Mushroom Week ends
Text and photos: Urmas Tartes
Translation: Liis
Saturday was dedicated to culinary aspects. The mushrooms for eating were many.
Even more important than knowing edible mushrooms is to know the poisonous ones. If an unknown mushroom is left unpicked for safety’s sake, nothing happens, not even if it is a delicious edible mushroom that is left to grow.
But if a poisonous mushroom is mistaken for edible, and put in the pan, the results can be life-threatening.
Poisonous mushrooms were found in the Rõuge woods too. Three of them are here. Most people know and recognize the red fly agaric.
Even more important than knowing edible mushrooms is to know the poisonous ones. If an unknown mushroom is left unpicked for safety’s sake, nothing happens, not even if it is a delicious edible mushroom that is left to grow.
But if a poisonous mushroom is mistaken for edible, and put in the pan, the results can be life-threatening.
Poisonous mushrooms were found in the Rõuge woods too. Three of them are here. Most people know and recognize the red fly agaric.
Fly agaric.
The False Death Cap (Amanita citrina) is quite common too, but much more difficult to recognise, because its colour may be pale yellow but sometimes with a slight green tint, and sometimes white (as in the photo below).
False Deah Cap.
The Death Cap is one of our most poisonous mushroom species.
Death Cap (Amanita phalloides).
Its exterior varies widely – green, yellow, greyish, olive-brown – not to speak of the changes as the cap ages.
The agarics are only for looking at! But they are really beautiful.
The agarics are only for looking at! But they are really beautiful.