Content
The oak mushroom is an edible mushroom from the Boletov family. You can often meet it in the autumn forest in the southern regions, but you need to know how to distinguish this mushroom from other similar species.
Why are Duboviks so called
The mushroom is known by many names - oak and poddubnik, poddubik. The names reflect the most frequent place where the oak tree grows, usually you can see it just under the oak trees. With these trees, the oak tree forms a symbiosis and transfers nutrients and moisture to the roots, in turn receiving from them the sucrose necessary for development.
What do poddubniki mushrooms look like
You can recognize an ordinary oak tree in the photo by a large hat reaching 10-15 cm in diameter. In young fruiting bodies, the cap is hemispherical, but over time it straightens and becomes cushion-shaped. The hat is covered with a velvety skin, which becomes sticky after rain; it is yellowish-brown, brown, gray-brown in color. In very old fruiting bodies, the cap can become almost black.
The lower layer of the cap is tubular, ocher in young fruit bodies and dirty olive in old ones. If you cut an oak tree in half, the flesh will turn out to be dense and yellowish, but from contact with air it will quickly turn blue-green, and then turn to almost black. The smell and taste of fresh oak wood is neutral, it does not possess any characteristic features.
According to the photo and description of the poddubnik mushroom, in height it can rise up to 12 cm above the ground, its leg is thick, with a thickening in the lower part. In color, the leg is yellow closer to the cap and darker below, covered with a noticeable fine mesh. The flesh may appear red at the bottom of the leg.
Where do Dubovik mushrooms grow?
Most often, oak tree can be found in the southern regions - on the Crimean peninsula, in the south of Ukraine and Belarus, in the Krasnodar Territory. It can be found in both deciduous and mixed forests, grows mainly under oak trees, but can also grow under birches, beeches and hornbeams.
When Duboviks grow
The first Crimean podduboviki mushrooms appear in June, but the period of maximum fruiting occurs in August and early autumn. You can meet the poddubnik in the forests until the end of October, right up to the first frost.
Types of oak mushrooms
Poddubniki in forests can be found in several types. Between themselves, they are similar in structure and size, but differ in the color of the cap and legs.
Common Dubovik
The mushroom, which is also called olive-brown or yellow oak, reaches 5-20 cm in diameter and has a hemispherical or pillow-shaped cap. The color of the cap is olive-brown or yellowish-brown, velvety, becomes slimy in damp weather. If you touch the cap with your finger, a dark spot will remain on its surface.
According to the description of the olive-brown oak tree, its leg is up to 6 cm in girth and up to 15 cm in height, with a thickening near the base, yellow-brown in the upper part and reddish below. The leg is covered with a reddish mesh pattern, which is a characteristic feature of the poddubnik.
On the fault, the common podolet is dense and with yellowish flesh, which quickly turns blue from contact with air. The mushroom is considered conditionally edible, suitable for food consumption after heat treatment.
Speckled oak
The poddubnik of this species is somewhat wider than the ordinary one - you can see it not only in the Caucasus, but also in the south of the Far East and even in Siberia. It has a large hemispherical or cushion-shaped cap up to 20 cm in diameter, chestnut brown, dark brown or black-brown in color, sometimes a reddish or olive tint can be seen on the cap. The cap is velvety to the touch, mucous in wet weather.
The leg of the speckled oak tree is dense and wide, up to 4 cm in girth, in height it rises up to 15 cm above the ground. In the lower part, the leg has a thickening, it is red-yellow in color. The speckled oak tree does not have a characteristic reticular pattern, but instead of it, there may be individual dots and specks on the stem.
The mushroom is classified as conditionally edible. It cannot be eaten raw, but after boiling the oak tree is suitable for further processing.
Dubovik Kele
This fungus is widespread in acidic soils, grows mainly in deciduous forests, but can also be found near conifers. The hat of the oak tree is uniformly convex, cushion-shaped, up to 15 cm in diameter. The color of the Kele podolennik is brown or yellowish-brown, its cap is dry and velvety, but in wet weather it can become sticky and slimy. On the underside, the cap is covered with reddish small tubes.
In the photo of oak mushrooms, it is noticeable that the leg of the Kele oak tree is up to 5 cm in girth and up to 10 cm in height, with a thickening at the base, yellowish in color. There is no mesh pattern on the leg, but reddish scales may be present. When broken and pressed, the pulp on the cap and leg turns blue. Poddubnik is classified as edible, but requires heat treatment before use.
Edible mushroom or not
All types of oak trees are edible and used for frying, pickling and pickling. But before any preparation, the pulp of the poddubnik must be processed.
Fresh fruit bodies are cleaned of soil and forest debris, then washed in cool water and boiled together with salt. During boiling, it is recommended to change the water - do it 10 minutes after boiling, and then boil the oak wood for another 20 minutes. The finished fruit bodies are thrown into a colander, and the broth is drained from under them; it is not suitable for use as a broth.
