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Swamp mushroom is an edible lamellar mushroom. Representative of the russula family, the genus Millechniki. Latin name: Lactarius sphagneti.
Description of the marsh lump
Fruit bodies of the species are not too large. They are distinguished by a noticeable bright color, which is not very characteristic of the milk mushroom.
Description of the hat
Head width up to 55 mm. Appears convex, later opens, with a depression in the center, sometimes transforms into a funnel. Other characteristics:
- protruding tubercle in the center;
- in young specimens, the border is smooth, bent, and later drops;
- the skin is slightly wrinkled;
- chestnut color, brown-reddish to terracotta and ocher tone;
- with age, the top brightens.
Bottom narrow, densely spaced plates that descend to the leg. The lamellar layer and spore powder are reddish.
The swamp species has a creamy white flesh. Light brown under the skin, darker on the leg below. At the fracture, a whitish sap appears, which immediately darkens to yellow-gray.
Leg description
Stem height up to 70 mm, width up to 10 mm, dense, hollow with age, pubescent near the ground. The surface color corresponds to the color of the cap or is lighter.
Where and how it grows
Marsh mushrooms grow in a forest zone of a temperate climate, in lowlands covered with moss, under birches, pines and lindens. The species is common in the Belarusian and Volga forests, in the Urals and in the West Siberian taiga. The mycelium is rarely seen, the family is large. Harvested from June or August to September-October, depending on the area.
Is the mushroom edible or not
Small reddish edible mushrooms. In terms of nutritional value, they belong to the 3rd or 4th category.
How to cook swamp lump
The collected mushrooms are placed in water and soaked to extract the bitter juice for 6-60 hours. Then salted or pickled. Sometimes, after soaking, the fruit bodies are boiled for half an hour and salted hot or fried.
Cooking rules:
- the first water is poured out with bitterness, new is poured in and boiled;
- when soaking in the morning and evening, change the water;
- salted fruit bodies will be ready in 7 or 15-30 days, depending on the salt concentration.
Doubles and their differences
The conditionally edible looks like a swamp lump papillary breast, it is slightly larger, with a cap up to 90 mm. The skin color is brown, with an admixture of gray, bluish or purple tones. The height of the whitish leg is up to 75 mm. The species grows in forests on sandy soils.
Inedible double - milkman orange, which is considered poisonous by some scientists. The toxins are not strong enough to cause great harm to health, but they do upset the gastrointestinal tract. The cap of the lactarius is orange, 70 mm wide, young, convex, then depressed. The color of the smooth, slippery skin is orange. The leg is the same in tone. Millers grow in deciduous forests from the middle of summer.
Conclusion
Swamp mushrooms are harvested during a quiet hunt for salting; before cooking, the mushrooms are soaked. The species is rare, but appreciated by mushroom lovers.
