How to recognize and cook the coral hericium mushroom?

Interesting Facts

Snow mushroom is one of the best-selling mushrooms in the world. Its average sales turnover is 130 tons.

100 years ago, ice cream was used in China as an excellent cough remedy. It was dried, crumbled and brewed like tea. The medicine was very expensive for ordinary people, so they began to grow the mushroom on home plots.

Favorite place where ice mushrooms grow are oak sticks.

Coral mushrooms are quite outlandish species in nature, many of them have become rare and are listed in the Red Book. If you are lucky enough to find one of these specimens in the forest, do not rush to pluck it completely, leave a little to nature

Note that tremella can be bred at home, and some entrepreneurs have made the cultivation of tremors a source of income. To have such a wonderful healing mushroom on your own plot is a great success.

Cooking recipes

Coral mushroom does not have a pronounced taste, but at the same time it has a delicate, elastic, crunchy structure. Soups, salads, spicy and salty snacks, desserts are prepared from ice, it can be marinated, fried and much more.

Primary processing

The ice has no legs, no cap, so you don't need to clean it. It is only necessary to carefully remove the remnants of forest debris from the surface and remove the roots. Before marinating or preparing other dishes, the coral mushroom does not need to be boiled, it is steamed. You need to place the fruit bodies in a deep container and pour boiling water over, cover and leave for 10 minutes.

Further preparation depends on the recipe: for the preparation of desserts and snacks, the tremella is marinated for 30 to 40 minutes. To marinate or pickle, steamed for 10 minutes to preserve the crispy structure of the mushroom.

Korean coral mushroom

Try making a delicious, savory shiver snack. In this case, you can replace the salt with soy sauce to give the dish an even more oriental flavor.

Ingredients:

• dry tremella - 4 pcs. (100 g);
• garlic - 5 cloves;
• a pinch of red pepper;
• sugar - 1 tsp;
• Korean-style carrot seasoning - to taste;
• salt pepper.

Korean coral mushroom - recipe:

1. Place a dry shiver in a deep container, pour boiling water over so that it completely covers the fruiting bodies.
2. Salt, add sugar to taste, leave for half an hour.
3. Take out the mushrooms, rinse them from the sand.
4. Add seasonings, stir, let it brew for 10-15 minutes.

Chicken salad

Some housewives call this dish "Coral reef with scallops", which is due to the presence of coral mushrooms in the appetizer, which go well with smoked chicken, juicy bell pepper. Prepare this treat and surprise your loved ones and guests!

Cooking ingredients:

• smoked legs - 3 pcs.;
• pickled tremella - 300 g;
• bell pepper - 1 pc.;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• dill - 40 g;
• mayonnaise - 100 g;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Coral mushroom and chicken salad:

1. Separate the chicken meat from the bones and cut into small cubes or strips.
2. Pickled mushrooms should be lightly squeezed, chopped and added to the chicken.
3. Peel the seeds, cut into small cubes.
4. Chop the garlic and dill and mix together.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste, season with mayonnaise. The dish is ready.

Coral blackberry: photos and similar species

Pay attention to the photo of the coral blackberry: it has long, 1-2 cm, thin, rather brittle thorns. The pulp is white, fibrous, firm, slightly yellowish with age, with a pleasant taste and smell

The pulp is white, fibrous, firm, slightly yellowish with age, with a pleasant taste and smell.

Similar species. A closely related species is the alpine blackberry (H.alpestre), which is distinguished primarily by its woody substrate. This similar species of coral blackberry grows on stumps, large-sized deadwood and dead trees of spruce, fir and cedar pine in mountainous, less often flat taiga forests.

Chinese researchers believe that the medicinal properties of coral blackberry are in no way inferior to those of another world famous medicinal blackberry - comb.

Synonyms: tiled blackberry, scaly blackberry, kolchak, chicken, hawk.

The antibacterial effect of blackberry mycelial extract on Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and Bacillus subtilis has been shown.

Family: Blackberry (Hydnaceae).

Synonyms: notched blackberry.

Description. The cap is 5-15 cm in diameter, fleshy, dry and dense, pinkish-yellow or yellowish, to almost orange, flat, with a concave center, usually uneven, with edges curved downward. In young mushrooms, the cap is slightly convex, slightly velvety.

Look closely at the photo of yellow blackberry: when viewed from above, the mushrooms are quite similar to chanterelles. The flesh is whitish-yellowish, dense, with a pleasant odor, corks in old age (according to some reports, it starts to taste bitter). The lower surface of the cap has short, yellowish-pink, very brittle, easily crumbling needle-like spines, descending to the peduncle. The leg is 2-8 X 1-3 cm, dense, solid, always lighter than the cap.

