Few mushroom pickers are pear-shaped white mushrooms that grow in abundance in forests, grassy meadows and parks. Raincoats are difficult to confuse with other mushrooms - ripened specimens, when pressed, secrete a large number of tiny spores that fly out of the fruiting bodies in the form of a dust cloud. The mushroom has many names: powder flask, dust maker, hare potato, tobacco mushroom, bloody tawlink, wolf tobacco, grandfather tobacco. Despite its unpopularity among fans of "silent hunting", the raincoat has high nutritional value, excellent taste. The people have long used it to treat many diseases. And its radioprotective and antitumor properties have found application in medicine.

Raincoat

The raincoat of the Champignon family is a dense mushroom having a pear-shaped (sometimes club-shaped) fruiting body.

Description of the distinguishing features of the fungus:

• the absence of a "pronounced" hat (the false leg, expanding, passes into a spherical hat);
• spores form inside the fruiting body.

Mushroom pickers, before proceeding with the collection of this mushroom, must have the following information about it:

1. Dimensions. There are several subspecies of tobacco mushroom, each of which has its own size. Weight can range from 5-7 g to 2 kg.
2. The form. Different types of fungus are ovoid, pear-shaped or round. A distinctive feature is the lack of a distinct leg.
3. Upper shell. Surface - from white to grayish or yellowish. Often the surface is covered with small spike-like growths, similar to warts. A distinctive feature of flapping is two shells: the upper one, which has a smooth texture and the inner one is leathery.
4. Pulp. The young specimens in the section are white. Ripe are distinguished by dark flesh.

When collecting raincoats, it is important to consider the following:

1. You can only take mushrooms with dense, elastic flesh.
2. The slice should not contain extraneous shades (yellowish, greenish and others). It is important that the pulp is exclusively white, without extraneous impregnations and streaks.
3. Only immature young specimens are suitable for use.

Important! Raincoats do not collect immediately after heavy rainfall. Absorbing a large amount of moisture, they tend to acquire a jelly-like consistency and become inedible.

Where and when it grows

Raincoats are very unpretentious. They feed on organic residues, which explains their wide distribution in all climatic zones. They cannot be found only in Antarctica.

The most preferred places for grandfather tobacco to grow are:

• coniferous forests;
• grassy meadows;
• deciduous planting;
• parks in cities.

The beginning of fruiting of these mushrooms, depending on weather conditions and climatic zone, begins in late spring - early summer. Harvesting can continue until frost.

Raincoat subspecies

The raincoat is divided into several subspecies, the most common of which are the following:

Giant golovach

1. Sizes. The mushroom is very large (some specimens can reach eight kilograms).
2. The form. Flattened ball.
3. Surface. Smooth or flaky. In young specimens - white, dirty green - in overripe mushrooms.
4. Pulp. Friable.

Pear-shaped

1. The size. The average diameter of the wide part is 6-7 cm, the length is 4.5-5 cm.
2. The form. Pear-shaped. Plaque - fused with the upper membrane.
3. Surface. The upper skin is white with a milky tint, has small spikes. The inside has a surface with cracks or flakes. Color - gray-brown, may be yellowish.
4. Pulp. Loose, friable.

Prickly (pearl, needle)

1. Sizes. 2-7 cm in diameter, length - 3-4 cm.
2. The form. Pear-shaped, slightly flattened.
3. Surface. Young specimens have a white membrane that darkens upon maturation. Color ranges from gray to violet-brown. The surface is covered with small spike-like growths or warts.
4. Pulp. White, in old fruiting bodies - gray.

Golovach oblong

1. The form. Elongated.
2. Surface. White, covered with very thin soft spike-like growths.
3. Pulp. The young golovachka is white, the ripe one is very dark, closer to black.

Lugovoi

1. Sizes. Diameter: 1.5–6 cm, length: 0.9–5.5 cm.
2. The form. Spherical.
3. Surface. Young meadow raincoats have a white shell, adult mushrooms - brown.
4. Pulp. Young specimens have white flesh, old ones have brown flesh.

