Karelia is located in the northwest of the European part of Russia. It is a region with a mild climate, abundant rainfall, snowy and moderately cold winters and short but warm enough summers. Its territory is wooded, with a predominance of conifers, therefore mushrooms of Karelia are represented by many different species.
Types of mushrooms in Karelia
The value of mushrooms in Karelia
Mushrooms are ubiquitous in Karelia: in glades, forest edges, in thickets and ravines, on the sides of roads and paths. In especially fruitful years, they are collected in buckets. There are 272 types of mushrooms suitable for human consumption, some of which are included in the Red Book. Also, here you can find almost all varieties of poisonous and inedible mushrooms.
The beginning of the mushroom season falls in the spring, when morels and lines begin to appear, after the middle of summer boletus, boletus and brown boletus abound here, and until late autumn mushroom pickers collect various mushrooms and greenfinches.
The value of mushrooms in Karelia lies in their growth in a clean ecological zone, due to which edible species are one hundred percent natural and absolutely safe natural product.
Mushroom picking in these parts is a kind of ecotourism, which allows you not only to enjoy the beauty of Karelia, but also to get tasty and healthy "catch".
Description of edible and inedible mushrooms
Filled with vitamins and microelements, mushrooms have a high nutritional value and, due to the content of a number of amino acids in them, are equated to meat. And the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates allows them to be recommended for consumption as a dietary product.
The most common and useful edible mushrooms in Karelia are:
- White mushroom, or boletus: the most valuable and delicious, found in coniferous forests. It has a yellowish-brown thick leg 10-12 cm in height and a brownish-brown cap. It is named white because of its flesh, which does not change color when damaged and any method of processing. Fruiting from late spring to late autumn.
- Honey mushroom: grows in groups on tree trunks from June to November. The color of the cap is yellowish-brown or gray-brown, its shape is convex, up to 10 cm in diameter. The leg is thin and long. The most interesting for mushroom pickers are autumn honeydew (belongs to the 3rd category of nutritional value) and summer (smaller and less valuable in taste).
- Boletus: also a nutritious mushroom. Grows near aspens. It is noticeable for its smooth and dry orange-red cap, the size of which reaches 15 cm. Its leg is thick, scaly, up to 15 cm high. Appears in forests from the third decade of July and bears fruit until the end of October.
- Brown birch tree: grows in birch groves. Its cap is hemispherical, light brown; the leg with scales is thin and even. Collect it from the beginning of summer until the end of autumn. Can be eaten raw.
- Oiler: a tasty and healthy mushroom of the 2nd food category with an oily brown cap, which reaches a maximum diameter of 10-12 cm in older specimens, and a low dense leg. Grows from early July to late October in pine forests.
- Real milk: grows in groups in the pine-birch forests of Karelia. The cap is whitish-yellow, its diameter is up to 20 cm, a funnel is located in the center and there is a border on the surface of the curved edges. The leg is hollow, reaches a height of 7 cm. At the break, it secretes a bitter white milky juice, therefore it requires preliminary soaking before use. By the way. In addition to the present lump, they are actively collecting the black lump.
- Common chanterelle: a delicious and at the same time healing product. Its concave cap is bright yellow with wavy edges and merges into the leg. They grow in huge clusters from July to October. They remain fresh for a long time and are not affected by worms. Cook them by any means, except for boiling, from which they become "rubbery".
- Mosswheel: usually appears in the middle of summer in coniferous forests and bears fruit until October. The cap is convex, scaly, with yellow-orange curved edges. The leg is yellow-red, smooth, elongated. Most often in Karelia the following types of moss are collected: green moss, m. Yellow-brown and m. Yellow-meat. Did you know? Some mushroom pickers call mushrooms "hare boletus".
- Volnushka: this mushroom loves wet fern thickets, the edges of swamps. The cap is pink-yellow in color with barely noticeable rings, curved at the edges and covered with hairs. The leg is hollow, slightly lighter than the cap. Harvested from July to October. Collect waves pink and white.
- Morel conical: this delicious species is also found in these places. It owes its name to the shape of a cap, elongated and porous inside, which has a brown-brown color with a mesh surface. The cap grows together with the stem, which has a white color, a smooth surface, a cylindrical shape, and these components of the fruiting body are clearly distinguishable. Appears mainly in mixed forests in April.
Aspen boletus can be found in the forests of Karelia
In addition to the listed varieties of edible mushrooms, russula, mushrooms and milkmen also grow in the Karelian forests. There are rare ones listed in the Red Book, such as, for example, purple spiderweb, golden pheolepiota, gray chanterelle, etc.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
An interesting mushroom in its attractive appearance - pheolepiota golden, or as it is also called herbaceous scaly, or golden umbrella, or mustard plaster, listed in the Red Book of Karelia, previously belonged to conditionally edible species. It was believed that a preliminary 20 minute boiling is sufficient for subsequent cooking. However, the study of the chemical composition showed that HCN is present in the pulp of the pheolepiota in the amount of 510 mg / kg of the mass of fruit bodies. In addition, it was found that the species is capable of accumulating (accumulating) heavy metals, especially cadmium. In this regard, in recent years, golden pheolepiota has been ranked as inedible, and in some places also as poisonous mushrooms.
Despite the fact that this species is found in large groups of uneven-aged specimens, it is classified as a rare species and is included in the red books of different regions of the Russian Federation.
Also, many inedible and poisonous mushrooms grow in the forests of Karelia. Having remembered their description and differences from edible ones, they try to bypass these mushrooms so that a trip to the forest does not cause irreparable harm to health. The most dangerous are the poisonous pale grebe, fly agaric and false honey. The main difference between the toadstool is a slight smell of chlorine, emitted when damaged, a filmy ring on the leg of the bag, into which the base of the leg of the mushroom is immersed. The red cap of the fly agaric, strewn with white flakes, is difficult to confuse with other mushrooms. False honey has no scales on the cap and rings on the leg. Emits an unpleasant earthy odor.
Map of mushroom places of Karelia
The rainy summer weather contributes to the fact that mushrooms in Karelia grow in abundance in many places. The map of such mushroom places has its own perennial leaders. Among them, in terms of collection volumes, a village named Tiksha has always stood out. Entire families of porcini mushrooms grow in its vicinity. They are also found in the forests of the Vsevolzhsky and Kondopoga regions and in the Brusnichny tract.
The forests around the village of Borovoe are famous for the presence of a large number of boletus and morels. Near the main city of Karelia - Petrozavodsk - mushroom pickers gather abundant harvests of volushkids, chanterelles and honey agarics. And boletus and brown boletus have chosen mixed deciduous forests in the area of the city of Kem and the forests of Priozersky district.
Lovers of mushrooms rush to the area near the city of Segezh, and if they wish, they also pick up butter in the mushroom places of the village of Pryazha.
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Conclusion
Karelia is an amazing and picturesque region, which is very popular among tourists. And one of the many reasons they visit these forests is a quiet hunt for a delicious, environmentally friendly and healthy product - mushrooms.