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Description of yellow milk mushrooms with a photo is found in many cookbooks and cookbooks. Indeed, salted mushrooms are a traditional dish of cuisine and a kind of hallmark of our country. Therefore, the yellow mushroom mushroom, the photo and description of which are given in this article, together with its white counterpart, is far from the last place in restaurant menus. And it is absolutely justified.
What does a yellow mushroom look like
Yellow mushroom (yellow wave, scrape) is an agaric fungus from the Mlechnikov genus, the Syroezhkov family. Its distinctive feature is a dirty yellow or golden olive cap with clearly visible dark concentric circles. At the beginning of life, the cap is convex, as the fungus grows, it becomes flat, and then funnel-shaped. It can reach significant sizes – up to 25 cm. The yellow mushroom mushroom is shown in the photo below.
The pulp of the fruiting body is dense, white, brittle. It has a pronounced fruity smell, turns yellow on the cut, releasing thick milky yellowish juice, darkening with time. The leg is straight, short, hollow inside, has small yellow pits over the entire surface.
The cap and stem of the mushroom, especially in wet weather, are often covered with a sticky coating. Often located on the underside of the cap, the plates slightly pass to the stem. As they age, brown or reddish spots appear on them.
The difference between yellow breast and pig
Pigs are yellow-brown mushrooms that look like milk mushrooms. They are poisonous. Until recently, the pig was considered conditionally edible, but the existing cases of death after its use led to a change in the classification. It is quite difficult to confuse it with a yellow milk mushroom; rather, you can mistake it for a black milk mushroom. The pig has a dark hat, its flesh is light brown in color, it darkens on the cut. The plates are easily separated from the cap.
The leg is smooth to the touch, matte, slightly lighter than the cap.
Poisonous mushrooms that look like yellow milk mushrooms
There are no poisonous mushrooms that could be confused with yellow waves. In appearance, the scrapers are similar to real milk mushrooms, which have a lighter color. There is another yellow mushroom that looks like a breast. It’s not poisonous, just not as tasty as the real thing. This is the so-called purple (blue) breast. It has a lower nutritional value and is suitable only for salting. It looks like an ordinary yellow mushroom (photo at the beginning of the article), however, characteristic purple spots may appear on the plates and hat.
You can also distinguish it from yellow by the color of the milky juice that stands out on the cut. The milky juice of a real yellow mushroom is yellowish in color, while in purple it is lilac. Yellow false breast (purple, blue) – in the photo below.
Where do yellow mushrooms grow
Most often, yellow milk mushrooms grow in groups, usually in coniferous, less often in mixed forests. Often form mycorrhiza with spruce or birch. They are rare in deciduous forests, and it is more difficult to find them there, since often mushrooms are literally covered with fallen leaves.
You can start collecting yellow waves from the end of August, but their main crop ripens in September. In a favorable year, you can bring them from the forest until the onset of frost. A necessary condition for the growth of these mushrooms is high humidity; in a dry autumn, milk mushrooms may not appear at all.
Due to the presence of bitter milky juice, these mushrooms are rarely wormy. When harvesting, mushroom pickers usually take only golden-yellow mushroom caps, with the exception of only young specimens, which are cut and processed as a whole.
How to cook yellow mushrooms
The yellow mushroom is conditionally edible. Despite this, he, like the real mushroom, white mushroom, camelina and chanterelle, is included in the first category of mushrooms with the highest nutritional value. The main way to prepare yellow waves is salting, less often pickling.
Many mushroom pickers are afraid to take it because of the characteristic purple spots, but such a precaution is completely unnecessary.
How much to soak yellow milk mushrooms
The collected yellow waves are washed with cold water, clearing them of adhering dirt and debris. To get rid of the caustic milky juice, the crop is soaked in cold water for several days, changing it at least 2 times a day. In the old days, milk mushrooms were often soaked for several days in the river.
You can also remove bitterness in another way by boiling the yellow waves for about half an hour, and then draining the resulting broth and washing the mushrooms under running cold water. This method is good with a lack of time, however, after boiling, the taste of yellow waves changes and not for the better. Therefore, not all mushroom pickers welcome the heat treatment of mushrooms, considering this a departure from the classical salting technology.
What can be cooked from yellow mushrooms
Salted yellow milk mushrooms are a classic dish. There are quite a few recipes for salting them, and a significant part of them are zoned. In some areas, they prefer to add a currant leaf to the salting, in others oak or cherry. However, the basis of the recipe is always the same.
The main ingredients are mushrooms, salt and water, in addition, garlic, dill, horseradish leaves or root, currant or cherry leaves, pepper and other components can be added. Often, yellow milk mushrooms are pickled, using, as a rule, young mushrooms of small sizes. After salting, some mushroom pickers cut them finely and fry them with onions, using them as an addition, for example, to boiled potatoes, and also as a filling for pies.
How to cook yellow mushrooms
After washing and soaking in cold water or boiling, the mushrooms are washed again. After that, they are ready for pickling. It is produced as follows. Currant, horseradish or cherry leaves, a sprig of dill are placed at the bottom of the prepared container. Spread a layer of mushrooms on them and sprinkle with salt. Then spread the next layer, and so on until the container is completely filled.
The amount of salt can be different and depends on taste, on average, take 50 g of salt per 1 kg of mushrooms. After the last layer is laid out, the milk mushrooms are covered with currant or horseradish leaves on top, and then put under oppression. After about a week, mushrooms can be tasted.
Pickling is another popular way to harvest these mushrooms for future use. It is carried out as follows. The collected mushrooms are soaked in water for half an hour so that all the dirt adhering to them is soaked. After that, they are washed under running cold water; for better cleaning, you can use, for example, a toothbrush. Using a knife, the top layer is peeled off the cap, and the plates are also removed. Large mushrooms must be chopped.
After that, they are put in a saucepan, filled with water and put on fire. You need to cook for at least a quarter of an hour, constantly stirring and removing the foam. Then the mushrooms are washed with cold water, put back in the pan and boiled for another half hour. After that, the mushrooms are removed from the fire, thrown into a colander and washed with cold water.
To prepare the marinade, you will need water, salt, sugar, and spices:
- pepper;
- cloves;
- Bay leaf;
- dill.
All ingredients are placed in water, after which the pan is put on fire and boiled for 15 minutes. After this time, vinegar is added to the marinade. Chopped garlic is placed in sterilized jars, then mushrooms are placed and poured with hot marinade. After that, a little vegetable oil is added, the jars are twisted.
Conclusion
The description of yellow milk mushrooms with a photo given in this article is far from complete and is for informational purposes only. More detailed information about these mushrooms and how to prepare them can be found in the specialized literature. And in order to protect yourself and your loved ones from possible troubles associated with the use of forest gifts, you should always remember the golden rule of the mushroom picker: I don’t know – I don’t take it.