Description

In Latin, the chestnut mushroom is called Gyroporus castaneus (chestnut gyroporus), and popularly – chestnut mushroom, hare mushroom or sand mushroom. Previously, this species belonged to the Boletaceae family, genus Gyroporus. Today, the Gyroporidae subfamily has been transformed into the Gyroporidae family. Outwardly, it looks like a porcini or Polish mushroom and has the following description:

• in young specimens the cap is convex, its size is 3-9 cm in diameter;
• the surface is velvety-fleecy;
• skin color is brown or beige;
• hymenophore tubular;
• spores oval, ellipsoid;
• spore powder white-yellow;
• brown leg is hollow inside, height up to 8 cm.

The older the body, the fewer fibers remain on its cap, what can you do, everyone goes bald... It can crack around the edges if the summer is dry. The cut of the flesh on the cap and stem does not darken. The old chestnut mushroom has a hollow tubular stem that thickens towards its base. Its height depends on weather conditions, height from 3 cm to 8 cm.

The pulp of the chestnut mushroom is characterized by its fleshiness and white color. It is fragile in a young organism, but the old hare mushroom has hard and dry pulp.

Irina Selyutina (Biologist):

Indeed, initially the chestnut tree has a convex cap, but then it becomes flattened, thin-felt, or almost smooth. The spongy layer (hymenophore) is finely porous, white or whitish. The leg is one color along its entire length with a cap, smooth, without a ring (“skirt”) - the remains of a private veil covering the hymenophore.

Grows in coniferous and deciduous (usually broad-leaved) forests. In the territory of the post-Soviet space, this species is more often found in the southern half of the European part, sometimes in the Volga region, Leningrad and Moscow regions, the Caucasus and the Far East. You can also find it in Europe, Asia (Japan), and North America.

This rare forest species, the chestnut mushroom, is listed in the Red Book of Russia. It grows under broad-leaved trees. It forms mycorrhizae with beeches, oaks and conifers.

This mushroom or chestnut gyroporus has several similar species, edible and non-edible. The edible species include the blue gyroporus (Gyroporus cyanescens), and the poisonous species include the gallfish (Tylopilus felleus).

Gyroporus blue

It is listed in the Red Book of Russia and is known under several other names: bruise, birch gyropor. Description:

• the cap has a characteristic convexity;
• the size of the upper part is from 6 cm to 16 cm in diameter;
• color light yellow or grayish, with a brown tint;
• the skin is dry and velvety to the touch;
• the leg can reach 10 cm in height;
• the leg is hollow inside;
• the taste is pleasant, delicate, without bitterness.

When broken, the flesh has a characteristic blue or cornflower blue color, which is where its name comes from. In young specimens the leg is dense, thickened downwards, and with age it becomes hollow and fragile.

Irina Selyutina (Biologist):

The bruise, or gyroporus lividus, is characterized by a rather thick pale yellow stalk without a ring, of the same color with a cap (directly under the cap - light). You can find the mushroom in forests and meadows. Capable of forming mycorrhiza with birch, chestnut, oak and presumably pine. Since this mushroom is often found in meadows, the question of mycorrhiza is open.

Creates mycorrhiza with birch and oak trees. Grows well on sandy soils, in moderate climatic zone, bears fruit from mid-July to the end of September.

Gall mushroom

The gallbladder is an inedible counterpart to Gyroporus chestnut. Belongs to the genus Tylopilus from the Boletaceae family. Fruits from July to October, on sandy, light soils, in coniferous or mixed forests.

Description:

• cap size up to 12-14 cm in diameter;
• the shape of the “hood” is convex;
• skin color from brown to brown;
• the flesh is white and soft;
• When cut, the flesh turns pink;
• the leg grows up to 10 cm;
• base diameter up to 3.5 cm;
• leg color is pale beige;
• The taste of the pulp is bitter.

White tubes of young hymenophora gall mushrooms as it develops, with age they become pale pink and dirty. Their aroma is weak, not pronounced. The taste is reminiscent of quinine.

The mushroom is considered inedible precisely because of its disgusting taste. However, some mushroom pickers soak it in salt water and then cook it. Some specialists Western countries On the contrary, we are sure that the gall fungus is poisonous and its pulp contains toxins (even in small quantities), which, when absorbed into the blood after eating it or even simply touching it, cause disturbances in the liver, which ultimately can lead to cirrhosis of this organ.

Beneficial features

Chestnut tree has mass useful properties, thanks to its unique chemical composition, which includes fiber, natural protein, minerals, vitamins and microelements. It has antioxidant effects due to the presence of theanine. Medicines based on mushrooms have the following beneficial properties:

• calm the nervous system;
• stabilize blood pressure;
• increase immunity;
• promote weight loss;
• help in the fight against cancer.

The polysaccharides and amino acids that the forest organism contains actively counteract the cells that cause the development of Ehrlich carcinoma and sarcoma.

Mushrooms. Polish mushroom. Bavarian vegetable garden.

Polish mushroom (Boletus badius). Collecting chestnut moss and boletus in the pine forest (10/16/2017)

Application

Preparations made from chestnut mushrooms help with cerebral vascular spasms and epilepsy.