If you look at the photo of the yellow blackberry mushroom in its natural habitat, you can imagine a bright, sunny blanket - they abundantly settle on the moss cover in light forests and sometimes merge into a single whole with hats and legs. Fruiting with July to October.

Similar species. Two very close species to yellow blackberries - whitish (H. albidum) and reddish-yellow (H. rufes-cens) - differ mainly in color and somewhat smaller in size. The first is whitish, sometimes almost white, the second is reddish-red, reddish-yellow. They both have similar nutritional and medicinal properties.

The isolated alkylating agent diepoxide, called repandiol, showed high cytotoxic activity against cancer cells of various lines, being especially active against stomach cancer. Repandiol binds paired DNA strands of cancer cells with additional bridges, which prevents their divergence and, accordingly, the division of tumor cells.

Mycelial culture extract showed 70% inhibition of sarcoma-180, while fresh fruit extract showed 90% inhibition of sarcoma-180 and Ehrlich's carcinoma.

The chloroform extract of the fruit bodies of the fungus showed antibacterial activity against Enterobacter aerogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis.

Cooking application: Edible, almost no different from yellow chanterelle in taste and consistency, does not require pre-boiling. All types of cooking are suitable, drying, not very suitable for salting and pickling.

Blackberries are massively harvested and sold in the vegetable markets of Italy, France, Bulgaria, Spain, Mexico and Canada.

Edible coral hedgehog

They are edible mushrooms used in cooking. Hericium coral does not need preliminary boiling. They are suitable for soups, frying and drying.

Hericium coral in medicine

In China, coral urchins are widely used as a remedy for gastrointestinal pathologies, for enhancing immunity, improving the functioning of the nervous system and the functioning of the respiratory tract.

These mushrooms have a tonic effect and are a hematopoietic stimulant. Tinctures are being actively made from coral barnacles. If the proportions are correctly observed, then an effective drug can be obtained.

In 1998, during research in Germany, erinacin E was isolated from the fermentation broth of this mushroom. This substance is a powerful stimulator of the growth of nerve cells.This discovery made the coral hedgehog a potential treatment for the incurable pathology of Alzheimer's disease. In 2008, Japanese scientists were able to synthesize erinacin E chemically. At the moment, work is underway to create a drug based on erinacin E.

In addition, the antiparasitic activity of the coral's mane has been established, for example, it is toxic to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Chinese scientists declare that the coral-like hedgehog is not inferior in its medicinal properties to its world-famous brother, the coral-hedgehog.

2123 Article rating by Kira Stoletova

Coral mushroom belongs to the exotic representatives of the forest kingdom. It is listed in the Red Book of Russia. The organism grows in deciduous and mixed forests, creating mycosis with beech, birch or pine, less commonly found on alder and linden. It is sometimes found on sick and weak plants.

Features of the coral mushroom

Mushroom hedgehog: description and photo, distribution, edible and inedible species, cooking options

Are the barnacles edible?

Mushroom noodles or comb blackberries have excellent taste. Fruit bodies do not require preliminary heat treatment before starting cooking. This mushroom is usually eaten fried, soups, sauces, pie fillings, side dishes are prepared from it, boiled or dried.

If ordinary mushrooms are called forest meat, then blackberries can be safely dubbed "forest seafood", as it tastes like shrimp, crabs or lobsters. It is thanks to this quality that it is highly respected by lovers of unusual dishes and is often found in the menu of various restaurants.

Where, when and how it grows

Blackberries usually grow on trunks, stumps or branches of already dead trees. As a rule, he chooses deciduous species and rarely settles on conifers. It is most likely to be found on birches, elms, beeches, or aspens. It can also parasitize on weakened and diseased trees, causing irreparable harm to them, since it contributes to the development of white rot. Sometimes it grows on linden or alder.

Hericium grows in isolation, so you can only find one mushroom at a time. Although, due to its rarity, not every mushroom picker will be lucky enough to see a coral mushroom with his own eyes. The distribution area is the Caucasus, the Far East, Siberia, the Krasnodar Territory. Occasionally found in Europe.

Edible coral mushrooms

Horned, or horned, maces, maces, coral mushrooms are one of 3 families to which the genus Ramaria belongs. Some horns look like pin pests (hence their Russian name), finger-long and up to 4 mm thick, others grow in bushes, others form lumps and outgrowths, from fist to pumpkin size and similar to corals, cauliflower head, etc. They are eaten like other mushrooms.

