Raincoats are among the most recognizable mushrooms by many lovers of "silent hunting". Almost every mushroom picker - from young to old - had to “stumble” about them at one time after the summer rainy season, when rounded fruiting bodies of raincoats appeared en masse in clearings and edges of coniferous and mixed forests, on fallen trees and old stumps, as well as on pastures , in meadows and even in city parks. There is a certain wonderfully pleasant feeling of childish joy in stepping on such a "ball" or kicking it with your foot like a ball and knocking out a brown cloud of mushroom spores from it. But even despite the general recognition and edibility of most types of raincoats at a young age, these mushrooms do not suffer from the excitement of fans, moreover, many mushroom hunters try to avoid them altogether. The most common reason for hostility to these mushrooms is their taste "for an amateur": raincoats are included in the "mediocre" fourth category of nutritional value, and they bear fruit at the same time as the more popular "noble" and tasty, and. The second serious reason is false raincoats, which can end up in the basket instead of real ones. Theoretically, they are considered inedible due to their specific taste and smell, although some gourmets call them very pleasant, similar to truffles, and are very successfully consumed in small quantities (literally a couple of slices) as an exquisite seasoning for main dishes. It’s embarrassing to admit, but quite often the dislike of mushroom pickers for raincoats arises from elementary ignorance of their properties, the wrong method of preparation and even collection, although knowledgeable people claim that these mushrooms have a number of unique invaluable advantages, and in Italy they are also considered the most delicious.
From the point of view of science, puffballs are classified as belonging to the Champignon family (Agaricaceae), which includes several genera (combining at least 60 species) of Gasteromycetes fungi, which are characterized by the formation of spores inside the closed fruiting bodies that open after they ripen. Outwardly, they are easily recognizable by the rounded, pear-shaped (club-shaped, pin-shaped or even yub-shaped) structure of the fruiting bodies, which do not have a pronounced hat typical of cap-butt mushrooms, but often have a false stem that smoothly passes into the upper fruit spherical part. Depending on the species, raincoats can differ in size, shape, place of growth, the nature of the "eruption" of spores after maturation, the presence of a smooth, spiny or tuberculate-warty surface, and other features. The common thing for all of them is that the mass fruiting of these mushrooms occurs in the middle of summer - autumn, and only young specimens with dense pulp (gleba) are suitable for food, which, in fact, are popularly called "raincoat", as well as hare potato and bee sponge. In the immature form, the gleba has an elastic-fleshy texture of white color with a pleasant taste, but with age it gradually becomes yellow-olive, and then brown, loses its taste, becomes flabby and, in the end, collapses, forming a mucous or powdery dark spore a mass that is soon pushed out through a hole in the upper part of the fruiting body. Old fruiting bodies with gleba that has lost its whiteness, and, moreover, ripened (with spore mass), are not eaten and are popularly called “puff”, “dust”, “grandfather or wolf tobacco”, “tobacco mushroom”, etc. .
Types of raincoats
Among the people, the name "raincoat" can be used in relation to several of the most common genera - Raincoat (Lycoperdon), Golovach (Calvatia) and Porkhovka (Bovista), whose names in the scientific literature can often be used as synonyms. For example, the same Meadow Puffball appears in encyclopedic sources and classifications as Lycoperdon pratense, Bovista queletii, Calvatia depressa, and even as Vascellum pratense. This is due to the fact that until 2008, all these genera were united in the common rainfly family (Lycoperdales), although later, on the basis of molecular phylogenetic studies, mycologists distributed them into different taxa of the Agaricomycetes class: puffballs, golovachs and flies - to mushrooms, and pseudo-puffballs similar to them (Sclerodermataceae) - to boletes. Despite this, most mushroom pickers are still more comfortable separating all these mushrooms simply into “puffballs” and “false puffballs”.
The appearance of a typical raincoat is characterized by small size (up to 6 cm in height and up to 7 cm in diameter) of a closed fruiting body, covered at a young age with a double shell. Its outer layer is usually painted white, may be with small cracks, scales or spikes (up to 2 mm long). As the fungus matures, it gradually falls off, like an egg shell, and exposes the inner dirty-brown or ocher layer of the shell, covering the spores, which are ejected after ripening through holes or irregular cracks in the uppermost part of the fruiting body. Of the raincoats, the most famous and collected are Meadow raincoat(Lycoperdon pratense), pear-shaped(L. pyriforme) and pearl(L. perlatum), which in different sources may also appear as real or edible. They all grow in approximately the same places and are very similar at a young age: even the meadow raincoat, despite the name, is quite common on forest clearings. However, unlike other species, the pear-shaped raincoat prefers to live not on the soil, but on well-rotted and moss-covered wood. And in the pearl raincoat, the “spininess” of the upper fruit part is so pronounced that it can most likely be confused even with some representatives of the Golovach genus (for example, with the oblong golovach).