A water tincture is used to treat joints and psoriasis. If necessary, decoctions are used as an emetic and anthelmintic.

Chestnut mushroom has a weak aroma and a specific taste. To enhance the smell, it is subjected to heat treatment; it is more suitable for frying or boiling, as well as for drying, which reveals its qualities. It is not suitable for pickling due to its bitter taste. Hares love it, hence the second name of the mushroom - hare.

Conclusion

The large and beautiful chestnut mushroom is considered a desirable catch for lovers of “quiet hunting” who know how to prepare it correctly. It is rare and grows in small groups. But it’s better to pass by and not cut off this endangered species of forest organisms. In Russia, their collection is prohibited by law and is considered poaching.

(chestnut)

or chestnut gyroporus, sand mushroom, hare mushroom

- edible mushroom

✎ Affiliation and generic characteristics

Chestnut mushroom(lat. Gyroporus castaneus) or gyroporus (gyroporus) chestnut, popularly - chestnut tree or sand mushroom (hare mushroom)- type of porous cap mushrooms the genus Gyroporus (lat. Gyroporus), the same family of gyroporaceae (lat. Gyroporaceae) and the order boletaceae (lat. Boletales).
This is a very rare edible mushroom, listed in the Red Book of Russia, which forms mycorrhiza with broad-leaved trees (beeches, oaks, lindens, maples and chestnuts), but sometimes with conifers (pines) and which, in its appearance, is very similar to the Polish mushroom, and in fact - its complete analogue, with the only difference being that its fruiting body, stem and cap have more impressive, “lush” shapes and a slightly less juicy color.
It is precisely for this reason that many open sources consider the chestnut mushroom and the Polish mushroom to be the same mushroom and describe them not even as synonymous, but as identical concepts. But this is not at all true and not even correct from a scientific point of view, because they belong to different clan classes and have different family backgrounds.
Therefore, a chestnut mushroom in its appearance can resemble not only a small Polish mushroom, but also larger edible mushrooms, for example: porcini mushroom (or boletus), but only its stem (like most gyroporuses) has cavities or voids inside and has a brownish color, and not matte gray, like the porcini mushroom and boletus.
And the chestnut mushroom received this name apparently because of its chestnut color and good adaptability to grow on sandy soils, especially in mixed coniferous-deciduous and deciduous forests and be one of the favorite delicacies of forest dwellers, for example, hares.

✎ Similar appearance and nutritional value

It is worth noting that in addition to the similarity with some edible mushrooms, chestnut mushroom It may also look a little like the conditionally edible squash (or gyroporus (gyroporus) blue), popularly called a bruise, with which it is united by both clan affiliation and nepotism, and also the same hollow or with voids inside the leg, but what distinguishes it is that its flesh, unlike the pulp of the butterfly, does not turn blue when broken. Inedible double the chestnut mushroom is the same as the semi-white mushroom - it is a gall mushroom, to which it is externally similar and with which it shares the same bitter taste of the pulp. The chestnut mushroom does not have any resemblance to poisonous mushrooms.
In terms of many taste qualities and nutritional value, the chestnut mushroom, like the Polish mushroom, belongs to the edible mushrooms of the second category and, due to its rare occurrence, is considered a very desirable, valuable and, in a gastronomic sense, a very, very delicious mushroom.
So, any mushroom picker will be happy to find it (but what will he do with it, keeping in mind that the mushroom is listed in the Red Book of Russia and its collection is pure poaching), and any cook will quietly, but with pleasure, quietly accept it into your kitchen and prepare a wonderful culinary masterpiece from it.

✎ Distribution in nature and seasonality

As previously mentioned, the chestnut mushroom prefers mixed broad-leaved and pine-oak forests. Moreover, he always chooses not very dense and, at the same time, well-lit and dry oak forests. He does not like to climb deep into the forest, but always settles along the forest edges. It is best distributed in the forests of Western and of Eastern Europe, rich in broad-leaved tree species and found mainly in more southern regions from France to the Far East, but extremely rarely everywhere. And on the territory of Russia, the chestnut mushroom is found even less frequently, mainly in the northern temperate zone, and where forests with such vegetation are not in short supply. And these are the western and southwestern outskirts of the country, the south of the European part, the Caucasus, partly Western Siberia and Far East. And it doesn’t bear fruit for long, usually from the end of July - beginning of August until the middle or end of September. The chestnut mushroom is not a small mushroom at all and is larger than average in size (larger, for example, than the Polish mushroom).

✎ Brief description and application

The chestnut mushroom is a typical representative of the tubular mushroom section and the inside of its cap has a porous structure. The tubes of the “sponge” (hymenophore) of the chestnut mushroom are whitish-cream or yellowish-cream in color. The mushroom cap is chestnut-colored, but comes in different shades - from light chestnut or orange-brown to reddish-brown, and it is dry and slightly velvety or smooth to the touch. The mushroom does not change color when cut.

Chestnut mushroom, when cooked, always tastes slightly bitter and therefore it is used mainly in dried form, in which all bitterness is completely removed from it. But you can also use it for frying in its “raw” form, but not for pickling or pickling, because the brine in which it will be preserved will still taste bitter and ruin both the dish and the appetite.