Edible representatives of the mushroom kingdom, similar to corals:

1. Ungulate horned (Ramaria botrytis). Belongs to the Gomfovy family. Fruiting from August to September, grows singly or in groups in deciduous and mixed forests, mainly near beeches. Very rare. The branches of the ungulate hornbeam are thick, taper upward, cut off at the ends. At a young age, the twigs are first reddish, then with aging they become leathery-brown. The leg is dense, whitish, massive. The pulp is whitish-yellow, brittle, has a pleasant smell and taste. The mushroom is edible at a young age, it needs preliminary boiling.
2. Clavulina cristata (Clavulina cristata). Belongs to the Clavulinov family. Fruiting from mid-July to October, grows singly or in groups in deciduous (with birch), more often coniferous and mixed forests, on litter, in soil, in grass. Little known edible mushroom, very rare. The fruit body reaches 2–6 cm in height, the base is up to 1 cm thick, divided into numerous flattened branches. They resemble teeth, ridges, for which the mushroom got its name.The color of the branches is white, ocher, closer to the ends, grayish, lilac. Their color and shape are reminiscent of white or creamy corals. The base forms a strong fleshy leg. The pulp is white, fragile, does not have a special smell, there is a bitter aftertaste.
3. Curly sparassis (Sparassis crispa). Belongs to the Sparassaceae family. Fruiting from August to October, grows singly in old-growth coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forests on roots, at the base of trunks, less often on fresh stumps of coniferous trees (mainly pines). Received the name "king mushroom", as well as many others: mushroom cabbage, curly dryagul, hare cabbage, mushroom happiness, sheep mushroom. It is a parasite, as it grows on the roots of trees, causing red rot. The fruit body resembles a yellow or white coral, has an irregular spherical shape, and consists of many branched wavy plates. One of their surfaces bears spore powder. The leg is thick, deeply buried, whitish or yellowish in color. The pulp is white, brittle, and tastes like a nut. Only young specimens can be eaten, brownish (older ones) cannot be eaten. A rare species, listed in the Red Book of Russia and the Red Book of Belarus.
4. Coral Hericium (Hericium coralloides). Belongs to the genus Gericia. It has several more names: coral blackberry, coral hericium, coral hericium, trellate or branched. It grows on stumps, trunks or branches of dead trees, choosing deciduous species and, extremely rarely, conifers. It grows from July to October in Siberia, the Urals, the Far East, in the Krasnodar Territory. The fruit body has an irregular bush shape with lush branches covered with small fragile thorns. The twigs are hollow inside. The leg (base) is scaly and short. The dimensions of the mushroom sometimes reach 40 cm in width and 30 in length. The color of the fruit is white, cream, with age it becomes dark yellow or brown. The flesh is white, creamy or pinkish in color and turns red when pressed. The thorns are very fragile and are destroyed by touch, but in general, the pulp is fibrous and elastic, has a pleasant mushroom aroma and delicate taste, as the mushroom ages, it becomes quite dense and tough. An edible mushroom that is recommended to be dried, fried, used for cooking soups. It does not need to be boiled beforehand. It is listed in the Red Book of Russia and is considered a rare species.
5. Ice mushroom, fucus tremella. Belongs to the Tremella family. It grows from June to mid-September on fallen branches and trunks of dead deciduous trees. It grows in tropical and subtropical countries of Asia and Central America, in Russia it is found in Primorye and Sochi. The fruit body resembles transparent algae with numerous branches, in structure they are very similar to gelatin or a snowflake. The shiver has no leg, it lies on the bark of a tree and feeds on its juices. The pulp is jelly-like, it is enough to blow in the wind, as the mushroom begins to shake. The texture of the tremella is elastic, the taste and smell are poorly expressed. It has many beneficial properties and is highly prized in oriental medicine.

Edibility, useful properties and contraindications for use

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Scientists have found vitamins, iron, calcium, phosphorus, amino acids, polysaccharides in the pulp of forest corals, and this product is also an excellent source of fiber, which is essential for the proper functioning of the digestive system. Due to such a diverse chemical composition, mushrooms contribute to:

• lowering cholesterol;
• normalizing blood pressure;
• improving liver function;
• strengthening immunity;
• elimination of toxins;
• improving the work of the cardiovascular and nervous systems.

Due to these properties, corals growing on trees are actively used in medicine.But first of all, these gifts of the forest are a useful product.

Cooking features

Forest corals do not have a pronounced taste, but experienced chefs do not consider this a disadvantage. On the contrary, this fact allows them to be used more widely. They are used to prepare not only traditional mushroom dishes such as soups, sauces or salads, but also original desserts.

