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The bent govorushka belongs to the Tricholomovaceae or Rowaceae family. The species name in Latin is Infundibulicybe geotropa. This mushroom is also called clitocybe bent, red talker.
Where do bent talkers grow?
Talkers can be found in forest clearings and forest edges. They love fertile soils rich in rotted leaves. They are more often found in well-lit places, sometimes forming rings on the ground. They grow in groups or singly.
The time for mass collection occurs from August to September.But you can find the first mushrooms already in early July. Clitocybe bent are not afraid of slight colds, and are often found in the forest until the end of October.
What do bent talkers look like?
In young specimens the cap is convex, then it becomes funnel-shaped with a tubercle in the middle. The diameter of the cap of the talker mushroom, bent in the photo, is about 20 cm.
It is colored reddish, fawn or almost white. Under the cap you can see frequent white plates. In large mushrooms they acquire a creamy-yellowish tint.
The leg is from 5 to 15 cm in height, its diameter is up to 3 cm. It has the shape of a cylinder, slightly expanding at the bottom. The internal structure is hard, fibrous, the pulp has a pungent odor. The surface color is identical to the cap or slightly paler.
Is it possible to eat folded talkers?
Rare mushrooms - bent or red talkers - are edible. Various dishes are prepared from them by boiling, baking or frying in a pan, and also pickled and salted.
Taste qualities of the mushroom govorushka bent
Clitocybe bent are good quality edible mushrooms. They have a pleasant subtle aroma that they impart to dishes. Young mushrooms make excellent soups and mushroom sauces.
It is not recommended to eat them raw: they are bitter due to the content of special enzymes. Usually the bitterness goes away after 20 minutes of cooking. At the end of the heat treatment, the mushrooms are greatly reduced in size.
Benefits and harm to the body
The benefits of fitted talkers for the body include a positive effect on health. The healing properties are expressed as follows:
- strengthening the immune system;
- cleansing the body;
- improving the functioning of the stomach and intestines;
- reducing the level of bad cholesterol in the blood;
- replenishing the lack of vitamins and microelements (there are especially a lot of bent B vitamins in govorushkas).
Traditional healers use this mushroom to prepare healing ointments for treating wounds, as well as various decoctions and tinctures that are effective for bronchitis and urolithiasis.
Mushrooms can only cause harm if they are collected incorrectly. Tough stems, collected and cooked together with the caps, can lead to digestive upset.
False doubles
The bent clitocybe resembles a dangerous poisonous mushroom - a reddish or bleached talker. Adult specimens are no more than 5-6 cm in height, with a thin stalk. The cap is up to 6 cm in diameter, its surface is covered with a thin powdery coating, it is a little slimy after rain.
The color of the cap ranges from gray-white to brownish-pink. The pulp has a sweetish, pleasant smell and mushroom taste; it contains a dangerous toxin - muscarine, which causes severe poisoning 15-20 minutes after consumption.
Judging from the photo and description, an edible mushroom also resembles a bent talker - a giant talker. It, as the name suggests, can grow to large sizes, the maximum diameter of the cap is 30 cm.
This mushroom is inferior in taste to Clitocybe subtilis; its flesh does not have a special aroma. But it has the ability to produce the antibiotic clitocybin, which is active against tuberculosis.
Collection rules
The bent talker is included in the Red Book of Russia, so when you see it in the forest, you should not rush to collect it. In European countries, where it is more common, it is harvested during the fruiting season.
Like other edible mushrooms, it is better not to cut the red talker above the soil surface, but to twist it out of the mycelium. The tearing area should be lightly sprinkled with earth. This method of collecting will allow you to preserve the mycelium, it will not rot, and will be able to bear fruit for many years to come.
Young Clitocybes are more suitable for food; older specimens may have a pungent, unpleasant odor.
Preparing folded talkers
After harvesting, the mushrooms are washed under running water. Only the caps are used for food. After washing, they are poured with cold salted water, put on fire and boiled for about 20 minutes from the moment of boiling. Then the water is drained, and the talkers are thrown into a colander to drain the excess liquid. Boiled mushrooms can be fried with onions or baked with cheese and vegetables, cooked with potatoes in sour cream, or made into mushroom sauce for pasta.
Mushroom risotto recipe
Govorushki are boiled, then fried in butter. Dice onions, peppers and tomatoes. Fry the vegetables in a frying pan in vegetable oil, adding crushed garlic to them. Pour washed rice into a frying pan with vegetables, add chicken broth, salt, add spices to taste, and simmer until done. At the end, add fried mushrooms, grated hard cheese and chopped fresh herbs to the rice. For the recipe you will need: 500 g of boiled mushrooms, 200 g of rice, 800 ml of broth, 20 ml of vegetable oil, 50 g of butter, 1 onion, 1 tomato, 2 sweet peppers, 2 cloves of garlic, 50 g of hard cheese, salt, spices and greens to taste.
Conclusion
The folded talker is edible. It grows in forests with deciduous trees.It is popular among mushroom pickers in European countries due to its long fruiting season. Mushrooms are eaten stewed, fried and boiled. They make delicious pickled preparations for the winter. In Russia, these mushrooms are included in the Red Book and are considered rare species that should not be collected.