Golovachs differ from the raincoats described above in larger sizes (at least 7 cm in diameter and in height), and after the spores ripen, their fruiting bodies break either more strongly or equatorially, after which the mushrooms look as if their heads were “torn off” - in the form bowls or goblets filled with spore mass. Otherwise, they are much like ordinary raincoats - at a young age they have a white shell and white flesh (gleba) with a pleasant mushroom smell, which turns brown with age and loses its taste, gradually turning into spores. They meet similarly from the second half of summer on the edges and glades of forests. various types, meadows and pastures. The most common among golovaches are Golovach oblong(Calvatia excipuliformis), baggy(Calvatia utriformis) and giant(Calvatia gigantea, or Langermannia gigantea). The giant golovach among them has largest sizes: in the practice of mushroom pickers, several cases were recorded when its diameter reached 50 cm and weight - 20 kg! Interestingly, it is this mushroom and pearl raincoat that gourmets call the most delicious among raincoats. Alas, the obvious disadvantage of the giant goby is that it always grows alone, and not in groups, and it appears very rarely in one place, which is why it was called "meteor".
Powders, unlike typical raincoats and golovaches, never have pronounced pseudopods and are characterized by a spherical (or slightly flattened) shape of the fruiting body of relatively small (no more than 5–6 cm in diameter) sizes. The surface of these mushrooms, as a rule, is never covered with thorns - it can be smooth or slightly rough due to cracks. At a young age, both she and gleba (pulp) are always painted white, and with age it gradually changes to gray-steel, in some species it is almost black. Our most common are Porkhovka lead-gray(Bovista plumbea) and blackening(B. nigrescens), which outwardly differ in size and color of the pulp - the latter in adulthood is slightly larger and after ripening the pulp has a rich, closer to black color. The combination of such notable external signs, as the absence of a pseudopod and thorns on the surface of the fruiting body, most raincoats are not typical, but at some stages of development it is observed in false raincoats, so the powders are most likely to be confused with them. By analogy with other raincoats, at a young age, all fluffs are edible, but only as long as their flesh remains white.
Nutritional and medicinal properties of raincoats
Speaking about the nutritional value of raincoats, it is impossible not to notice that the fourth category, which many consider "mediocre", at one time included rarely collected and little-known mushrooms, which by no means testified to their bad taste. Some mushroom pickers claim that ready-made raincoats are not much inferior to the same ones, although sometimes during their preparation a smell of wood appears, which completely disappears at the end of cooking. A clear advantage of these mushrooms is that they can be cooked without pre-treatment (boiling or soaking), like many "noble" mushrooms. But unlike the latter, raincoats acquire the most expressive taste precisely in a fried form, and in the soup, as knowledgeable "mushroom-eaters" testify, they become an unpalatable "rubber sponge". It is interesting that in the process of cooking these mushrooms there is a secret: so that they do not lose their aroma, it is not recommended to wash them - just clean them with a dry knife in dry hands. The disadvantage of absolutely all raincoats is that their flesh, with the slightest loss of whiteness, already becomes cottony and inedible. Please note: it can change color even after picking mushrooms, and not only during long-term storage, but even during the usual long “silent hunt”. Therefore, it is advisable to collect raincoats as soon as possible (for example, while walking with a dog) and prepare, respectively, immediately. This, by the way, can eliminate such an unpleasant situation when, when raincoats get into a common basket with other mushrooms, the latter, by the end of the collection, turn out to be studded with spikes that easily peel off from the former.
It is impossible not to mention the healing properties of raincoats, which our ancestors knew about. These mushrooms have unique hemostatic and wound-healing properties, so they can even be used in the forest to treat wounds and cuts, like plantain - just break a freshly cut raincoat and apply the pulp to the wound. Similarly, it can be used to treat burns, ulcers, purulent wounds, acne, smallpox, urticaria, and the like. Decoctions and soups from raincoats in folk medicine are considered the best medicine for the treatment of stubborn bronchitis, laryngitis and even tuberculosis. And the giant golovach, plus, also has antitumor properties: the indispensable anticancer drug calvacin was obtained from it, which is active against almost half of the studied malignant tumors (cancer and sarcoma). Mature specimens of raincoats can be successfully used for: spores of a ripe mushroom should be set on fire and fumigated with smoke bushes and trees; repeat the procedure after a week. So that such a valuable natural medicine is at hand not only during the fruiting period of raincoats, but also all year round, these mushrooms can be harvested for future use. But given that their flesh quickly loses its whiteness even after harvesting, not to mention the long drying, they need to be cut into very thin, translucent slices and dried as quickly as possible. Note: if it is not possible to immediately cook freshly harvested puffballs, they should be boiled to stop the ripening process, and then fried as usual as much as possible.
