Boletus varicolored (Leccinum variicolor) photo and description

Preparation

Cleaning and initial processing

First of all, the mushrooms must be carefully rinsed under running water and coarse debris must be removed by hand.

Before cleaning, the fruiting bodies are "decapitated": the cap is separated from the stem. The reason is that these parts are handled differently. The thin skin is removed from the cap. To do this, the edge is gripped between the finger and the knife. You can't scrape off. Small specimens (up to 3 cm) do not cut. Medium (4–7 cm) are divided into two or four parts. And the large ones are cut into even slices "by eye". The leg, on the contrary, can and should be scraped along the surface. The long ones are cut into several pieces, the short ones are left intact.

Cooking

All mushrooms, including boletus mushrooms, are boiled in two waters.

In the first - to remove debris that could remain inside the fruiting body. Otherwise, it will not work. To do this, pour the peeled fruits with water, barely covering them, and bring to a boil. A pink hat with particles of debris and dirt will rise.

Then drain the liquid through a colander and place the food in a clean saucepan. Cover with water to cover the mushroom layer on your finger and place over medium heat. Finish the cooking process after about 20 minutes.

Pickling

Boletus mushrooms are a delicate product. For pickling, you need to select the strongest and youngest specimens.

For filling you will need (for 1 liter):

sugar - 2 tbsp. l .;
salt - 4 tsp;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.
peppercorns - 5 pcs.;
cloves - 5 pcs.;
cinnamon - on the tip of a knife;
vinegar essence - 2 teaspoons;
citric acid - on the tip of a knife.

Cooking process:

Boil all ingredients (except for vinegar essence and citric acid) for 5-10 minutes.
In 5 min. add the remaining components to the end.
Put the mushrooms boiled in two waters and washed in cold water in a saucepan and pour over the marinade. It should cover them by 3 cm.
Bring the birch trees in the pot to a boil.
Put the contents of the pan in sterilized jars and seal with lids. Store ready containers at a temperature not exceeding +8 degrees.

Drying

For this, you can use any mushrooms. Young and strong, so old and flabby. There are two most common drying methods.

Method 1, classic:

We clean the boletus of debris. No need to clean!
Separate the caps from the legs.
If the caps are large, cut into large pieces. If medium and small - leave it that way.
We string them on a strong thread or wire.
We stretch it on the sunny side of the balcony.
If there is no loggia (or there is no way to leave mushrooms there), place the thread over the gas stove. We leave for 3-4 hours on the working burners.
We turn on the stove for the same time for 3-4 days, until it dries completely. When the caps become brittle, the product is ready.

Method 2, in the oven:

We repeat steps 1 and 2.
We put the hats and legs on a baking sheet separately.
We preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
We put mushrooms there and leave for 1-1.5 hours at 100-120 degrees.
After that we set the minimum temperature and dry for another 3–6 hours. The exact time depends on the oven and the condition of the mushrooms. We check the readiness approximately once an hour.

After drying, the fruits are placed in a paper bag. They need to be stored in a dry place with access to oxygen.

Boletus and boletus soup

Ingredients:

fresh and strong mushrooms (150-200 g). Can be replaced with dry ones (30-50 g);
pearl barley (30-40 g);
medium potatoes;
the same carrot;
butter - 10 g;
onions, herbs, salt - to taste.

The process is step by step:

Cook barley and mushrooms in two different pans until tender.
We take out the boletus and put it in another container.
Fry the onion until transparent, cut the potatoes and carrots into cubes.
We add everything to the mushroom broth. Bring the potatoes to readiness (check their softness with a fork).
2 minutes before the end of the process, put the previously cooked mushrooms in the soup.
Serve in plates with herbs, sour cream or mayonnaise.

Where and when are boletus trees harvested?

Mushrooms have chosen deciduous forests in the temperate zone and choose clearings for mycelium next to birches, with which mycorrhiza is formed.

Young mushrooms are strong and tight on palpation. They choose open places for growth on forest edges, glades and along paths. The birch bark does not like acidified soils near peat bogs; it chooses soil in low-lying forests with a neutral or lime substrate. People pick mushrooms from May until the autumn cold and the first frost. One of the subspecies, the marsh boletus, settles on peat bogs near swamps.

