Dry squirrels: description, photo, features

Remarkable edible mushrooms - dry mushrooms - are common in coniferous and mixed forests. This species is called Russula delica, or podgruzdok. In fact, this is a russula. Real mushrooms are rare inhabitants of forests, they are much harder to find, they have bitter milky juice. And the so-called dry ducks grow from July to October in birch groves, pine and coniferous forests, while their number is simply incredible. Discover these white sturdy in the dry dark soil of coniferous forests is very simple. The helpless white color poses itself against the dark background of the earth and fallen pine needles. But among the grass, the search becomes more complicated: you need to look closely at each bump.

The mushroom is dry and has a white smooth surface. In young fruiting bodies it has a light bluish tint, even more noticeable is the blue coloration from the back side of the fungus. The diameter of the cap can reach 20 cm, at first the shape is always convex with a small pit in the center, the edges are wrapped down. The older the dry mush (the photo is shown below), the more the hat opens, in dry weather it splits, in a rainy summer it is necessarily eaten out by slugs and flies. Over time, yellow and brown spots appear throughout the surface. Dry mushrooms - plate mushrooms, with white dense flesh, without pronounced taste and smell.

The plates are white, smoothly turning to the foot. It is short, strong, its surface is smooth, the flesh is dense, while in old mushrooms it is loose, almost always eaten by worms. Dry mushrooms very rarely are clean and white, if only at the very beginning of growth. In any weather, whether it's a drought or a rainy summer, they are affected by worms, and on their hats they like to ambush mushroom flies.

Dry mushrooms are considered edible. Indeed, they can be salted, boiled, fried, marinated. But most often they go for salting, like harvesting for the winter. If as a result of a hike into the forest a sufficient number of gruzies have accumulated, then it is necessary to start processing as soon as possible. Clean and wash these mushrooms will be much easier if they are soaked in boiling water for 20-30 minutes. The fragile bonnet becomes softer and more plastic under the influence of heat. To quickly get rid of the dirt, trapped between the plates, the mushrooms are washed under running water. After which they can be allowed into the saline. Since the fungus does not emit milky juice, its flesh does not have a bitter taste, like a real raw mushroom. Therefore, mushrooms can be salted, that is, stand in brine for a week, after which they can be eaten.

Young specimens are also good in fried form. To do this, they are first impregnated with boiling water, washed, cut into small pieces and fried in warmed-up oil for 15-20 minutes. In this case, the pieces become a bit stiff, with a crispy crust and a pleasant mild taste. It is worth noting that it is possible to cook this way only podgruzhki, which do not have milky juice on the cut. All other similar fungi that secrete white juice have a sharp bitter taste. This bitterness disappears in the brine, after 1.5-2 months. Dry mushrooms do not have such an unpleasant feature. The mushroom is good for taste and easy to handle!