In fairness, it should be noted that in the literature, some types of raincoats appear as inedible or conditionally edible. Such, for example, are puffballs blackberry (L. echinatum), brown (L. umbrinum), small (L. pusillum), soft (L. molle), etc. These species are much less common than those described above, so the edibility of some of them has not yet been fully studied, while others are classified as inedible either because of an unpleasant taste or because of an “unpresentable” appearance - on the surface of such mushrooms there are thick dark spines (blackberry , brown) or scales (small, soft). Theoretically, if you use the white young pulp of such mushrooms as food, you won’t be able to get poisoned by them, but the general idea of \u200b\u200bthe “vaunted” taste of raincoats will still deteriorate. Therefore, when picking mushrooms, it is better to give preference to specimens with a “light appearance” typical of most edible raincoats.
False raincoat (false raincoat)
Despite the fact that the specific structure of a closed fruiting body does not allow one to confuse a puffball with poisonous cap mushrooms, one should not relax too much when picking it, since a false puffball can get into the basket instead. This mushroom is found in places typical for real raincoats - in pastures and meadows, in clearings and forest edges, and outwardly it can be more likely to be mistaken for a fluff, since it also does not have a pseudopod. The fruiting body of the false puffball is often laid underground, like in truffles, but later always comes to the surface, it looks like a medium-sized tuber (up to 10 cm in diameter) with a finely scaly or smooth thick (in some species up to 10 mm!) shell. Unlike a real puffball, which at a young age has spikes or scales that peel off as the fungus matures, a young false puffball is always smooth, painted in white, off-white or yellowish hues, and already with age it becomes covered with cracks, warts or scales of ocher-coffee colors. After ripening, the fruiting body cracks from above, but the spores do not form dust, but remain inside the torn mushroom for a long time. Please note: the main difference between false raincoats and real raincoats is the hard leathery shell (peridium) and the dark purple color of the ripened pulp, which smells strongly of raw potatoes. By the way, even with the beginning of maturation (color change), the gleba of false raincoats remains dense for a long time, while in real raincoats, after darkening, it quickly softens.
In the scientific literature, all false puffballs appear as inedible due to an unpleasant taste and smell, or slightly poisonous, prone to accumulate toxic substances with age. However, some gourmets find their specific taste similar to spices or truffles and often use a small amount of white (!) Pulp of young puffballs for food without compromising health. However, experts say that all types of false puffballs in large quantities, and some even in small quantities (bulbous false puffball), cause a gastrointestinal disorder characterized by nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, appearing 15 to 40 minutes after eating false puffballs. . Considering that out of 150 known species, at least seven are found only in Russia (ordinary, warty, star-shaped, bulbous, spotted, delicacy-like and powdery), you can meet them with approximately the same probability as real raincoats. But since the pulp of these mushrooms begins to ripen early, and it noticeably repels with an unpleasant odor, and the shell is not two-layered, like those of flukes, with careful collection of these false mushrooms, the percentage of them getting into the basket can still be minimized. The main rule is to cut (break) a young raincoat and make sure that it is edible by the presence of perfectly white pulp and the absence of an unpleasant odor.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that raincoats grow almost everywhere and in large numbers, and they can be, frankly, invaluable, a mushroom picker with a full basket of small and large white "balls" - raincoats is a rarity. It remains to be hoped that the above information will help many novice mushroom hunting enthusiasts to change their attitude towards this "familiar" mushroom, the collection of which most even experienced mushroom pickers completely in vain leave only for edge cases rare "mushroomless".
Raincoats belong to the genus of mushrooms of the champignon family. These mushrooms have many popular names, for example, young mushrooms are called bee sponge, hare potato, and mature mushrooms are called fluff, pyrkhovka, dust, grandfather tobacco, wolf tobacco, tobacco mushroom, devil's tavlinka. Puffballs are edible mushrooms until they have lost their whiteness.
Characteristics of mushroom puffball
Hat
The fruiting body of the puffball is pear-shaped or club-shaped. Cap diameter 20-50 mm. The lower cylindrical part is 20-60 mm high and 12-22 mm thick. The surface is spiny-warty, white in a young fungus. In old mushrooms, it is brown or ocher, naked. The fruit body is covered with a two-layer shell. It is smooth on the outside, leathery on the inside.
pulp
The flesh of a young mushroom is white, with age it gradually becomes yellow or orange.
Leg
The raincoat either has no legs at all, or it is very small, up to 1 cm in height, light, cylindrical.
The distribution area of raincoats is very wide, they are found on all continents except Antarctica and are considered cosmopolitan mushrooms. Raincoats grow in coniferous and deciduous forests in temperate zones.
The raincoat collection season runs from June to November. A lot of mushrooms usually appear immediately after the rains during this period. However, raincoats are not collected in wet weather, because after a few hours the fungus turns into a wet cloth, which is no longer suitable for eating.
Puffballs are edible, tasty mushrooms that are often used in soups, and are also served as a side dish, fried in medium-sized slices.
It is important that only young mushrooms are eaten, which have an elastic pulp of pure white color. Before use, it is also recommended to clean the fruiting bodies of raincoats, as their skin is quite tough.