Small families or one at a time grow multi-colored boletus. Their variegated caps attract mushroom pickers from late June to early October. Mushrooms are cut under birches and poplars. Mushrooms take root in mossy and gloomy forests, but in open areas under the rays of the sun.

A rare species - the pink boletus settles on peat bogs along the borders of bogs near birch and mixed forests, where mycorrhiza with birch forms. Mushrooms pick up wherever there are birch plantings, up to the tundra from late July to late September.

Gray boletus, it is also a hornbeam that gives a rich harvest on the edges and glades among:

poplars and birches;
hazel;
hornbeams and beeches.

Harvested:

when rowan blossoms;
in July after haymaking;
from late August to October.

Harsh boletus (rare) mushroom pickers are sometimes found in deciduous and deciduous-coniferous plantings near white poplars and aspens. The fungus prefers limestone, where it lives alone or in small families. Harvested a rare harvest from late June to mid-autumn.

In damp lowlands among birches, in pine-birch mixed forests, on the outskirts of felling and among swamps from mid-summer to golden autumn, people collect black boletus.

Description

In total, there are about 40 varieties, but each boletus mushroom from this family has only minor differences. The color ranges from light to almost black. Most often, grayish or brownish representatives of the species are found. Young ones are usually white boletus, but later on, their stem and cap acquire brown shades.

In addition, the properties are related to the place where the mushroom was found. So marsh boletus, which grows mainly in damp areas, retains a whitish tint even with age, but is considered less valuable due to its too loose pulp. Black boletus is also found on the soil along the edges of the raised bogs.

Distinctive features of the appearance:

Leg ... leg height from 3 to 15 cm on average;

Hat ... the diameter of the cap in an adult mushroom is about 15-18 cm;

the cap has the shape of a characteristic hemisphere, and as it grows it becomes like a ball or pillow;

at high air humidity, the surface may become slimy;

the color usually varies from whitish to grayish and brown.

Lighter and younger boletus mushrooms are usually valuable for mushroom pickers, because during the aging process, their pulp becomes too loose and watery. It seems extremely difficult to cook something from them.

Ecology and distribution

Common boletus is widespread. It is found in Eurasia in the vastness from Western Europe to Eastern Siberia, some species also grow in North and South America. Boletus grows in the tundra and forest-tundra. It is most often found in forests with birches, with which it forms mycorrhiza, and not only large trees can be found, but also dwarf birches, the height of which can be only a few centimeters.

The described genus of mushrooms tends to high humidity, therefore it is often found near swamps and forest reservoirs.There you can find white, black, as well as pink boletus, in which the flesh at the break has a pinkish tint. These mushrooms are distinguished by an extremely high growth rate, reaching 4 cm per day, so they become "adults" in a week, and after that they already begin to age.

Usually the preparation of boletus boletus is described by different recipes. They are highly regarded for their excellent taste and useful properties, including from the point of view of medicine. First of all, this is a low-calorie product, which, nevertheless, contains a huge amount of trace elements, therefore it is well suited for a balanced diet.

From a medical point of view, beneficial qualities are manifested in the fact that the composition of boletus normalizes the state of the nervous system and regulates blood sugar levels. When using this product, kidney function is normalized. No fears should arise when collecting boletus boletus - the class is completely safe and not poisonous. However, in some cases, individual intolerance may be observed, because mushrooms are a fairly specific food.

Due to the fact that there are many varieties of this mushroom, there is a danger of confusing it with something else. The most dangerous is the gall fungus, which is quite common in our forests. Its distinctive feature is an incredibly bitter taste, because of which even worms and insects bypass it. A perfectly clean look of an adult mushroom is the first sign of danger. In a false mushroom, the leg has brick or greenish shades. He also usually has a velvety hat, whereas the real one has a smooth and even slimy one. If a gall fungus gets into a dish, it will immediately turn bitter, so it should be discarded immediately.