For example, you can make a sweet dish from dried coral. First, pour the mushrooms with warm water for about 2 hours. Then the liquid is decanted, and the mushrooms themselves are impregnated with fruit or berry syrup. Before serving, strawberries and fresh mint are added to the sweetness.

Curious!

When cooked correctly, coral mushroom will taste like meat. Another feature of this delicacy is that it is not necessary to boil it before cooking.

Application in medicine and cosmetology

Preparations and natural remedies from these exotics are actively used in both traditional and folk medicine. Mushrooms are natural antibiotics and antidepressants. Forest coral extract is added to antiviral and antibacterial agents, and is also used to remove helminths and tapeworms from the body. The glycogen contained in mushrooms promotes proper blood formation, protects against free radicals, increases immunity, and restores the nervous system.

The extract from the fruit is believed to be beneficial in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In Chinese folk medicine, coral mushrooms are revered as an anticancer agent. They are also advised to be taken to strengthen the body by people who have survived chemotherapy.

Coral mushroom extract is also added to cosmetics. In particular, at home, you can prepare decoctions and tinctures of wrinkled clavulin. It is believed that this mushroom is better than others in helping to get rid of expression lines, tone the skin and moisturize it.

Growing at home and in the country

Garden shops sell wooden sticks with spores. In open ground, planted from April to October. They can grow in the greenhouse all year round. The estimated price of a mycelium with spores is $ 4.

The spores are placed in the wood. First, take freshly sawn logs, no shoots. The recommended diameter is 20 cm, the length is at least one meter. Submerge the sticks in water, having previously made holes in them (up to 4 cm), measuring 10 cm each time. To sprout more active spores, create a greenhouse effect: wrap the log with foil, take it to a warm, dark room. Watering should be done twice a week.

Note! Before handling spores, wear sterile gloves or treat your hands with an antiseptic. The log can be brought out into the light after the appearance of the mycelium

When the temperature drops, in the winter season, cover with foil. After how many days to collect the fruits of your labor? The first crop appears 6 months after planting. Mushrooms are cut at a young age, without waiting for a change in color and texture

The log can be brought to light after the mycelium appears. When the temperature drops, in the winter season, cover with foil. After how many days to collect the fruits of your labor? The first crop appears 6 months after planting. Mushrooms are cut at a young age, without waiting for a change in color and texture.

Coral Hericium

Fruit body Bushy, branched, 5-15 (20) cm in size, white or cream-colored, with long (0.5-2 cm) dense, even or curved, fragile thorns.

Spores White spore powder.

Flesh Elastic, fibrous, white with a pleasant mushroom smell, later - tough.

Habitat The coral-shaped black hair man grows from early July to mid-September on stumps and valezha of deciduous species (aspen, oak, more often birch), singly, very rarely. Coral Hericium is a rare or even very rare mushroom.

It is considered an edible mushroom.

Similar Species: Coral Hericium is unlike any other mushroom. That's the idea.

It is included in the Red Book of Russia.

By the way, this mushroom is often called not a hedgehog, but a coral blackberry (coral), trellis or just a coral mushroom. Indeed, its fruiting body resembles coral “bushes” in structure.

• the fruiting body has an irregular bush shape with lush branches, densely covered almost to the base with small brittle spines hanging down, which can have either even or curved shape and grow up to 0.5-2 cm as the fungus matures. The branches are hollow inside. The base with which the mushroom is attached to the substrate is scaly and short - up to 1 cm.The dimensions that a hericium branched can have are impressive: its width varies from 5 to 29 cm (and sometimes up to 40 cm), and its length often reaches 30 cm. The color of the surface of the fruit body is white, cream, and with age it becomes darker - yellow or brown. This is an annual mushroom, but the mycelium has been living with it for several years;
• the flesh is white, pinkish or creamy; if damaged, it turns red, turns yellow with age. If the mushroom is dried, it will take on a reddish tint. The thorns are very fragile and collapse from simple touches, but in general, the pulp is fibrous and elastic, has a pleasant mushroom aroma and delicate taste, as the mushroom ages, it becomes quite dense and tough;
• knotweed or elliptical, white.

Distribution and fruiting period

Blackberry trellis prefers to settle on stumps, trunks or branches of dead trees, choosing deciduous species and, extremely rarely, conifers. Most of all he loves to grow on beeches, elms, birches, aspens. It can grow on linden or alder, parasitize on weakened trees, harming them and causing the development of white rot.