The pulp of young raincoats does not need to be soaked or boiled for a long time, they are immediately boiled, dried, pickled, fried or salted.
Raincoats well cleanse the body of toxins, heavy metals, fluorine and chlorine compounds, their use in food is useful for people who live in areas with high radiation.
Healing properties the raincoat does not lose during drying, and also retains its taste and aroma.
Raincoats do not bring harm to humans, poisonous analogues for this type of fungus are not known. But still, these mushrooms should not be collected near roads, since in such places they can absorb various toxic substances and radionuclides during their growth.
Types of puffball mushroom
The mushroom grows on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica, in forests and meadows.
The fruiting body is obversely pear-shaped or club-shaped, height 2-9 cm, width 2-4 cm. The flesh is white or grayish at first, turning yellow as the fungus ripens. Young mushrooms with white flesh are edible. When the flesh turns yellow, the mushroom should not be eaten.
The fruit body is spherical in a young mushroom, gradually it becomes flattened, pear-shaped, in adult mushrooms the top is flattened, the height of the mushroom is 1.2-3.5 cm, the width is 1-4.5 cm. The mushroom is white on top, mature becomes brownish. The leg is well expressed, reaches 1.2 cm in length, wrinkled. The pulp has a strong pleasant smell, white, orange in adult mushrooms.
The mushroom is edible at a young age.
Grows in meadows, forest clearings, mainly in arid places. Widespread everywhere except in humid tropical regions.
The fruit body is pear-shaped, 1.5-6 cm high. The flesh of a young mushroom is white, then becomes olive and grayish-brown, the smell is strong, unpleasant.
The mushroom is edible when young, as long as its flesh is firm and white.
Substances with antitumor activity were found in the fruit bodies of pear-shaped puffball.
This species grows in large groups in forests, gardens and parks, on rotting hardwood. The range is very wide, rarely the mushroom is found only in the Mediterranean region.
Poisonous and inedible puffball mushroom species
Poisonous and inedible similar types of raincoat mushrooms are not described.
Growing raincoats at home is easy. This requires, first of all, spores of the fungus. They are sown in moist soil. The site is chosen similar to those where mushrooms grow in natural conditions. The grass should not be thick, the area is shaded deciduous trees, and on top there should be fallen leaves.
The first crop appears a year after sowing the spores. So that fruiting does not stop, new spores are periodically sown on the site.
puffball mushroom calories
100 g of a fresh raincoat contains 27 kcal, of which:
- Squirrels, g………………. 4.3
- Fats, g………………..1.0
- Carbohydrates, g:……………….1.0
- Raincoats are familiar to everyone, but they are collected quite rarely. If you knock down white balls, then clouds of brown smoke rise up - these are the spores of the fungus.
- These mushrooms were called raincoats because they begin to grow strongly after heavy rains.
- In terms of nutritional properties, raincoats are not inferior. Puffball soup was used to treat tuberculosis patients in the 18th century, and was valued even more than chicken broth.
- In Italy, raincoats are considered the most delicious of mushrooms. However, it is important to remember that they are edible only while their flesh is white, and when it becomes yellowish or greenish, the mushroom turns into a cottony and tasteless, although not poisonous. Therefore, the collected raincoats are not stored for a long time, after the mushroom has been plucked, it ripens very quickly.
Today we will introduce you to a very interesting, useful, and also delicious mushroom called a raincoat.
Description
Quite often, mushroom pickers call this mushroom differently. The most popular names are tobacco mushroom, duster or hare potato. This phenomenon is connected with various factors, the details of which we will not go into.
But it is important to know that this particular fungus is characterized by an increased activity of absorbing toxins from environment. In this component, he is several times superior to his "relatives".
Belongs to the Champignon family, has a closed pear-like or rounded body. The leg is false. The skin adheres tightly to the upper part of the plant, thus creating the inner pulp. When ripe, voids appear there - a kind of chamber. They collect a lot of spores in the form of a powder. They may have a different color.
In a ripe raincoat, the peridium is quite thin, which causes a rupture and the powder gets out.
Appearance raincoat and its place of growth you can see in the video.
Kinds
The raincoat has a lot of subspecies, but among them there are several main ones.
prickly
It can often be found in the forest, in the meadows. On the cap of the mushroom in its upper part there is a characteristic tubercle.
The name is due to the surface of the mushroom. It is white in color and has small spines that fall off easily.
Giant
Another type of raincoat distinguishing feature which is in size and ovoid or spherical shape. The mushroom may have a white or yellow-gray color.
Quite often, a fallen shell is collected on it, which makes the plant not very attractive. However, it can mature up to 7 kilograms.
Golovach
Oblong
It somewhat resembles the previous view, but its shape is bulbous, the upper part is thickened, and the lower one is narrowed. This mushroom is sterile.
Where does it grow
Such a mushroom, in fact, does not have a specific geography or origin. He is well known in Russia. A raincoat can be found everywhere, just not everyone knows about its features, valuable healing properties.