Inexperienced mushroom pickers may confuse it with a porcini mushroom. The difference lies in the stem of the chestnut mushroom, which is brown in color and hollow inside. Popularly, this mushroom is also called hare or sand mushroom. The cap is often convex, less often flat, with a diameter of 3 to 8 centimeters. The color varies, most often brown, sometimes light brown. The surface of the cap of a young chestnut tree is velvety, even fleecy, and gradually becomes smooth during the ripening process. During dry periods, the caps of chestnut mushrooms often crack from lack of moisture. The tubes of the Chestnut mushroom are white, but in more mature representatives they turn yellow; they differ in that they do not darken when cut, but if you press on them, brown or almost brown spots form in this place. The stalk has a cylindrical shape, sometimes slightly thickened at the bottom; the size of this thickening depends on the amount of precipitation that fell during the growth of the fungus, and varies from 4 to 8 centimeters.

Hat: Rusty-brown, red-brown or chestnut-brown, in young mushrooms the chestnut mushroom is convex, in maturity it is flat or cushion-shaped, with a diameter of 40-110 mm. The surface of the chestnut Gyroporus cap is initially velvety or slightly fluffy, but later becomes bare. In dry weather it often cracks. The tubes are initially white, yellow at maturity, non-blue when cut, initially adherent at the stem, later free, up to 8 mm long. The pores are small, rounded, initially white, then yellow; when pressure is applied to them, brown spots remain.

Leg: Central or eccentric, irregularly cylindrical or club-shaped, flattened, glabrous, dry, red-brown, 35-80 mm tall and 8-30 mm thick. The inside is solid, later with cotton filling, at maturity it is hollow or with chambers.

Pulp: White, does not change color when cut. At first it is hard, fleshy, becomes fragile with age, the taste and smell are inexpressive.

Spore powder: Pale yellow.

Disputes: 7-10 x 4-6 microns, ellipsoidal, smooth, colorless or with a delicate yellowish tint.

• The chestnut mushroom grows quite rarely and is included in the Red Book of Russia.
• The substance boletol, which has antibiotic activity, was obtained from the fungus.

Where does the chestnut mushroom grow?

The chestnut mushroom forms mycorrhiza with deciduous trees (oaks, beeches, chestnuts), and occasionally also with coniferous trees (pines).

This species is found in light broad-leaved and mixed forests, on forest edges. It usually grows on sandy soils. Fruits singly or in small groups.

The distribution area of ​​the chestnut mushroom includes northern zone temperate climate, ranging from France to the European part of Russia, as well as North Caucasus, Western Siberia, Far East. Is a rare species.

The fruiting season for the chestnut mushroom begins in July and lasts until the end of September.

Use

Chestnut mushroom is an edible mushroom good quality, sometimes during boiling the mushroom acquires a bitter taste. The chestnut mushroom is mainly used for drying; the bitterness always disappears. Also in cooking, chestnut mushroom is used for fresh frying.

Never use chestnut mushrooms only for pickling and pickling, since the brine in which this mushroom is preserved will taste bitter, and dishes with it will lose their taste.

100 g of fresh chestnut mushroom contains about 19 kcal, of which:

• Proteins, g……………….. 1.7
• Fats, g……………….. 0.7
• Carbohydrates, g…….…….1.5

Poisonous and inedible types of chestnut mushroom

The inedible counterpart for the chestnut mushroom is the same as for the half-white mushroom. It is a gall mushroom, with which the chestnut mushroom shares both external similarity and the bitter taste of the pulp.

Gall mushroom (Tylopilus felleus)

Inedible mushroom due to its bitter taste. Belongs to the genus Tylopilus in the Boletaceae family.

It grows rarely in coniferous forests, mainly on sandy soil; the fruiting season lasts from July to October.

The cap reaches 10 cm in diameter, the shape is convex, in old mushrooms it is flat-convex, the top is smooth, dry, brownish or brownish in color. Pulp white, thick, soft, turns pink when cut, the smell is not pronounced, the taste is very bitter. The tubular layer of the young mushroom is white, gradually becoming dirty pink. The spores are smooth and pink. The leg is up to 7 cm long, 1 to 3 cm in diameter, swollen in shape, creamy-ochre in color, with a dark brown mesh pattern.

When cooked, the bitterness of the gall fungus does not disappear, but only intensifies. To get rid of it, sometimes the gall fungus is soaked in salt water, but the fungus is usually considered inedible.

The similarity with poisonous mushrooms for the chestnut mushroom has not been described.

Growing chestnut mushroom at home

To grow chestnut mushroom, fluff up the soil under deciduous tree(oak, chestnut) and the mycelium of the fungus is evenly scattered over the surface. The top of the area is covered with a mixture of equal parts of humus and garden or forest soil.

Planting is carried out at any time of the year; in dry weather, the area is watered at the rate of 10 liters of water per 1 m2. Approximately 5 months after planting, the first harvest appears. The mycelium lives as long as the tree under which it is planted.