The hero of the article is a very rare mushroom, it is difficult to detect it even during the growing season, which lasts from July to September-October. At the same time, he usually grows in splendid isolation. Regions of growth of the black man's mane are Siberia, the Urals, Krasnodar Territory, the Caucasus, and the Far East.

Similar species

Coral-like Hericium outwardly looks so unusual that it has no similar species. It cannot be confused with any other mushroom.

Edibility

Hericium trellis is an edible mushroom that is recommended to be dried, fried, used for cooking soups. It does not need to be boiled beforehand.

Only young fruiting bodies are eaten, as they become tough with age.

Healing properties

Hericium coral is also used in medicine, as it has certain medicinal properties. It is used to strengthen the immune system, treat diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and respiratory system, and has a beneficial effect on the blood circulation process. Healing tinctures are prepared from the mushroom; it fights against nematodes.

It also has a positive effect on the nervous system. In the late 90s, research was carried out in Germany on the fermentation broth of the mushroom. As a result, the substance erinacin E was obtained, which is considered one of the most powerful stimulants of the growth of nerve cells, and therefore this black man's man has become a potential drug against Alzheimer's disease. Now the substance is obtained by chemical means, work is underway to create a drug based on it.

According to the opinion in China, coral blackberries are in no way worse than comb blackberries, if you compare their healing properties. And it tastes just wonderful. But you should not collect it, since the mushroom is a protected species.

Coral Hericium

Latin name: Hericium coralloides

Class: Agaricomycetes

Family: Hericiaceae

Genus: Gericium

Coral Hericium or Coral Hericium is an edible mushroom of the genus Hericia, of the Hericium family. It belongs to the class of Basidiomycetes, a subclass of Homobasidiomycetes, the order Non-lamellar and is a hygromesophilic fungus. Outwardly, it is very similar to a spreading coral of white, milky, beige or pale yellow.

The fruiting body is annual, branched, bushy with branches full of thorn-like processes.Its dimensions: width - from 5 to 40 cm. Height - up to 30 cm. The branches are hollow inside, straight, about 0.5 cm in diameter, with a sharp end, and all are covered with small thorns. As the coral hair man grows, the needles lengthen up to 0.5-1 cm and hang down from the branches. The base is short, about 1 cm in diameter, with small spines, almost scaly. The mycelium of this coral urchin is perennial. The pulp is white, slightly pinkish, fleshy and fibrous, ocher when dry. Possesses a bright mushroom smell and taste. However, only young mushrooms are used for food. Spores 5.5 μm in size, ellipsoidal or spherical, with a thickened, slightly rough wall, amyloid.

Distribution: Young mushrooms spread spore branches to the sides, while mature and old ones grow, rushing down. Coral hedgehog grows on stumps or settles on dead tree trunks in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests. Trees on which it can be found: linden, birch, aspen, oak, sometimes alder or elm. The fungus is parasitic on wood, as it causes white rot.

You can meet it in the forest from July to early October, as a rule, in the form of individual individuals, but it cannot be collected, because the coral coral mushroom is listed in the "Red Book" among those rarely found. The habitat of the fungus: Europe, the Caucasus, the Urals, Siberia, the Far East, the Western Caucasus, Krasnodar Territory. It does not look like other famous mushrooms.

In Chinese medicine, the coral hedgehog is widely used for the treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal diseases, enhancement of immunity, the functioning of the respiratory system and the regulation of nervous diseases. Other properties: stimulation of hematopoiesis, toning of the body. Such a mushroom is actively used for the preparation of tinctures. With the correct proportions, an effective drug can be obtained. In the recipes of healers, you can find information that the tincture was used to bring a person out of prolonged depression.

Coral hedgehog soup

The first course looks unusual.

• 0.5 kg of a black man's man;
• 5 potatoes;
• 2 carrots;
• bulb;
• parsley root;
• 2 tbsp. l. melted butter;
• vegetable oil for frying;
• salt, pepper and bay leaf.

This amount of ingredients is calculated for 2 liters of water.

1. Cut the mushrooms into large pieces, fry in butter.
2. Transfer them to a saucepan, pour 2 liters of water and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Chop potatoes, carrots, onions and parsley root. Add to mushrooms and cook for another 30 minutes. Pepper, salt, add bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes.

The finished dish can be seasoned with cream and herbs. Before serving, the bay leaf must be pulled out of the soup.

If you want to cook dishes with coral hedgehog, then go in search of him in the forest from mid-summer to mid-September. It can be found on tree trunks.

Doubt whether the edible coral mushroom is a coral mushroom or not? The unequivocal answer is yes. It is used with health benefits. For example, as a dietary supplement that tends to boost immunity and treat inflammatory processes in the body.