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A white coating on honey mushrooms may appear after collection or during canned storage. Sometimes in the forest there are mushrooms covered with a white coating. Experienced lovers of “quiet hunting” know what to do with such honey mushrooms, but for beginners this raises many questions.
What does the white coating on honey mushrooms mean?
White plaque on the caps of fresh honey mushrooms is not always a sign of the development of pathogenic microflora. Sometimes it is associated with the characteristics of mushroom growth in the forest. If plaque appears on honey mushrooms that have already been collected or preserved, then urgent measures need to be taken, otherwise the entire preparation will have to be thrown away.
White coating on honey mushrooms in the forest
Having noticed autumn mushrooms covered with a white coating in the forest, many mushroom pickers try to avoid them. This is justified by concern for one’s safety; false doubles may be hiding behind such copies.
Often the white coating on the caps of honey mushrooms is spore powder; it is harmless to health. But more often this feature appears in large specimens, with a straightened umbrella-shaped cap. Experienced mushroom pickers do not refuse large, mature mushrooms if their pulp is not inferior in properties and appearance to young ones. You can wipe off such deposits at home with a dry kitchen sponge.
You can collect honey mushrooms with a white coating if they have a characteristic mushroom aroma, and the spore powder gives them a strange whitish color.
The moldy yellow coating on honey mushrooms is easily distinguished by its characteristic, unpleasant odor. If most of the cap and stem are covered with mold, such samples cannot be collected in the basket. They have accumulated dangerous toxins that can cause severe poisoning.
White coating on honey mushrooms in a jar
After pickling mushrooms, a white coating sometimes appears on the surface of the jar. This is not mold, but kahm yeast, it is not harmful to health. If the lid does not close the jar tightly, the brine or marinade evaporates, and the surface of the mushrooms is covered with a white coating.
The situation can be saved only if the start of the process is noticed on time. The specimens covered with plaque are thrown away, the remaining ones are washed, boiled for 5-10 minutes, and filled with fresh brine, increasing the salt concentration. The preservation is placed in clean, sterilized jars, and after cooling, stored in a dark, cool place.
To prevent a white coating from appearing on the plates in a jar of salted honey mushrooms, use a cotton cloth soaked in vodka. It is used to cover the surface of preserved honey mushrooms. The jar is filled tightly so that there are no gaps or air spaces between the mushrooms; this is where mold begins to grow during storage.
If after a while a white coating appears on the surface of the rag, you need to throw it away, take a clean cloth soaked in vodka, and wipe the coating off the edges of the jar with a sponge.Cover with a clean cloth, put pine chips as a binder, and add a little brine (1 tablespoon of salt per 1 liter of water). The brine should cover the product by 1-2 cm. Then close with a tight lid. It is also advisable to soak it in vodka.
Is it possible to eat honey mushrooms with a white coating?
When honey mushrooms become covered with a white coating during salting, this is a natural process. Typically, such a coating covers the cloth or gauze that covers the product; it must be changed from time to time with a clean one soaked in vodka.
You cannot eat mushrooms covered with mold. They accumulate hazardous toxins that can cause fever, vomiting, dizziness and other unpleasant symptoms. Biologists classify mold as belonging to the kingdom of microscopic fungi. They have a similar structure to the large, edible specimens familiar to people, only several thousand times smaller.
All representatives of the kingdom have a root system - mycelium, which absorbs nutrients from the soil, and above the ground there is a fruiting body - a reproductive organ containing millions of spores. It is the ancestor of mycelium or mycelium. When exposed to favorable conditions, it produces many branched shoots-threads. They grow by absorbing and processing nutrient substrate. The process has two phases: the first is the growth of threads and the second is the formation of the body. New spores mature in it.
Colonies of mold fungi have different colors - gray, black, yellow, green, reddish. Mold causes allergies; it affects the body invisibly, like radiation and heavy metals. The most dangerous mold is black aspergillus.To see it, sometimes it’s enough to look into the cellar where food supplies are stored. If you notice mold on the surface of canned food, you should throw it away without regret. By scraping off the upper, moldy part, you can remove only the visible side of the “iceberg”, and the toxins produced by the mushrooms will remain inside the product.
Mycotoxins are not destroyed even by boiling, and slowly accumulate in the body. These substances are pathogenic even in small concentrations. They affect the liver and can cause malignant tumors. Therefore, you need to throw away food even if there is a small island of mold on it, and never take moldy specimens from the forest.
But mold may not be visible; often canned food is already contaminated before it reaches the table. This is especially true for canned food bought secondhand at spontaneous markets.
Conclusion
The white coating on honey mushrooms is formed in the forest from spore powder; it is completely safe for health. If a white coating appears on top of mushrooms in jars, such preservation should be used with caution. Heat treatment does not destroy accumulated toxins. Therefore, if several layers of a jar are covered with mold, it is better to throw it away.