However, there are references to this plant, according to which the raincoat has been used since ancient times, using its healing properties.
Storage method
Having collected mushrooms, they will retain their beneficial properties for no more than two days.
So immediately they need to be sent to the refrigerator. To increase the shelf life, place in freezer, but first cut the mushroom into slices.
In the conditions of the freezer, the product is stored for up to 6 months. Only a pickled raincoat or dried one lasts longer - about a year.
If you need this mushroom in terms of healing, then you need powder from a ripe puffball. It must be stored in a glass container in a dry place where the sun's rays do not fall.
Peculiarities
In fact, there are more than enough features and a raincoat. But still I want to highlight the most interesting moments.
First of all, it serves as a great helper for our health. The key feature is the ability to absorb radionuclides, as well as salt of a heavy metal, and then quickly and easily, in a natural way, remove these “nasty things” from the body.
It is because of this that a lot of dietary supplements are created on the basis of a raincoat. The authors of this drug are confident that it promotes healing, cleansing the body, as well as restoring the skin and giving it elasticity.
How to choose
When hiking for mushrooms, few mushroom pickers dare to bend down to rip off their raincoat. Quite often they are simply neglected. Moreover, many deliberately crush, kick and destroy it.
This is due to the fact that many mistakenly take it for a dangerous, poisonous mushroom. This is not the case, and today we will talk about this in more detail.
If you have decided to collect mushrooms and your goal is a raincoat, then you need to know important rule. You can not collect it if the weather is damp. Otherwise, your initially snow-white handsome man will literally turn into a kind of dirty rag in just a couple of hours, which you can’t eat.
Young "individuals" are suitable for cooking, which are not soaked or boiled in order to remove harmful substances. They simply don't exist. So feel free to throw it into the pan, into the oven, dry it, salt it and eat it.
A young raincoat, suitable for food, has a fairly non-standard for edible mushrooms appearance - the body is spherical, white, with small scales on top. Its false leg, which can reach no more than 5 cm in length and 2 cm in diameter, may be absent.
When the mushroom ripens, a brown coating forms on the surface, it becomes smooth.
Choose only young mushrooms, the flesh of which is elastic and dense. Don't be afraid to collect different kinds raincoat, since each of them can be eaten.
The old mushroom is dangerous due to the fact that it intensively absorbs toxins. It's best not to collect it near freeways, as car exhaust isn't the nicest thing to try.
Nutritional value and calories
As you know, mushrooms are very dietary product. And the raincoat was no exception. For 100 grams of this mushroom you have:
Chemical composition
In respect of chemical composition the raincoat is not inferior to many other mushrooms, and in some components even surpasses them. For example, it has more protein than in our favorite champignons.
It is worth noting that the mushroom includes:
- Fats;
- Complex of vitamins;
- Useful micro and macro elements;
- Polysaccharides;
- mineral salts;
- Antibiotics, etc.
Useful and medicinal properties
This mushroom should be appreciated not only for its taste, but also for the benefits that it carries.
- The pulp contains calvacin, which fights bacteria and fungi, has an anti-cancer effect, and reduces the activity of tumor development.
- Preparations made on the basis of spores remove heavy metals, radionuclides, and toxins from the body.
- The pulp can be used externally as well as inside. External use is to apply it to ulcers that appear with skin cancer. For internal use, tinctures and decoctions are used. They relieve fever, inflammation, swelling in the throat, fight kidney problems, and help in suppressing the development of cancer.
- Spore-based products help with gastrointestinal problems, high blood pressure, blood viscosity, and have an immune-strengthening effect.
- Spores also help stop bleeding, anesthetize, and heal festering lesions on the body.
In fact, there are incredibly many benefits from this mushroom, because it is in vain underestimated by mushroom pickers.
Contraindications
There are several nuances that relate to the raincoat and its use.
- Do not pick these mushrooms in places that are in close proximity to polluted areas, factories, or highways. The raincoat actively absorbs toxins, so you can go;
- It is better to refuse mushrooms during pregnancy and feeding;
- If you have kidney problems then this mushroom is not for you;
- Another condition under which a raincoat cannot be used is individual intolerance.
Application
In cooking
What else can you do with a mushroom other than eat it? After all, it is tasty, useful. Mushrooms can be an excellent substitute for meat and many other foods while on a diet.
How to cook
How to prepare raincoats:
- Salt;
- fry;
- Pickle;
- bake;
- put out;
- Boil and so on.
But first they need to be prepared. To do this, remove the skin from white fruits. Cut the resulting pulp into pieces you like.
Fried mushrooms
After completing the previous manipulations, slicing the mushrooms, roll them in flour, add a little salt and fry in plain vegetable oil. A special sauce is perfect for this dish.
To prepare the sauce, you need to chop finely Bell pepper, add finely chopped capers, green onion, as well as pickled or pickled cucumbers. Mix all this with mayonnaise, add salt to your taste, as well as fresh lemon juice. To spice up, we recommend adding a little soy sauce.