Distribution locations and collection times

A variety of species are widespread in temperate climates, in deciduous forests and parks. They live in abundance under birches, it is with this tree that mycorrhiza forms the title species - common boletus. They find tight fruiting bodies on forest edges, clearings and along forest roads. The noble fungus does not like acidic peat soils, preferring neutral loams or calcareous soils. The collection time is long - from late spring to dank autumn and the first frost.

In swampy low-lying forests, including peat bogs, most often under birches, myceliums of marsh boletus develop. These fragile mushrooms appear in whole glades, starting from July until the first frost.

In deciduous and deciduous-coniferous forests under the aspen and white poplar, you can meet a rather rare mushroom, the boletus harsh. It prefers calcareous soils, appears singly or in few families from July to mid-October.

On the sun-warmed edges and glades of gloomy mossy forests, under birches and poplars, they find motley caps of a multi-colored boletus. The species settles in small groups or singly, the collection time is from July to early autumn.

In birch groves and mixed forests, pink boletus is found. It more often settles on the outskirts of bogs, on peat soils. This resistant, but rather rare species forms mycorrhiza with birch and is distributed wherever this tree grows, up to the tundra zone. Harvested for a short period - from August to early October.

Midsummer and early autumn are the time to collect black boletus. Places of growth - damp lowlands of birch and mixed, more often birch-pine forests, the outskirts of bogs and clearings.

On the clearings, edges of beech and hornbeam forests, in poplar, birch and hazel groves, a productive gray boletus or hornbeam grows in abundance. Fruiting bodies are collected in three waves: the first - during the flowering of mountain ash - in early summer; the second - in July, after haymaking; the third, autumn - in September-October.

How to process

Pink boletus refers to mushrooms that, before cooking, require minimal preliminary preparation:

Mushrooms are sorted out, wormy and rotten specimens are discarded.
Cleans the surface from forest debris.
It is not necessary to soak the pink boletus boletus; it is enough to rinse them thoroughly in running water.

The next step is cleaning, the technology of which is different for the cap and leg of the mushroom. Based on this, the caps are separated from the legs.

Hat

First, remove the skin from the cap. You can't scrape off. Proceed as follows: using a knife, grab its edge and, holding it with your finger, pull it together.

This is followed by slicing. Small caps (up to 3 cm) are left intact, medium (4-7 cm) - divided into 2-4 parts, large ones - cut into randomly even parts.

Leg

The leg is pre-scraped to remove scales. Then cut into several pieces. Small legs are left intact.

False doubles

Boletus mushrooms are quite similar to each other and often only a specialist can separate one species from another. But since all varieties of boletus are edible, then there will be no trouble if, when collecting in a basket, for example, gray or ordinary boletuses fall to the multi-colored boletus.

As for the multicolored boletus, it has the greatest similarity with the pink boletus, common, hard, smoky, and especially with the black boletus.

Having met a young mushroom, some mushroom pickers even ask themselves the question: how to distinguish a multicolored boletus from a boletus? The main difference is the flesh of the latter that turns blue when cut.

It is much more important not to confuse boletus mushrooms with poisonous mushrooms, which pose a threat not only to health, but sometimes to human life.

Boletus is false

The boletus does not have a multi-colored poisonous twin, however, there is a species that has an external resemblance to it, which cannot be eaten. This boletus is a false or gall mushroom (Tylopilus felleus). It is not poisonous, but it is also not suitable for food, since the taste of its pulp is very unpleasant, bitter, pungent, does not disappear during cooking, but only intensifies. Even a small piece of false boletus can ruin the whole mushroom dish or preparation.

How to distinguish multicolored boletus from false?

The main distinguishing features are:

The false boletus, in contrast to the multicolored boletus, has a fleshy leg.
The hymenophore (lower part of the cap) of the gall fungus is pinkish, in old specimens it is dirty pink.
The leg of the boletus boletus is covered with numerous dark scales, and the boletus boletus has a mesh pattern resembling a porcini mushroom, only of a dark color.
There are no insects on the surface of the gall fungus, since they are not attracted by its bitter taste.

