Ginger mushrooms are tasty and healthy mushrooms that are respected and love to collect many mushroom pickers. In some countries, they are even delicious. They are characterized by bright yellow, red or orange color and a convex hat. Unfortunately, some conditionally edible and inedible mushrooms are also suitable for such a description. How to distinguish them can be found in the article.

Description and difference of false saffron milk mushrooms from real ones

Redheads belong to the genus of milkers. This name combines several types of mushrooms. In real saffron milk fruit bodies are painted in yellow-pink, orange, red tones. After a break, they secrete brightly colored milky juice. These mushrooms are very appreciated due to their high taste, nutritional value and richness of the rich vitamin and mineral composition.

In nature, there are also mushrooms that look very similar to saffron mushrooms, but they have mediocre taste characteristics or are inedible. Some of them even pose a serious danger to human health. It is worthwhile to figure out how to distinguish real saffron mushrooms from mushrooms, which are masked under them, for example, from pink waves, amber and papillary lactaris, pale grebes.

Did you know? From the fruit bodies of saffron mushrooms, the antibiotic substance lactrioviolin is released, which can inhibit the growth of Koch's bacillus.

Pink waves

Pink threshing pan is a conditionally edible mushroom. This means that you can use it without fear, however, you do not need to expect such taste and nutritional qualities as from saffron milk. She is of little value. Suitable for use in salted and pickled form. Before cooking, requires soaking and boiling.

You can meet this representative of the mushroom kingdom in the same places as real mushrooms. If you do not look closely, these mushrooms can be confused.

The main differences of the pink waves are related to such characteristics:

1. The color of the fruiting body. In edible mushrooms it is ocher, in conditionally edible - pinkish.
2. The surface of the cap. Doubles have a strong pubescence. The cap of saffron milk cap is smooth, when touched it looks like felt.
3. The color of milky juice. The twin emits a white liquid that does not change color upon contact with oxygen. In edible specimens, when broken, an orange liquid appears, oxidizing after a while.
4. Place of growth. The groundwort is found under deciduous trees, for example, aspen, birch. Ginger - under the conifers.
5. The diameter of the legs. In a false specimen, it is thinner, reaches a height of 7 cm and a diameter of 2 cm. There are no dents on it.

Another difference concerns the state of the fungus after breaking. At the threshing floor, the flesh will remain the same color and will not change if the mushroom is squeezed. Ginger will respond to damage by staining in a greenish tint.

Amber Milkmen

This mushroom in appearance is very similar to a red saffron milk cap. Its surface is red with a silky sheen. Unlike a real saffron mushroom, an amber miller is inedible, therefore, when “quiet” hunting, attention should be paid not only to the appearance, but also to other characteristics of the mushrooms.

The main differences of the double are:

1. The color of the flesh. At the lactarius, it is light yellow. When broken, does not change color. In a real camelina, the flesh of the legs and under the plates is painted in red, in other areas - in yellow and white.
2. Smell and taste. The edible specimen has a pleasant mushroom smell and taste. The miller has an unpleasant odor, remotely resembling chicory, and a bitter taste.
3. The color of milky juice. The miller emits a white liquid that does not change upon contact with oxygen, red saffron milk - red, similar in color to blood.
4. Size and color of the hat. In a false mushroom, the hat grows up to 6–12 cm across. It is painted in pink-brown shades and has a silk sheen. The edible representative of the mushroom kingdom has a larger hat, reaches a diameter of 15 cm. It is red or orange in color.
5. The shape and size of the legs. The miller has a leg, which reaches a height of 9 cm, 1.5–2 cm across. Its shape resembles a cylinder. Below it is covered with white fibers. A saffron mushroom has a leg shorter by 3–6 cm. Below it is narrowed.
6. Records. In the milkman they are light with a pink tint, in young saffron milk mushrooms - ocher, in the old ones - dark red.

Did you know? In the XVIII – XIX centuries. salted mushrooms were exported from Russia in bottles to France. Mushrooms were especially appreciated, the cap size of which did not exceed 2.5 cm.