Pour this sauce over your mushrooms and your guests will be delighted with such a simple but incredibly tasty dish.
soup
If you are a fan mushroom soups, then the raincoat will open new horizons for you.
Take the cooked chicken broth, add the sautéed carrots and onions to it. Mushrooms need to be cut into slices, although this is not essential. They are fried in a pan, thrown into the broth and boiled for literally 10 minutes.
The soup will be even tastier if you add fresh herbs and a little canned peas to it. The result exceeds all expectations.
Raincoat under sour cream
This is a great standalone dish. But it is also very tasty to eat with boiled rice.
The ingredients needed are the following:
- Mushrooms - 0.5 kg;
- Sour cream - 0.2 l;
- Potatoes - 0.3 kg;
- Onion - 2 pcs.
Plus, you will need vegetable oil and seasonings to taste. The indicated amount of ingredients is enough for about four large servings.
Preparation is carried out as follows:
- Peel the potatoes, boil them by adding salt to the water;
- Peel the mushrooms, rinse thoroughly, cut as you like;
- Fry the mushrooms in a pan for 25 minutes;
- Peel and chop the onion, fry in a separate pan until golden brown;
- Place the onion in the mushrooms, add salt, pepper as desired. Mix everything and fry for 15 minutes;
- 5 minutes before the mushrooms are ready, add sour cream. Stir the ingredients, let them sweat a little over low heat.
Well, now you can serve it to the table. Such mushrooms are great for young potatoes or friable steamed rice. Choose for yourself which side dish you like best.
In medicine
Alas, mushroom pickers are not particularly aware of the true properties of a raincoat. But experts in the field of medicine will confirm that using a raincoat is not only tasty, but also very useful.
We have already talked about the positive and healing properties. Therefore, now we bring to your attention several recipes for medicinal tinctures and decoctions prepared on the basis of raincoats.
- Powders. They can be purchased at pharmacies. You need to use 1 tsp, diluted with half a glass of water, every day, once before bedtime. In severe poisoning - 1/2 tsp. 8 times during the day.
- Infusion. Take a dessert spoon of spore powder, pour 200 ml of water (it should not be boiling water, but about 70 degrees). You need to insist for 40 minutes in porcelain dishes. Take half a cup twice a day before meals.
- Tincture. The proportions of spores and vodka are 1 to 5. The mixture is infused for 2 weeks in a place that is warm and protected from the sun. Use three times a day before meals for 1 tsp. The course lasts no more than 28 days, after which a week break is required.
- For oncological diseases. Mix a glass of powder with 500 ml of vodka. Close the jar tightly, bury it in the ground, where it should stand for 24 days at a depth of 0.3 m. Then dig it out, strain (do not shake the jar). Use the remedy three times a day before meals. Portion - 1 tbsp. l.
- From festering wounds. Treat the wound with peroxide, blot with a medical bandage, and then sprinkle with spores. Do not tie up the wound, as pus will actively come out over the next few days. Remove it, disinfect it, and sprinkle the spores again. When the wound is cleared, the tightening process will begin. A similar procedure can be done 2-3 times during the day. Heal until you get rid of the wound.
- From a runny nose. If you have a severe runny nose and simple means do not help or they simply do not exist, just inhale the spores from the raincoat 2-3 times a day. This will quickly relieve nasal congestion, eliminate an unpleasant runny nose.
cultivation
As practice shows, their application gives positive results, although on its own suburban area it is better to use the simplest method.
To do this, you need disputes. They need to be sown in moist soil. The site should resemble the conditions in which the raincoat grows. That is, the grass is not thick, a large shade of trees, fallen leaves.
If you have ever collected raincoats in the woods, then pay attention to what distinguishes the place where you found them. If you manage to repeat the same conditions, you will ensure yourself an impressive harvest.
The fruits will appear a year after sowing the spores. To keep fruiting, periodically add spores to the site of your choice. These are not difficult to obtain, but you will have your own mushrooms every season.
Edible or not
Many mushroom pickers do not dare to say for sure whether a raincoat is edible or dangerous to humans. It is because of this that he is often crushed or passed by, going into the forest for mushrooms.
So this edible mushroom for all 100%. However, it should be consumed when young, when the flesh is white. Before eating, be sure to remove the shell. The pulp inside is delicious, as we recommend to see for yourself. There are many ways to prepare it.
If you went to pick mushrooms and are afraid to make a mistake with the choice of a raincoat, here are a couple of tips for you:
- The flesh should be exclusively white, without the addition of other shades.
- The pulp should have a dense, elastic structure. With age, it loses its hardness, and it will not be a problem to determine this by touch.
- Inside, the consistency of the mushroom should be homogeneous. To do this, you can slightly break it.
- The structure of an edible raincoat does not have a pronounced hat and legs.
- There should be no signs of developing spores inside.
