Real milk mushroom (Lactarius resimus) photo and description

Real Milk (Lactarius resimus)

Systematics:
  • Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Incertae sedis (undefined)
  • Order: Russulales
  • Family: Russulaceae (Russula)
  • Genus: Lactarius (Miller)
  • Species: Lactarius resimus (Real Milk)
    Other names for the mushroom:
  • Milk white

Synonyms:

  • Milk white
  • Raw milk
  • Wet breast
  • The lump is right

Mushrooms

Description

Real milk mushroom ( lat.Lactarius resimus ) is a mushroom of the genus Millechnik (lat.Lactarius) of the russula family (lat.Russulaceae).

The cap ∅ 5-20 cm, first flat-convex, then funnel-shaped with a pubescent edge turned inward, dense. The skin is slimy, wet, milky-white or slightly yellowish with indistinct watery concentric zones, often with adhering particles of soil and litter.

Leg 3-7 cm in height, ∅ 2-5 cm, cylindrical, smooth, white or yellowish, sometimes with yellow spots or pits, hollow.

The pulp is brittle, dense, white, with a very characteristic odor reminiscent of that of fruit. Milky sap is plentiful, acrid, white, in the air it becomes sulfur-yellow.

The plates of the breast are rather frequent, wide, slightly descending along the stem, white with a yellowish tinge.

Yellowish spore powder .

In old mushrooms, the leg becomes hollow, the plates turn yellow. The color of the plates can vary from yellowish to cream. There may be brown spots on the cap.

Spread

Milk is found in deciduous and mixed forests (birch, pine-birch, with linden undergrowth). Distributed in the northern regions of Russia, in Belarus, in the Upper and Middle Volga regions, in the Urals, in Western Siberia. It is found infrequently, but abundantly, usually grows in large groups. The optimum average daily fruiting temperature is 8-10 ° C at the soil surface. Milk mushrooms form mycorrhiza with birch. The season is July - September, in the southern parts of the range (Belarus, Middle Volga region), August - September.

Similar species:

Violinist (Lactarius vellereus)

Violinist (Lactarius vellereus)

has a felt cap with non-pubescent edges, found most often under beeches.

Pepper Milk (Lactarius piperatus)

Pepper Milk (Lactarius piperatus)

it has a smooth or slightly velvety cap, the milky juice turns olive green in the air.

Aspen Milk (Poplar Milk) (Lactarius controversus)

Aspen Milk (Poplar Milk) (Lactarius controversus)

grows in damp aspen and poplar forests.

White Volna (Lactarius pubescens)

White Volna (Lactarius pubescens)

smaller, the cap is less slimy and more fluffy.

White podgruzdok (Russula delica)

White podgruzdok (Russula delica)

easily distinguished by the absence of milky juice.

All these mushrooms are conditionally edible.

Remarks

In the West, it is practically unknown or considered inedible, in Russia it is traditionally considered the best conditionally edible mushroom. After removing the bitterness, it is salted, the salted mushrooms acquire a bluish tint, fleshy, juicy, and have a special aroma. It is believed that milk mushrooms are superior in calories to meat. The dry matter of the mushroom contains 32% protein. According to the Siberian method, milk mushrooms are salted along with other mushrooms (saffron milk caps, volushki). The mushrooms are soaked for one day, periodically changing the water, then washed and poured with water for another day. Salted in barrels with spices. Milk mushrooms are usable in 40-50 days.

In the old days, the real mushroom was considered the only mushroom suitable for pickling, it was called the "king of mushrooms". In the Kargopol district alone, up to 150 thousand poods of saffron milk caps and milk mushrooms were collected annually and exported to St. Petersburg with salted ones. A list of dishes at a dinner party on March 17, 1699 at Patriarch Adrian's is known: "... three long pies with mushrooms, two pies with milk mushrooms, cold mushrooms with horseradish, cold milk mushrooms with butter, warmed milk mushrooms with juice and butter ..." As you can see, during post the main decoration of the table were all kinds of dishes from milk mushrooms.