Mushroom royal honey agaric (flake golden)
Royal mushrooms fully justify their name, widely distributed among the people. Hats of this species reach up to 20 cm in diameter, and grow more than 20 cm in height. In the scientific world, royal mushrooms are called golden flakes.
These autumn mushrooms do not grow in such large clusters as other species. Royal honey agarics or golden flakes prefer “loneliness” or grow in small groups. This species is rare, but mushroom pickers even in these cases do not always collect them, considering them inedible. But it must be said that the taste of scaly royal mushrooms is practically no different from all the beloved and popular autumn species.
Beginner mushroom pickers ask: is the royal honey agaric edible or not? To find out the answer to this question, let's take a look at the photo and description of the royal mushrooms.
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What royal mushrooms look like: photo and description of mushrooms
Latin name: Pholiota aurivella.
Family: stropharia.
Gender: folio or flake.
Synonyms: royal honey agaric, flake golden, flake sulfur-yellow, willow.
Edibility: edible mushroom.
Hat: the diameter of the cap is large, at a young age from 5 to 10 cm; in adult specimens from 10 to 20 cm. The shape of the hat is wide-bell-shaped, but with age changes to a flat-round shape. The color of the hat varies from rusty yellow to dirty golden. The entire surface of the cap is dotted with flakey flakes of a reddish hue.
Leg: length from 6 to 12 cm, diameter from 1 to 2 cm. A dense, yellow-brown hue with brownish scales located on it. The leg is framed by a fibrous ring, however, as the fungus grows, the ring disappears.
Records: wide and adherent to denticles. The color of the plates at a young age is light straw. As they grow older, the color becomes olive or brown.
Pulp: It has a pleasant smell, whitish yellow in color.
Application: mushrooms are very useful for people suffering from anemia. They contain a lot of magnesium and iron - substances that are involved in hematopoiesis. Eating the autumn royal honey agaric helps to compensate for the lack of minerals in the human body and increases hemoglobin. In addition, this species of honey agarics regulates the proper functioning of the thyroid gland.
Spread: often found in deciduous forests, as well as in coniferous forests of marshy areas throughout Russia.
Photos of royal mushrooms will help beginner mushroom pickers to distinguish this species from false mushrooms:
Where do the autumn royal mushrooms grow?
It is worth noting that edible species of royal mushrooms grow on damaged tree trunks, old, long-cut stumps. They can also be found on the ground next to the roots of dead deciduous and conifers. The fruiting of golden scales or royal honey agarics begins in the month of August and continues until the end of September. Residents of the Primorsky Territory can pick these amazing mushrooms from mid-May to mid-September.
Where else do royal mushrooms grow, and which trees do they prefer the most? Usually this species of honey agarics settles on the trunks of deciduous trees, especially on alder or willow; sometimes it selects birch and birch stumps, less often - conifers in wetlands. Look at the photos below, showing what the royal mushrooms look like on the trees in the forest:
Sometimes even experienced mushroom pickers, due to the rare appearance of golden flakes, confuse them with false honey mushrooms that grow in the same territories. Therefore, we suggest that you carefully read the photos of edible and false royal mushrooms:
As already mentioned, flakes or royal mushrooms are edible mushrooms. However, before use, it must be boiled in salted water for 20-25 minutes. Since royal mushrooms have excellent taste, they are used in appetizers, salads, first and second courses. Flakes are especially well combined with fried or boiled potatoes. In addition, many housewives make preparations for the winter from these mushrooms: picklesalt, freeze and are dried.
Sometimes honey mushrooms can be found in pine forests and spruce forests. What does the royal mushroom look like if you found it in a coniferous forest? Usually flakes collected in deciduous forests are different from those growing in conifers. The first difference between honey mushrooms found in pine forests is the dark color of hats and scales, and the second is a bitter taste. However, royal mushrooms have a lot of vitamin C, PP and E. In addition, 100 g of flakes account for only 22 calories, so the calorie content of this species is very low. That is why they are useful for vegetarians and those who follow a low-calorie diet. By the content of phosphorus and calcium, royal mushrooms compete even with fish.
Experts ranked royal mushrooms in the IV category of edibility. That is why in other countries they are not eaten or even collected, since this category abroad refers to inedible species. However, in Russia they are cooked in the same way as ordinary autumn mushrooms. They are first boiled in salted water and only then they are fried, stewed or cooked first courses. In addition, royal autumn mushrooms are used in other culinary recipes: they prepare mushroom stew, julienne, make caviar, pastes, sauces, solyanka and mushroom fillings for pizzas and pies.
Royal mushroom hats, reminiscent of spiky balls, are very good to pickle or salt. However, each mushroom must undergo primary treatment: cleaning from scales and forest debris. The main taste of golden scales is hidden in hats. After long boiling, the legs become hard and dry.
Although the golden flake is widespread in Russia and is well recognized, it is not collected so often. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this type of mushroom is not familiar to many. However, real connoisseurs of mushroom delicacies put it on a par with autumn honey mushrooms and even mushrooms. We offer you to watch a video of collecting royal mushrooms in deciduous forests by lovers of "silent hunting":
How to distinguish royal mushrooms from false mushrooms (with photo)
Royal mushrooms are often called willow grass, as it is on willows that it is harvested. These mushrooms grow almost from mid-summer to frost. Inexperienced mushroom pickers can confuse an edible mushroom with an inedible moth. How to distinguish royal mushrooms from false inedible mushrooms? The false honey agaric is growing only on the ashes, as well as on old bonfires overgrown with grass and shrubs. It has a bright color, a bitter taste and an unpleasant odor.Although the pulp is juicy and dense, it is not eaten because of the smell. The fungus can be a serious danger to human health. Therefore, we offer to compare the photo of the royal honey agaric and false:
There are several more royal species of honey mushrooms, which are considered conditionally edible.
For example, a mucous flake, which is very similar to a royal golden flake. The caps of young mushrooms are bell-shaped, which, as the mushrooms grow, becomes concave, and the edges of the caps rise. If the weather is rainy, then the flesh becomes mucous and sticky, which was the name for the flake - mucous. The leg of this mushroom becomes hollow over time, and the ring on the leg completely disappears. Mucous flakes grow only on decayed wood from mid-August to early October.
Another false royal mushroom - cinder scaleis considered inedible. The shape of the cap at a young age of the mushroom is hemispherical, and in mature it becomes fully extended. The color of the cap is very bright - orange-brown, the edges are covered with scraps of bedspread. The foot of the scale, especially its lower part, is densely covered with brown fibers. The ring inherent in these mushrooms is not visible at all on the leg.
Edible flake is considered to be ordinary flake, which is similar to royal mushrooms. Although it has healing properties, it still has one drawback - hallucinogenicity. It is possible to eat it, but only after a long heat treatment. Boil this kind for at least 40 minutes and only then eat. This type of mushroom is harvested very rarely, usually only those who know how to cook it. After all, experienced mushroom pickers know that eating ordinary flakes with alcohol is strictly prohibited. Opium in this form, in interaction with alcohol, can have unpredictable effects on the body.To know how to distinguish royal mushrooms, we suggest you look at the photos showing these differences:
Having become familiar with them, you can safely go to the forest for royal mushrooms. However, if you are still not confident in your knowledge, it is better not to take risks, but to collect only those fruiting bodies that you are familiar with.
Why in one article is an ordinary edible flake, and in another conditionally edible?