- In order not to confuse a raincoat and a young fly agaric, cut the mushroom. Our hero does not have a long leg, hat and plates.
The puffball mushroom and its varieties used to belong to the puffball family, they are now part of the champignon family. This species may seem rather unusual, but it has long been known to mushroom pickers. There are a large number of its "folk names": bee sponge, grandfather's tobacco, dust, tobacco mushroom and others.
Varieties
There are several types of puffball mushrooms. Here are the most common ones:
- giant raincoat, or giant golovach;
- spiny - also known as needle and spiny;
- meadow;
- brown (umber);
- pear-shaped.
These mushrooms have a large, mostly flattened spherical body. As they ripen, they acquire elastic white flesh with a pleasant smell and taste. The peculiarity of the raincoat is that it must be eaten until its white color begins to darken. After that, the poison begins to stand out.
The above is just a small list of mushrooms, which are commonly called raincoats. The most common is the giant raincoat.
Areas of growth
Where do puffball mushrooms grow? They are found on almost all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. If we talk about our country, then they grow throughout Central Russia, as well as in the Caucasus and the Far East. Mushrooms are common in temperate climatic zones of Russia, especially in peat-rich soils.
Often raincoat mycelium can be found in pastures, fields, meadows, forest outskirts and in small parks. Usually they are located in the so-called rounded clearings around trees and shrubs.
Description of the first variety
Description of the giant raincoat mushroom, let's start with the fact that it also bears the name "giant golovach". It differs from ordinary mushrooms of this type in a very large flattened and spherical body, from 25 to 60 cm in cross section. Its weight can reach 10 kg. The mushroom has a white shell, smooth to the touch, which changes over time, loses its density and juiciness.
It is considered one of the well-known mushrooms of this group and is popular due to its size and taste. The giant raincoat has a spherical shape, most often elongated, with practically no stem. Its size can be compared with the size of the ball, but this is only in some cases.
The puffball mushroom of this variety has a very thin, smooth, white skin, which eventually acquires a yellowish, gray or reddish hue.
Its flesh is also white, with a dense texture and a pleasant mushroom smell. However, over time, it turns into brown dust with a reddish tint, which later flies out through a hole in the mushroom cap.
It also belongs to the champignon family and the raincoat genus. In the common people, it has the name "pearl raincoat." The fruit body of this type of fungus is often pear-shaped, oval-flattened is also found.
The main distinguishing feature of the spiked raincoat is the spikes, thanks to which it got its name. They are located throughout the body of the fungus, the largest are on the cap.
The prickly raincoat differs from its counterparts in that its flesh is dense and rather rigid, tends to crumble when pressed. This type of mushroom is usually white in color, but over time it begins to darken, acquiring a brown tint.
Meadow raincoat
It also has the name "field raincoat". This variety is distinguished by a white-olive hue with grayish notes. The meadow raincoat is characterized by the shape of a ball with a flattened top. The body of the fungus itself is dark white or gray-brown. Spikes are also present in the meadow puffball, but disappear as they grow due to precipitation and other natural phenomena.
In the description of the raincoat mushroom of this variety, it can be noted that, like all representatives of this species, it has a hole on its hat through which spores are ejected for further reproduction of the mycelium.
Although the meadow raincoat (like the prickly one) has a hat covered with small spikes, they do not have a pronounced volume and size. It compares favorably with its prickly counterpart also in that it has juicy pulp, which tastes good both fried and pickled. Growing up, the meadow raincoat reaches a height of 1.5 to 3 cm, the diameter of the cap is from 2 to 5 cm.
Raincoats false
Mushroom puffball false treated long time to real raincoats, and later to champignon ones. However, as a result of phylogenetic studies, it was found that this species belongs to the Boletaceae family.
The most famous representatives of false puffballs are common and wart puffballs. The fruiting body of these mushrooms is most often located on the surface of the earth. Sometimes underground fruiting bodies are laid, which then still come to the surface. False raincoats have large spherical caps and irregularly shaped stalks.
These mushrooms are of several types - "peridium" and "gleba". The former are distinguished by a dense texture, skin interspersed with seals in the stalk and cap. Young false raincoats are white, and this is what misleads mushroom pickers, who mistake them for ordinary ones. The latter are distinguished by the fact that they have a hard dense texture with a pale white color, which becomes gray-black as it ripens, as well as black-violet.
Similarity to golovach oblong
The prickly puffball is similar to the golovach oblong. It has a pear-shaped shape, and growing up, it reaches a height of about 8 cm. In a young oblong golovach, the fruiting body is white in color, the hat is warty. As it grows, it acquires a yellow-brown or brownish color and becomes smooth.
Young bigheads on the hat do not have a hole for the exit of spores, like raincoats. Growing up, they lose their hats, and only one stalk remains. These mushrooms grow from July to early November, mainly in deciduous and coniferous forests. They, like raincoats, are edible and have a pleasant taste.