Chemical composition

Harsh boletus is a valuable food product, which, with a low calorie content, contains a rich set of vitamins, macro- and microelements. The benefits of boletus are determined by the components in its composition. The mushroom contains protein, leucine, therosine, glutamine, organic acids, etc.

In addition, B vitamins are found in the composition of the harsh boletus.₁ (0.07 mg.), B₂ (0.22 mg.), B₉, E (0.1 mg.), D, H, PP (6.7 mg.), Ascorbic acid (6 mg.), As well as potassium (443 mg.), Phosphorus (171 mg.), Magnesium (15 mg.), calcium (6 mg.), sodium (3 mg.), manganese (0.74 mg.), iron (0.3 mg.), cobalt, zinc, etc.

What other boletus mushrooms exist?

We suggest not to be satisfied with what has already been achieved. The following is about what boletus mushrooms still exist and how they can be distinguished.

Common boletus (Leccinum scabrum)

Common boletus (Leccinum scabrum) in the photo

The mushroom is edible. The cap is up to 5-15 cm, at first - hemispherical, then cushion, later convex. Fleshy smooth, gray-brown or brown. The surface of the cap is matte, wet in the rain, but not slimy. The skin is not removable. The tubular layer is first white, then soft gray-ocher.Leg 6-15 cm long, 2-4 cm thick, at first dense, later hard or even woody, white or light gray, covered with many black, gray or brownish scales. The flesh, pleasant to the taste, is white, does not change color on the cut, slightly turns gray.

Grows in self-sown groves in the fields. Forms mycorrhiza with birch.

Occurs from July to October. Dark and dense autumn brown birch trees, which are not very wormy due to cold weather, are appreciated.

Similar to the inedible gall mushroom (Tyophillus felleus), but bitter, harder with a white, rosy flesh.

Common boletus is one of the best edible mushrooms; in terms of the content of digestible protein, it surpasses the porcini mushroom. Worms faster than other mushrooms.

Wild boletus (Leccinum variicolor)

Brown birch in the photo

The mushroom is edible. The cap is up to 5-15 cm, at the beginning - hemispherical, then cushion, later convex. Fleshy smooth, gray-brown or brown-black, sometimes with light spots. The surface of the cap is matte, wet in the rain, but not slimy. The skin is not removable. The tubular layer is first white, then soft gray-ocher. Leg 6-15 cm long, 2-4 cm thick, at first dense, later hard or even woody, white or light gray, covered with many brown, brownish scales. The flesh, pleasant to the taste, is white, does not change color on the cut, slightly turns gray.

Grows in self-sown groves in the fields. Forms mycorrhiza with birch.

Occurs from July to October.

Similar to the inedible gall mushroom (Tyophillus felleus), but bitter, harder with a white, rosy flesh.

Brown birch is one of the best edible mushrooms, surpasses the cep in the content of digestible protein. Worms faster than other mushrooms.

Hard boletus (Leccinum duriusculum)

Hardy boletus (Leccinum duriusculum) in the photo

The mushroom is edible. The cap is up to 6-18 cm, at first - hemispherical, then cushion, later convex. Fleshy, firm, smooth, light brown or brown. The surface of the cap is matte, glued scales in the form of darker polygons with light gaps. The skin is not removable. The tubular layer is first white, then creamy yellowish. The leg is 6-15 cm long, 2-4 cm thick, at first dense, later hard or even woody, white or light gray, covered in young mushrooms with white, and in old ones with brownish scales. The pulp is white, on the cut it becomes honey-red, later gray-black.

Grows singly or in groups in deciduous forests, in poplar groves under a white poplar and under an aspen.

Occurs from July to October.

It has no inedible and poisonous counterparts.

The boletus is hardy compared to the common boletus, less wormy, but also less tasty.

Black boletus (Leccinum scabrum f. Melanium)

Black boletus in the photo

The mushroom is edible. The cap is up to 5-9 cm, at first - hemispherical, then cushion, later convex. Fleshy smooth, black, black-brown, at a young age, especially if it grows without light, gray. The surface of the cap is matte, wet in the rain, but not slimy. The skin is not removable. The tubular layer is first white, then soft gray-ocher. Leg 6-15 cm long, 2-4 cm thick, at first dense, later hard or even woody, white or light gray, covered with many black, gray or brownish scales. The flesh, pleasant to the taste, is white, does not change color on the cut, slightly turns gray.