Useful properties of poddub mushrooms
Dubovik is valued not only for its versatility and pleasant taste after processing, but also for its beneficial properties. The following substances are a part of the mushroom pulp:
- magnesium and phosphorus;
- calcium and iron;
- ascorbic acid and vitamin PP;
- thiamine and riboflavin;
- amino acids - lysine, tryptophan, threonine;
- antibiotic substance boletol.
Thanks to such a rich composition, oak wood is able to have a very beneficial effect on the body. With proper use, the mushroom has a positive effect on the state of blood vessels and the heart, normalizes blood pressure and removes toxins and toxins from the body. Dubovik strengthens the resistance of the immune system, has a beneficial effect on potency and libido, strengthens nails and improves the condition of the skin and hair.
False doubles of common oak trees
The appearance of the oak tree is rather unremarkable, and it can be difficult to distinguish it from other varieties. Among the doubles of the poddubnik are not only edible, but also poisonous, therefore, before going into the forest, it is necessary to properly study the photo and description of the mushroom of the poddubnik.
Satanic mushroom
The most dangerous of the Dubovik's counterparts is the Satanic Mushroom. The varieties are similar in structure and color, so they are often confused. Like the poddobnik, the satanic mushroom has a hemispherical or pillow-like cap with a velvety skin, dense stalk and yellowish flesh. The color of the satanic mushroom ranges from whitish to gray-olive.
However, there are certain differences between mushrooms. The leg of the satanic mushroom is thicker than that of the oak tree, and looks more like a strong barrel, and the leg is yellow-red in color, with a well-defined mesh. The edible poddubovik turns blue on the cut, and quite quickly, and the satanic mushroom first turns red, and then acquires a bluish tint. In addition, the poisonous mushroom has a noticeable unpleasant odor.
Polish mushroom
You can also confuse poddubnik with a conditionally edible Polish mushroom. The false twin has a hemispherical, pillow-like head with a velvety skin, and its leg is cylindrical and thickened near the surface of the earth. On cut, the twin exhibits whitish or yellowish flesh.
The main difference between the varieties is in the color of the cap - in the false mushroom, it is much darker, reddish-brown, chestnut or chocolate. Also, the leg of the Polish mushroom is not covered with a mesh, but with longitudinal reddish-brown strokes.
Gall mushroom
Inexperienced mushroom pickers may confuse poddubnik with bitter mushroom, not poisonous, but very bitter. The bitterness is characterized by a large hemispherical cap and a thick cylindrical leg; in color it also resembles a podunnik - the shade of the skin varies from yellowish to brown-brown.
But at the same time, on the cut, the flesh of the bitterness quickly turns red, while the blue poddubik acquires a corresponding blue color. If you lick the gall mushroom, it will turn out to be very bitter and unpleasant, while the oak tree does not have any characteristic aftertaste.
Borovik le Gal
In deciduous forests next to oaks, hornbeams and beeches, you can often find boletus, or le Gal. An experienced mushroom picker can easily distinguish it from an oak tree, but a beginner can confuse the varieties due to similar hemispherical caps and strong cylindrical legs with a lower thickening.
The easiest way to distinguish the varieties is by color - the boletus le Gal's cap is not yellowish, but pinkish-orange, like the leg. It is dangerous to confuse mushrooms with each other - legitimate boletus is poisonous and is not suitable for food consumption.
Porcini
This edible doppelgänger resembles a poddubnik in its outlines. The porcini mushroom is characterized by a pillow-like, slightly velvety cap, a very thick and dense cylindrical stem. Like the oak tree, the porcini mushroom is found in deciduous and mixed forests, resembles podunniks in color, its cap can be whitish, brownish, yellowish-brown.
You can distinguish the mushrooms among themselves by the leg - in the porcini mushroom, it is lighter, without redness in the lower part. Boletus is also characterized by a constant color of the pulp, it remains white even when boiled, but oak woods turn blue from contact with air.
Rules for collecting tubular poddubniki
It is best to go to the woods to pick up oak trees in mid-August.The mushroom bears fruit in waves, and its first appearance occurs in June, but at the beginning of summer the harvest is usually weak, but the second and subsequent waves are much more abundant.
It is necessary to collect oak trees in ecologically clean forests away from highways. Industrial facilities should not be located near the forest. Mushroom pulp accumulates toxic substances in itself very quickly, therefore, podolenki collected in contaminated areas do not represent any nutritional value.
Conclusion
The oak mushroom is suitable for consumption in almost all forms, except raw. Among its counterparts there are edible fruiting bodies, but there are also poisonous mushrooms, so before collecting it is necessary to carefully study the information about the poddubnik and its photo.