Papillary milky

This fungus is also found under the names of a large lactic, papillary lactum. He has a flat or concave hat with a diameter of 3–9 cm. There is a tubercle in its center. The color of the hat is brown. Records are often located. Their color is light.

The leg grows in length by 3–7 cm. In diameter it reaches 1–2 cm. In shape, it resembles a cylinder. The color of her can be in harmony with the hat or be a couple of tones lighter. The pulp of the milkman is white, brittle.

This mushroom has 2 characteristic differences:

1. With a break, it secretes white milky juice, which does not oxidize in air.
2. The pulp has a coconut flavor.

It’s easy to get to know the milkman. To determine exactly what this mushroom is in front of you, you should break or rub the fruit body in your hands, and then look at the fluid secreted and smell it.

Death cap

With pale grebe only real beginners can confuse real saffron mushrooms. She has a yellowish or pale green hat, the center of which is slightly darker than the edges. In shape, it is funnel-shaped, without rounding down.Its diameter is 5-14 cm. The film body covers the fruit body at a young age. The plates are painted white. The pulp is also white. The toadstool's leg is thin, oblong. She has a length of 8-15 cm, a diameter of 1-3 cm. She has a white skirt on top, which mushrooms do not have.

Video: Pale Toadstool

Is it possible to eat false mushrooms

Among the doubles of saffron milk mushrooms there are conditionally edible, inedible and poisonous mushrooms. Conditionally edible are not suitable for fresh food. They must be subjected to heat treatment. They are bitter and pungent in taste, unpleasant in consistency. After heat treatment, these qualities disappear. Edible pink throat and papillary lactifer are classified as conditionally edible.

Inedible mushrooms are unsuitable for food even after heat treatment. They are bitter and unpleasant in smell. In addition, they are of no value to the human body. When ingested, they do not cause harm. Of the doubles of saffron milk mushrooms, the amber milkman is considered inedible.

Important! If a mushroom has been picked, in which there is doubt about its edibility, it is better to throw it away and not endanger your health.

Poisonous mushrooms are strictly prohibited. They lead to poisoning, serious health problems and even death. Pale toadstool contains toxic substances and is of great danger to humans.

False mushroom poisoning

Symptoms of mild poisoning are:

• vomiting
• diarrhea;
• pain in the abdomen.

Their manifestation can be observed at different times after the mushroom has been eaten. Usually this occurs within 0.5-10 hours. The most dangerous poisoning is that which is provoked by a pale toadstool. Symptoms appear after 8–18 hours. The result, in addition to gastrointestinal upset, can be loss of consciousness, impaired coordination of movements, damage to the digestive tract, cardiovascular system, central nervous system, liver and kidneys.

Important! Mushrooms should not be consumed by children under 6 years of age, pregnant, lactating women, people with individual intolerance, diseases of the cardiovascular system.

First aid

If a person has the above symptoms of mushroom poisoning, he needs first aid:

1. Induce vomiting: give a large amount of liquid to drink, press on the root of the tongue with two fingers.
2. Rinse the stomach: drink plenty of water, dissolving in it 1 tsp. salt or dry mustard, and induce vomiting.
3. Give activated carbon at the rate of 1-2 tablets per 1 kg of human weight.

If vomiting and diarrhea do not stop for a long time and there is a threat of dehydration, seek medical help as soon as possible. In case of pale toadstool poisoning, one should act immediately, since measures taken on the second day after poisoning may already be in vain - irreversible changes will occur in the liver, kidneys, heart, and, as a result, toxic hepatitis and cardiovascular failure will develop. EIf a person has consumed this mushroom, it must be immediately taken to a medical facility.

So, to distinguish false mushrooms from the real ones is not always easy. To do this, you need to have detailed information about how it looks, smells and what each mushroom tastes like. If there is even a slight doubt that you have a good edible specimen, it is better not to pluck it and not to use it so as not to risk your health.