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Gall mushroom, false white mushroom, or bitter mushroom, is also popularly known as "false boletus". However, this name does not quite correspond to the truth. The gall mushroom and the common boletus are rather distant relatives (only at the level of the general Boletov family), but outwardly they are very easy to confuse. Despite the fact that the false boletus is not poisonous, it is also inedible, since its pulp has a specific, very bitter taste. Even a few pieces of such a mushroom, once in a dish, can spoil it, and, if eaten, can cause indigestion.
Going to the forest for boletus boletus, you should know how to identify and distinguish false doubles from them, so that the catch from the "quiet hunt" does not spoil the pleasure and does not harm your health.
What mushrooms can be confused with boletus
In fact, boletus mushrooms are a group of several dozen species of mushrooms belonging to the genus Obabok, or Leccinum. They are all edible and delicious. They are united by their convex caps, which acquire a pillow-like shape with age, the color of which varies in a brown or gray-white palette of colors. Legs of boletus boletus are light, long, with a slight thickening in the lower part. Longitudinal scales are clearly visible on them - a characteristic pattern slightly reminiscent of the coloring of birch bark. Their flesh is light, monotonous and does not change its color at the break.
They usually look for boletus mushrooms on clay and sandy soils, in deciduous forests and birch forests. They appear in abundance after rain. They can often be found under poplars or aspens. It happens that aspen mushrooms are mistaken for these mushrooms - another group of species of the same genus Obabok. This is not scary, since both are edible, but knowing how they differ is still useful. So, the cap of the boletus is painted in red or orange tones, and the massive leg is evenly wide along its entire length. Its pulp is coarser and denser than that of boletus, moreover, it quickly turns blue at the place of the break.
The boletus picking season begins at the end of June and lasts until the beginning of November.
At the same time, you can stumble upon false boletus mushrooms, also known as gall or mustard mushrooms. These "doubles" are not poisonous, but they cannot be eaten. The main reason is the extremely bitter taste of their pulp, which only intensifies during any cooking process. If such a false boletus accidentally falls into a cooking dish, the latter, unfortunately, will have to be thrown away. And if it so happened that a sample was taken from the food, it is worth taking measures to prevent a possible deterioration in well-being.
Photo and description of a false boletus
In the photo below - false boletus, or gall mushroom.
It is a tubular species of the genus Tilopilus.It is characterized by a hat from 4 to 10 cm in diameter, painted in a bright yellow-brown, gray-ocher or brown color. In a young specimen, it is convex, hemispherical in shape, while in an old specimen it can become flat or cushion-shaped, with a dry, most often velvety to the touch surface.
The leg of the false boletus is fibrous, massive, from 3 to 13 cm long and 1.5-3 cm in thickness. It has a characteristic swelling at the bottom, which makes it a bit like a mace in shape. The color of the leg is usually creamy ocher, yellowish or brown; a darker mesh is clearly visible on its surface.
The pulp of the bile mushroom is white, practically odorless and very bitter in taste. At a break, it either does not change color at all, or turns a little red.
How to distinguish a false boletus from an edible
With all the external similarity at first glance, false and edible boletus have a number of characteristic differences. There are a few basic points to keep in mind:
- False boletus are almost never wormy. They are free from damage caused by insects.
- The surface of the cap of a real boletus is shiny, smooth. In a false one, it resembles velvet to the touch.
- The color of the skin on the surface of the cap in the edible specimen is rich, but muted. In a false boletus, the skin of the cap is usually brightly colored, and if you look closely, you can notice a characteristic greenish tint.
- The seamy side of the cap of the edible boletus, in contrast to the false counterpart, is painted white underneath, sometimes with a creamy tint. In bitter mushrooms, it is pink: young mushrooms are distinguished by a gentle tone, old ones - dirty.
- The scaly pattern on the surface of the leg of a real boletus resembles birch bark. At the false leg, it is decorated with dark veins, similar to a network of blood vessels.
- The flesh of an edible boletus does not change color at the break. The cap of the false in the place of the incision, as a rule, turns red, and its stem darkens when damaged.
To do this, it is advised to cut off the fruit body and touch the pulp with the tip of the tongue. In edible boletus, the pulp has no taste, but a clear bitterness will help to recognize the gall fungus. However, this diagnostic method is unsafe: even though bitterness is not poisonous, there is always the possibility that another mushroom was mistaken for it, which, in turn, may turn out to be toxic.
More details about what a false boletus looks like and how to distinguish it from edible mushrooms, which it looks like, will be shown in the video:
Symptoms of false boletus poisoning and first aid
Cases of poisoning with false boletus are not described in detail. Strong bitterness, which manifests itself in any dish, where even a small piece of the gall mushroom got by mistake, excludes the possibility that a person will be able to eat at least some dangerous amount of the product. However, there is an opinion that the toxins of the false boletus, even in small quantities, in some cases can cause a malfunction of the digestive organs or an upset stomach.
In any case, the first signs of mushroom poisoning should be remembered. They can be:
- weakness;
- dizziness;
- nausea;
- heartburn;
- diarrhea.
When these symptoms appear, the victim should:
- rinse the stomach by drinking 3-4 glasses of warm clean water and causing a gag reflex;
- take an absorbent as soon as possible (5-6 tablets of activated carbon);
- if in the first hours after poisoning there is no loose stool, you should take a saline laxative or put a cleansing enema;
- go to bed, cover yourself with a blanket, apply warm heating pads to your legs and arms;
- in case of nausea and vomiting, drink in small sips warm water in which table salt is dissolved (1 tsp per 1 glass);
- in case of weakness, drink strong tea with sugar or honey, black coffee;
- be sure to consult a doctor.
In particular, you should hurry up with seeking qualified medical care if the poisoned person has an increase in signs of intoxication:
- temperature increase;
- vomiting;
- increasing abdominal pain;
- hallucinations and clouding of consciousness.
Delaying or underestimating the danger of mushroom poisoning can seriously affect human health and even cost lives.
Conclusion
False boletus, or gall mushroom, cannot be eaten - it has an unpleasant taste, very bitter pulp. However, it is often confused with edible boletus mushrooms, which are popular and beloved by mushroom pickers. However, these mushrooms are similar only at first glance. Having studied them more carefully, you can find a number of significant differences in the color of the cap, the texture of the skin covering it, the color of the pores on its seamy side, the shape of the leg and the pattern on it, the color of the pulp at the break. Remembering which signs characterize a real boletus, and which ones are false, the mushroom picker will not be mistaken in determining what exactly he found. In this case, his "catch" will not spoil the mushroom dish and will not harm health. But if it so happened that mushroom poisoning still happened, you need to know how it manifests itself, immediately provide the victim with first aid and be sure to consult a doctor.
