Although mushrooms are not as popular as boletus mushrooms, they are highly valued for their taste and nutrients. For example, mushrooms contain a lot of magnesium, calcium, sodium, phosphorus and sulfur, there is also glucose and glycogen (animal starch). Regular consumption of such forest gifts improves vision and metabolism. In these fruiting bodies there is a natural antibiotic, with its help even tuberculosis is treated. Many mushroom pickers are interested in whether mushrooms grow in October, because the peak of collection usually falls on September?
There is a milky juice in mushrooms, but it does not have bitterness, so they are eaten even raw. The mushrooms growing in October are considered especially tasty. These fruiting bodies do not require preliminary soaking and boiling. They are used to prepare a wide variety of dishes, as well as preparations for the winter. So, mushrooms can be pickled, salted, fried, dried or frozen.
What do the saffron milk caps look like when they grow in October?
There are two main types of saffron milk caps, which are harvested in October – spruce and pine. They like to settle in young forests, where there are many pines, spruces, cedars and firs. In addition, mushrooms can also be found in mixed forests, among dense grass and moss.
Ryzhiks usually prefer sandy soils; they are also very difficult to confuse with other fruit bodies. Mushrooms have a very remarkable appearance – a bright orange cap, which is convex at a young age, and in adult specimens it is funnel-shaped, with clearly visible dark circles. True, spruce mushrooms are of a darker shade, with greenish circles on the surface. When cut, the flesh of the mushroom releases milky juice of the same color as the cap.
What do the mushrooms growing in October look like, and how are they different from summer fruit bodies? It should be noted that the main feature of autumn mushrooms is that their hats have the same shape, but different colors.
If a family of one species of camelina has settled near the spruce, then those mushrooms that grow in the shade will, as a rule, have a brighter shade. Others, who have settled in the illuminated area, seem to be slightly burnt out or faded.
Spruce mushrooms can be harvested in August and almost until early October. The pine species of these fruit bodies is harvested from mid-September and almost until the first frost. However, if climatic conditions permit, the timing of the appearance of mushrooms changes – in warm climates, they can grow even in November. Only at the first frost do the mushrooms disappear immediately.
The mushrooms that grow in October are a tasty morsel for worms. If in the morning the mushroom was without a wormhole, then by the evening it may already be eaten. Therefore, the best option for collecting saffron milk caps is early morning, when the sun has not yet risen.
Another feature of the saffron milk caps growing in October is their greenish tint after cutting. I must say that such a property can frighten mushroom pickers, but it is completely in vain, because even with a slight touch, the plates of edible saffron milk caps turn green.