Content
Speckled oak tree (Neoboletus erythropus) - belongs to the Boletov family. This mushroom is also called the red-legged mushroom, the grain-legged boletus, the podolet.
Reading the names, one can understand that it is necessary to look for fruit bodies under the oak trees. It is with them that they have symbiosis, they provide each other with nutrients and sucrose.
What do speckled mushrooms look like?
To understand what a speckled oak tree looks like, it is necessary, in addition to the description, to carefully consider the photo. Moreover, you need to find out the features of each part of the mushroom, since they have their own distinctive features.
Hat
The speckled cap of the oak tree reaches 20 cm. While the oak tree is still small, it resembles a half of a ball. Then it becomes like a pillow. The skin is dry, velvety, mucus appears on the matte surface only after precipitation. Young fruits with a brown, yellowish-brown, chestnut or gray-brown cap. Old oak trees are distinguished by the fact that they have it dark, almost black.
Leg
The leg grows up to 10 cm, in diameter - about 3 cm. This part of speckled oak tree may resemble a barrel in shape. But most often it is tuberous with a thickening at the bottom. Red specks or scales are clearly visible on the orange surface.
Tubular layer
Speckled oak tree belongs to tubular mushrooms. This layer is yellowish-olive in young fruits. As it grows, the color changes, becoming orange-red. If you press on the tubes, then blue appears.
Pulp
Grannopod boletus is distinguished by dense fleshy pulp. In the hat, it is yellow, but when cut or broken, it rapidly turns blue. The flesh of the leg is brown-red. Spore powder of brown-olive color.
Where do speckled mushrooms grow
Mushroom pickers of central Russia can rarely boast of an amazing find, since poddubniks hardly grow here. But in the Leningrad region, Siberian forests, the Caucasus and Europe, you can quickly collect a basket of delicious mushrooms.
Speckled oak trees grow on acidic, waterlogged soils in coniferous or deciduous forests. Collecting poddubnikov begins in June, long-term fruiting. Most of the boletus grain-footed grows in August-October, until the frost begins.
Speckled oak tree edible or not
Red-legged boletus is classified as conditionally edible. It should be eaten only after preliminary boiling. Mushrooms can be salted, dried, boiled, and pickled.
Speckled oak is tasty and healthy. It contains a mass of trace elements necessary for humans:
- Iron helps maintain hemoglobin levels.
- Copper helps form the cells of the pituitary gland.
- Zinc improves the functioning of the digestive system and metabolic processes.
The presence of nutrients increases immunity, strengthens the heart and blood vessels, and helps to normalize blood pressure. And this, in turn, protects a person from atherosclerosis. Antioxidant, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties are also inherent in speckled oak trees.
False doppelgangers of speckled
The speckled oak tree has twins, which are similar to it in appearance and in other ways. Among them there are edible and inedible representatives:
- olive-brown oak;
- Kele oak tree;
- satanic mushroom.
Olive brown
It is an edible mushroom with a hemispherical, convex, olive-brown head. Its surface is velvety. The leg resembles a pin. Above - yellow-orange, in the lower part - with a red-brown tint, where the mesh is clearly visible.
The mushroom is distinguished by a yellow dense pulp, which turns blue on the cut. She exudes a pleasant aroma. Grows in mixed and deciduous forest.
Kele
Conditionally edible with a rounded-convex chestnut hat. It features a smooth, velvety surface. It grows on a yellow-brown, cylinder-shaped stalk with a slight thickening near the ground, there is no pattern.
The dense yellow pulp does not have the characteristic mushroom aroma. Blue quickly appears on the cut.
Satanic mushroom
The worst thing is if instead of a poddubnik, a poisonous satanic mushroom is in the basket. It also changes color on the cut. But the watery flesh or legs first turn blue and then turn red. His cap is whitish.
Collection rules
You need to cut speckled oak trees with a sharp knife near the ground, so as not to destroy the mycelium and not to deprive the forest of the future harvest. Gather small or medium-sized mushrooms. It is better to abandon the old, overgrown ones. Cut speckled oak woods are shaken off the ground and put into a basket.
How to cook speckled oak
Speckled oak trees are valuable mushrooms with excellent taste. But since they are conditionally edible, they are boiled twice for 15 minutes before preparing various dishes, each time changing the water.
Poddubniki can be used for cooking:
- mushroom soup;
- fried foods;
- pickling;
- hodgepodge;
- mushroom paste.
Conclusion
Speckled oak is appreciated for its beneficial properties and taste. Real gourmets open a quiet hunt for it. It is a pity that not all residents of Russia will be able to enjoy these forest fruits.