It should be remembered that there are false, inedible subspecies:

Warty (poisonous)

1. Sizes. Diameter: 4.5-5 cm.
2. The form. Tuberous, without leg.
3. Surface. Tough and thick yellow skin with a gray tint. The ripened mushroom has a brown tone.
4. Pulp. Distinctive feature: potato aroma with spicy fragrance.

Raincoat

1. Sizes. Diameter: 5.5-6 cm.
2. The form. It features a thick smooth shell, with small scales. Color - from dirty yellow to brown.
3. Pulp. White, as it grows and ripens, acquires a dark color, right down to black.
4. Feature: the presence of white fibers. The aroma is reminiscent of truffle.

Spotted (panther, leopard sclerodema)

1. Sizes. Diameter: 1.5–5 cm.
2. The form. Spherical, without leg.
3. Surface. It has a white smooth shell. When ripe, the color of the shell turns into brown-yellow with a leopard pattern formed by flakes with brown rims.
4. Pulp. Young sclerodema has a white flesh and a sweet aroma. As it grows, it appears in green-brown or dark-violet colors.
5. Feature: the presence of white veins.

How to collect and process

The first dust collectors are harvested in late spring, after rains. Even in the “poor” mushroom season, there are a lot of them, therefore, having minimal knowledge about inedible subspecies, you do not need to pass by these gifts of the forest.

It is important to know the following:

• do not collect on rainy days;
• Only young, resilient specimens need to be cut.

In order to weed out specimens that are not suitable for eating, the first thing you need to pay attention to:

1. Shell color. The lighter, the younger the fruiting body. Incorrectly oriented on the size, small specimens may turn out to be overripe and tasteless. Also note that the shell of a young fruiting body may darken from the ground, so it is better to check the color on the cut.
2. The color of the flesh. It is better to cut mushrooms at home without contaminating the pulp. Suitable for cooking dust collectors have a pure white flesh, otherwise it is old or false subspecies. Old specimens are distinguished by friable, sometimes sticky pulp, having a gray or greenish-yellow color. They are not poisonous, but not suitable for food, because they are filled with spores and have an unpleasant taste.

After collecting the raincoats, it is recommended to quickly process, peel the upper rough skin and boil.

Edibility and taste

Raincoats of all edible varieties have a wonderful taste, pleasant aroma.Store these mushrooms (without loss of useful qualities) should be no longer than 1-2 hours. You can save them for a longer time by freezing. To do this, fruit bodies are cut into small pieces and quickly frozen.

Did you know? According to nutritional value, raincoats are not inferior to ceps. In the XVIII century, decoctions of them were used in a complex of therapeutic measures for tuberculosis.

You can also use the drying method, since the raincoat does not lose its taste, as well as nutritional value and in dried form. You can cook a wide variety of dishes from flanking - it is good in soups, fried, salted and pickled.

For maximum assimilation of this product (in stews or fried foods), it is recommended to boil it for 10 minutes beforehand. In order to fully cook the mushrooms, it is enough to cook them for a quarter of an hour.

Useful and healing properties

The use of damn tavlinka allows you to replenish the diet with various substances necessary for the normal functioning of all body systems.

Not inferior in their chemical composition to other edible mushrooms, raincoats are a source of:

• proteins (100 g of the product contains 4.3 g);
• fats (up to 1 g per 100 g);
• carbohydrates (about 1 g);
• a complex of vitamins;
• macro- and microelements (chromium, sodium, calcium, fluorine, iodine, iron, molybdenum);
• amino acids (phenylalanine, methionine, tryptophan, cystine);
• polysaccharides;
• mineral salts;
• antibiotics.

Few mushroom pickers know about the benefits of a raincoat, but doctors highly value its healing properties, and in folk medicine it is used to treat various ailments.

