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Descriptions of yellow milk mushrooms with photos are found in many cookbooks and cookbooks. Indeed, salted mushrooms are a traditional dish of Russian cuisine and a kind of calling card of our country. That's why mushroom yellow milk mushroom, a photo and description of which are given in this article, together with its white counterpart, occupy far from the last place on restaurant menus. And this is absolutely justified.
What does a yellow breast look like?
Yellow mushroom (yellow wave, scraper) is a lamellar mushroom from the genus Mlechnikov, family Russula. Its distinctive feature is the cap, which is dirty yellow or golden-olive in color with clearly visible dark concentric circles. At the beginning of life, the cap is convex; as the mushroom grows, it becomes flat and then funnel-shaped. It can reach significant sizes - up to 25cm. The yellow milk mushroom is shown in the photo below.
The pulp of the fruit body is dense, white, brittle. It has a pronounced fruity smell, turns yellow when cut, releasing a thick milky yellowish juice that darkens over time. The leg is straight, short, hollow inside, and has small yellow pits all over its surface.
The cap and stem of the mushroom, especially in humid weather, are often covered with a sticky coating. The frequently located plates located on the underside of the cap slightly extend onto the stem. As they age, brown or reddish spots appear on them.
Difference between yellow milk mushroom and pig mushroom
Svinushki are yellow-brown mushrooms similar to milk mushrooms. They are poisonous. Until recently, the pig was considered conditionally edible, but the existing cases of death after its consumption led to a change in the classification. It is quite difficult to confuse it with a yellow milk mushroom; rather, you can mistake it for a black milk mushroom. The pig has a dark cap, its flesh is light brown in color, and darkens when cut. The plates are easily separated from the cap.
The leg is smooth to the touch, matte, slightly lighter than the cap.
Poisonous mushrooms that look like yellow milk mushrooms
There are no poisonous mushrooms that could be confused with yellow mushrooms. In appearance, scrapers are similar to real milk mushrooms, which are lighter in color.There is another yellow mushroom that looks like a milk mushroom. It is not poisonous, but just not as tasty as the real thing. This is the so-called purple (blue) milk mushroom. It has lower nutritional value and is only suitable for pickling. It looks like an ordinary yellow milk mushroom (photo at the beginning of the article), however, characteristic purple spots may appear on the plates and cap.
It can also be distinguished from yellow by the color of the milky juice that is released on the cut. The milky juice of a real yellow milk mushroom is yellowish in color, while that of a purple one is lilac. False yellow breast (purple, bluish) - pictured below.
Where do yellow milk mushrooms grow?
Most often, yellow milk mushrooms grow in groups, usually in coniferous forests, less often in mixed forests. They often form mycorrhiza with spruce or birch. They are rare in deciduous forests, and it is more difficult to find them there, since mushrooms are often literally covered with fallen leaves.
You can start collecting yellow wolves from the end of August, but their main harvest ripens in September. In a favorable year, you can bring them from the forest until frost sets in. A necessary condition for the growth of these mushrooms is increased air humidity; in dry autumn, milk mushrooms may not appear at all.
Due to the presence of bitter milky juice, these mushrooms are rarely wormy. When harvesting, mushroom pickers usually take only the golden-yellow caps of milk mushrooms, with the exception of young specimens, which are cut off and processed entirely.
How to cook yellow milk mushrooms
Yellow milk mushrooms are classified as conditionally edible. Despite this, it, like the real milk mushroom, porcini mushroom, saffron milk cap and chanterelle, is included in the first category of mushrooms with the highest nutritional value.The main method of preparing yellow waves is salting, less often marinating.
Many mushroom pickers are afraid to take it because of the characteristic purple spots, but such a precaution is completely unnecessary.
How long to soak yellow milk mushrooms
The collected yellow wolves are washed with cold water, cleaning them from adhering dirt and debris. To get rid of the caustic milky juice, the crop is soaked in cold water for several days, changing it at least 2 times a day. In the old days, milk mushrooms were often soaked in the river for several days.
You can remove the bitterness in another way by boiling the yellow mushrooms for about half an hour, then draining the resulting broth and rinsing the mushrooms under running cold water. This method is good if you are short on time, but after boiling, the taste of yellow waves changes and not for the better. Therefore, not all mushroom pickers welcome the heat treatment of milk mushrooms, considering this a departure from the classical pickling technology.
What can you cook from yellow milk mushrooms?
A classic dish is salted yellow milk mushrooms. There are quite a lot of recipes for pickling them, and a significant part of them are regionalized. In some areas they prefer to add currant leaves to pickling, in others oak or cherry leaves. However, the basic recipe is always the same.
The main ingredients are mushrooms, salt and water; in addition, garlic, dill, horseradish leaves or root, currant or cherry leaf, pepper and other components can be added. Yellow milk mushrooms are often pickled, using, as a rule, small young mushrooms.After pickling, some mushroom pickers finely chop and fry them with onions, using them as an addition, for example, to boiled potatoes, and also as a filling for pies.
How to cook yellow milk mushrooms
After washing and soaking in cold water or boiling, the mushrooms are washed again. After this they are ready for pickling. It is produced as follows. Currant, horseradish or cherry leaves and a sprig of dill are placed at the bottom of the prepared container. A layer of mushrooms is placed on them and sprinkled with salt. Next, lay out the next layer, and so on until the container is completely filled.
The amount of salt can vary and depends on taste; on average, take 50 g of salt per 1 kg of mushrooms. After the last layer is laid out, the milk mushrooms are covered with currant or horseradish leaves on top, and then placed under pressure. After about a week, you can try the mushrooms.
Marinating is another popular way to prepare these mushrooms for future use. It is carried out as follows. The collected mushrooms are soaked in water for half an hour to soak off all the dirt adhering to them. After this, they are washed under running cold water; for better cleaning, you can use, for example, a toothbrush. Using a knife, remove the top layer from the cap and remove the plates. Large mushrooms must be chopped.
After that, they are put in a pan, filled with water and put on fire. You need to cook for at least a quarter of an hour, stirring constantly and skimming off the foam. Then the mushrooms are washed with cold water, put back into the pan and boiled for another half hour.After this, the mushrooms are removed from the heat, drained in a colander and washed with cold water.
To prepare the marinade you will need water, salt, sugar, and spices:
- pepper;
- carnation;
- Bay leaf;
- dill.
All ingredients are placed in water, after which the pan is put on fire and boiled for 15 minutes. After this time, vinegar is added to the marinade. Chopped garlic is placed in sterilized jars, then mushrooms are placed and poured with hot marinade. After this, add a little vegetable oil and tighten the jars.
Conclusion
The description of yellow milk mushrooms with photos given in this article is far from complete and is for informational purposes only. More detailed information about these mushrooms and how to prepare them can be found in specialized literature. And in order to protect yourself and your loved ones from possible troubles associated with the use of forest gifts, you should always remember the golden rule of a mushroom picker: I don’t know, I don’t take it.