Grows in damp birch and mixed forests. Forms mycorrhiza with birch.

Occurs from July to October.

Similar to the inedible gall mushroom (Tyophillus felleus), but bitter, harder with a white, rosy flesh.

Black boletus is one of the best edible mushrooms; in terms of the content of digestible protein, it surpasses the white mushroom. Worms faster than other mushrooms.

Species diversity and description

Boletus is a collective name for a number of mushrooms of the genus Leccinum (Leccinum).Excellent growing conditions have led to the fact that the boletus species have minor external differences.

It is important to know what a particular boletus looks like in order to be able to distinguish it from other mushrooms.

Marsh (Leccinum holopus)

Marsh boletus, or white, got its name from the place of growth. This mushroom is noticeably different from other boletus mushrooms. The cap is on average 3 to 10 cm in diameter, but it can reach 16 cm. The convex cushion shape is characteristic only of young mushrooms; with age, it becomes flat. The surface is smooth, sometimes wrinkled. The hat is painted in a color uncharacteristic for this group: whitish-cream or grayish with a bluish or greenish tint.

The leg is thin (1-3 cm), elongated (from 5 to 15 cm), whitish or grayish in color, covered with scales of the same color. The scales turn brown only after aging, drying of the fungus; it is better not to collect such specimens.

The tubular layer is first white, then a dirty grayish color. The pulp is watery, white with a slight greenish tinge; denser in the leg, at the base its color becomes bluish-greenish. Does not change color upon contact with air.

Harsh (Leccinum duriusculum)

The cap is rarely more than 15 cm. The shape is hemispherical, later - pillow-shaped, convex. In young mushrooms, the skin is silky, even pubescent, then it becomes smooth; becomes slimy in rainy weather. Depending on the conditions, the color can vary from light gray-brown, sometimes with a purple tint, to brownish-red or ocher-brown.

The tubules are light, creamy, then yellowish or grayish. Olive brown marks remain when pressed.

The stem is cylindrical, rarely pointed at the base; covered with brownish scales that form a reticular pattern. Colored unevenly: cream on top, brownish below. The flesh in the cap is dense, white, reddens at the cut. In the leg, it is denser, harsh; yellowish-green at base, light above. The smell is weak.

Gray (hornbeam) (Leccinum carpini)

This mushroom is most similar to the common boletus. The cap is hemispherical, eventually cushion-shaped, up to 8 cm in diameter, rarely up to 14 cm; in young specimens, the edge is bent, straightens with age. The surface is dry, velvety, slightly grainy; painted in brownish-gray tones. In rainy weather, the color darkens to olive brown.

The leg is cylindrical, rather thin (up to 4 cm), long (from 5 to 13 cm); in the lower part it has a clavate thickening. The color is uneven: brownish at first, grayish closer to the cap. Its entire surface is covered with whitish scales, which turn yellow over time, then acquire a dark brown hue.

The tubular layer is watery, freely separates from the pulp, whitish or sandy-gray in color; a notch is visible in the area of contact with the leg. The pulp is white: soft in the cap and fibrous in the stem, it becomes harsh in old mushrooms. In air, it changes color first to pinkish-purple, then darkens almost to black.

Black (Leccinum scabrum)

Black boletus has a small (5-9 cm) dark brown or almost black cap. The skin cracks with age, partially exposing the flesh. The leg is proportionate, cylindrical, white, covered with small dark scales. The tubules are brownish gray. The pulp is white, darkens at the break.

Turning pink (Leccinum roseofractum)

The pink boletus has a convex, with age, pillow-shaped cap of medium size (up to 15 cm). The skin is gray-brown, pinkish-brown, may be darker, up to dark brown; dry.

Stem thin, long, cylindrical, with a thickening at the base in young specimens; sometimes bends, white with brownish scales, which become almost black with age. The tubular layer is light, becomes dirty gray with age. The pulp is firm. On the cut, this boletus turns pink.