• Due to its composition, these mushrooms have a positive effect on the human body. With moderate consumption, they:
• improve the activity of the heart and blood vessels;
• remove harmful substances from the body;
• neutralize the effect of radionuclides;
• remove toxins;
• strengthen the immune system;
• reduce blood viscosity;
• normalize high blood pressure;
• clear the gastrointestinal tract;
• regulate metabolic processes;
• have an analgesic effect;
• improve skin condition, rejuvenate it and increase turgor.

Did you know? Official medicine recognized the unique ability of a raincoat to cleanse the body of salts of heavy metals, radionuclides, as well as harmful fluoride and chloride compounds. For some time they were even used to clean environmentally polluted land.

• Unused flirts are used in folk medicine. Decoctions of them are effective in:
• heat;
• high blood pressure;
• venous congestion;
• angina pectoris;
• viral hepatitis;
• problems with the genitourinary system;
• urolithiasis;
• inflammatory processes of the throat;
• purulent wounds;
• runny nose;
• anemia
• food poisoning;
• skin diseases (in particular, with eczema);
• kidney pain.

It is believed that decoctions from a raincoat inhibit the development of tumors.

All subspecies are excellent antiseptics with hemostatic properties. It is enough to attach a small piece of pulp to the wound to stop bleeding, and prevent infection and suppuration of the wound. The ability of these fungi to remove toxic substances from the body is widely used in the production of biologically active additives and cosmetic products that have a rejuvenating effect.

Contraindications and possible harm

• Despite the healing qualities and useful properties, representatives of the mushroom kingdom can do harm if used when:
• pregnancy
• breastfeeding;
• kidney problems;
• individual intolerance.

It should also be remembered that the flanker, like no other mushroom, absorbs harmful substances from the soil and air. Therefore, to avoid poisoning, you should refuse to collect fruit bodies near roads or near industrial enterprises. If you follow these simple recommendations, a “silent hunt” will bring only positive emotions.

Growing

This type of mushroom is one of the most unpretentious, therefore it is easy to grow them on a personal plot. Mycelium can be purchased in specialized stores, or you can collect it yourself from mature fruiting bodies.

Important! In order for the mushroom ridge to bear fruit constantly, it is recommended (from time to time) to plant fresh mushroom mycelium in the trench.

Planting any kind of raincoat is as follows:

1. Site selection. Raincoats feel good on a shaded area. Therefore, it is better to sow them under trees or under a canopy.
2. Trench preparation. The optimal dimensions of the trench: width - 2 m, depth - 0.2-0.3 m. In the trench, it is necessary to pour nutrient substance for the development of the mycelium - a mixture of aspen, birch, poplar foliage, as well as thin branches of the listed trees with a layer of about 2 cm. Carefully tamp compost so that the total thickness of the nutrient layer does not exceed 20 cm. Pour with water and sprinkle with a layer of earth about 5 cm.
3. Sowing mycelium. The seed must be distributed evenly over the surface of the trench, then drip (you can use a watering can) and cover with a layer of branches.
4. Watering. It is important to prevent the ridge from drying out. It is better to use rainwater, but well or river will do. Slight overmoistening will not harm the mycelium.
5. Care. About a month later, white thin filaments appear in the soil, which indicates the beginning of the process of overgrowing of the area with mycelium. After this, the trench should be mulched with slightly rotted foliage.

After performing these simple manipulations under favorable weather conditions, raincoats begin to sprout in a year.

Raincoat is one of the most common mushrooms in forests and meadows. Young specimens have a very pleasant aroma and taste, which allows you to use them to prepare many dishes. Being a rich source of protein, vitamins, minerals, they have a beneficial effect on human health, and also help protect the body from the harmful effects of the environment and prevent cancer.

They can be easily grown on a personal plot or, armed with the above description, found in the forest. Whichever method you choose, remember that you need to collect them in environmentally friendly places so that these mushrooms bring you exclusively benefit.