Usually they begin to grow profusely immediately after the rains. But they are not recommended to be collected in such weather, because after a few hours they will lose their shape and become unfit for consumption.
A relative of the orange puffball
The prickly puffball is also a relative of the orange puffball. In this fungus, the fruiting body looks like a tuber, but it is elongated from above. Growing up, the orange false raincoat reaches a height of 10 cm. Its upper part has an ocher or yellowish tint.
As it grows, it cracks, and "warts" appear on it. At the bottom, this mushroom is narrowed and wrinkled, and its flesh is white. Puffball orange is an inedible mushroom, but some fans add a small amount of it to other mushrooms, as when cooked it has a flavor that is vaguely reminiscent of truffles.
Eating
You can often hear the question: is the puffball mushroom edible or inedible? This mushroom does not belong to the highest category in terms of taste, but it has a rather refined and pleasant taste. Raincoats are undeservedly forgotten in the preparation of various mushroom dishes. So, it is edible, but you need to find out very important details before you eat it.
Before you start cooking puffball mushroom, you need to find out exactly where it grew, as this variety is extremely susceptible to toxins. The place of growth directly affects both the taste and the content of substances harmful to human health. Therefore, it is not recommended to collect them near roads. Nevertheless, they have no poisonous analogues - and this is another noticeable advantage over their "noble relatives".
Only young mushrooms can be eaten, as they do not have a very high content of toxins, and they are not so tough. Raincoats are cleaned of the top layer, as it has an unpleasant taste and makes the mushrooms stiff.
Subtleties of cooking
When cooking with raincoats, a woody smell may appear, but it disappears after cooking. In terms of taste, meadow raincoats, which have a white color, are considered leaders. They are somewhat reminiscent of meat, but they are recommended only for frying and marinating - when boiled, they become tough.
The main advantage when preparing puffballs is that they do not require pre-treatment, such as boiling or soaking, as many types of "noble mushrooms" do. So that raincoats do not lose their pleasant mushroom aroma, they do not need to be washed before cooking, it will be enough to clean them with a dry knife.
Healing properties
After scientists discovered the properties of the puffball mushroom, it was found that they contain various beneficial substances. In their composition, they contain calvacin, which has antibiotic and anti-carcinogenic properties. Pure mycelial cultures obtained from raincoats have a high activity in the fight against tumors.
Preparations made on the basis of a raincoat contribute to the removal from the body of substances such as radionuclides, heavy metals, toxic chlorine and fluorine compounds. They also help to endure the effects of helminthiases, dysbacteriosis, hepatitis and acute renal inflammation. The healing properties of the raincoat have long been widely used by both traditional healers and official medicine.
Use in medicine
TO interesting facts about the mushroom raincoat can be attributed to the fact that he is able to fight such a serious disease as cancer. Mushroom pulp is used internally and externally. Compresses are made from it and applied to affected areas of the skin, such as ulcers that appear with skin cancer.
Inside take a decoction or alcohol tinctures from a raincoat as an anti-inflammatory agent for chronic tonsillitis and tumors of the larynx, kidney disease, leukemia, to suppress the development and spread of malignant tumors.
Folk medicines are widely used, based on the spores of Langermania, the closest relative of raincoat mushrooms. These medicines effectively lower blood viscosity and high blood pressure. They are useful in diseases of the stomach, the entire digestive tract and angina pectoris, improve the immune system.
Mushrooms are also used for diseases of the genitourinary system and cancer. Bladder. Raincoat fungus spores are applied to bleeding skin surfaces to stop bleeding, relieve pain and improve skin regeneration, and heal malignant ulcers. Spore-based drugs are used to treat diseases of the lymphatic and endocrine systems, diabetes, adrenal dysfunction, tuberculosis, asthma and pleurisy.
Preparation of alcohol tincture
For the manufacture of tinctures, only two ingredients are required: puffball mushrooms and alcohol. For treatment oncological diseases use the tincture prepared as follows.
One glass of spore powder is placed in a jar, half a liter of vodka or 80% alcohol is added. The dishes are tightly covered with a lid and placed in a dark, cool and dry place for 25 days. After this time, the jar of tincture is thoroughly shaken, and then filtered. The resulting composition is taken 3 times a day before meals, 1 tablespoon.
Preparation of infusion on water
Not only tincture is prepared from spore powder, but also infusion. The second is different in that you need to use spore powder and water for it. To do this, take one dessert spoon of raincoat spores and pour it with a glass of water at a temperature of 70-80 ° C. After that, the mixture is infused in a glass or porcelain dish, covered with a lid, for an hour. Take an infusion of 100 ml in small sips before meals.
It helps with diseases of the endocrine and lymphatic systems, postpartum hemorrhage; used to prevent diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and the genitourinary system.
Puffball mushrooms are unique carriers useful substances helping to cope with various serious ailments. In addition, from raincoats you can cook a large number of tasty and healthy dishes that will appeal to even the most demanding gourmets.
