Summer mushrooms appeared in the forests of the Moscow region

“They decorate the forest with themselves / Bright red sisters. / They attract with their beauty / Very tasty chanterelles,” Nikolai Dovzhenko wrote about the most beautiful mushrooms, about chanterelles. Their yellow color is always visible, and the taste qualities of the summer-autumn representative of the mushroom family have been famous for several centuries. But, unfortunately, this year there are not enough yellow beauties, as well as other mushrooms. Fans of “silent hunting”, those for whom the process is important, not the quantity, with feeling, really, with the arrangement, “spud” the forests near Moscow in search of high-calorie beauties.

The established hot, even too much, weather, although it acts as a kind of hindrance, is just a “minor nuisance” for true connoisseurs of forest delicacies. A little more water, be sure to wear a hat, a basket and a sharp knife – and you can go to the forest to enjoy the “closing of the season” of strawberries (the last berries are the sweetest), the diversity of birds, a lot of field and forest flowers, and, of course, mushrooms.

In addition to chanterelles, this time we managed to “catch” several aspen mushrooms, a dozen mushrooms (white and red), five russula heels and not a single white one in our own basket. The mushroom king of the forest is either waiting for the thunderstorm promised on Sunday, or he was offended by the late spring, or I was just unlucky …

But he managed to find a couple of stumps and two fallen trees with the first summer mushrooms. In the people they are called a thief, a talker, a linden honey agaric.

The hat is brown or light brown in color with a light tubercle in the center. The size of the cap varies from 2 to 8 cm, the surface is mucous. The leg is 0.5 cm in diameter, 3.5 to 8 cm long. The shape is cylindrical with a bend, the surface is covered with microscopic scales, there is a ring. The smell is woody, the cut is watery, the color is from pale yellow to brown.

A couple of stumps and a couple of fallen trees are enough to “mow down” the thief’s basket. Summer mushrooms, like autumn ones, are best pickled.

The main thing in this case is the marinade. For 1 liter of water: salt – 1 tbsp. l., sugar – 1 tbsp. l., vinegar 9% – 25 ml, bay leaf, peppercorns, allspice, cloves.

Place the peeled mushrooms in a saucepan, fill with water and cook from the moment of boiling for 20 minutes. In the process of cooking, we make the fire medium, in the process of boiling we collect the foam. Then, after 20 minutes of boiling, we throw the mushrooms into a colander and move them to the pan.

Now we are preparing the marinade – the mushrooms should swim in it. Immediately add salt, sugar, put spices. Cook for 30 minutes and add vinegar. Cook over medium heat for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then we put the mushrooms in sterile jars and pour the marinade in which they were cooked. We roll up with sterile lids, and then turn the jars over and wrap them with a warm blanket.

Leave to cool completely, and then remove to a cold place.

The best way to “use” pickled mushrooms is in winter under potatoes – either fried or mashed.

The coolest summer chanterelle dish is julienne. Fry chanterelles and onions, add cream, simmer. Then we spread the julienne in cocottes and, sprinkled with cheese, bake in the oven. For cooking you will need: chanterelles – 300 gr., onion – 1 piece, flour – 1.5 teaspoons, sour cream – 2 tbsp. spoons, grated hard cheese – to taste, salt, pepper – to taste.

Vladimir Sabadash.

Author’s photo