does not carry any danger. However, it is very desirable to distinguish mushrooms from each other.
Oak porcini mushroom
A close relative of the spikelet is the white oak bolete. They are similar in structure to each other – the oak mushroom also has a semicircular pillow-shaped hat of similar sizes, a thick leg with a light mesh pattern. Oak white grows in deciduous and mixed forests, more often it is found under oaks and beeches, but sometimes it can also grow under birches, which increases the likelihood of error.
You can distinguish species, first of all, by shade. Oak white has a darker cap color – from light ocher to coffee. The stem is of the same shade, while in the spikelet it is much lighter, closer to a whitish-yellow color. Oak white fungus is completely edible, so it is not dangerous to confuse varieties.
Collection rules
It is recommended to go to the forest for spikelets from the end of July, and they grow mainly until the end of September. For the collection of spikelets, you should choose clean forests located at a distance from major roads, railways and industrial areas. Since mushroom pulp intensively absorbs toxic substances, fruiting bodies collected in polluted areas will not bring health benefits.
When harvesting, it is necessary to use a sharp knife and cut the mushrooms along the stem not high above the ground. You can also carefully unscrew the white birch bolts. It is necessary to ensure that the underground mycelium of the fruiting body does not suffer, otherwise the spikelet will no longer be able to grow again in the same place.
Use
Edible white birch mushroom is used in almost all cooking options. Since it is still not recommended to eat a raw spikelet, it must be processed after collection.
The preparation consists in the fact that the fruiting bodies are cleaned of all adhering forest debris, washed under cold water, and then boiled together with salt for about 15-30 minutes.
For cooking, they take only young, strong and untouched by insects mushrooms – if the spikelet is eaten by worms and insects, it must be cut to clean pulp.
The decoction from under the fruiting bodies is drained and not used for food. Although there are no toxic substances in the pulp of the spikelet, harmful substances that the fungus managed to collect from the soil and air can remain in the water.
After boiling, white birch bolets can be consumed boiled or fried. Also, fruiting bodies are salted and pickled, this allows you to save them for the winter. A fresh spikelet can be dried, in which case it is not necessary to cook it, just shake off the garbage from the hats and legs, and then hang the mushrooms on a thread and wait for the moisture to dry completely and evaporate.
Conclusion
Birch white mushroom is considered very tasty and versatile in cooking. You can cook it by any existing methods, but it is important to correctly distinguish the spikelet from other similar varieties. Also, the pulp must be processed before cooking in order to remove all possible harmful substances from it.
