hunting mushrooms in Karelia forest: Hydnellum sp.

Karelian forests are typically a dry sandy soils, covered with moss blanket, and pines,-- an excellent option for the mushroom biodiversity. During our mushroom hike with @bambuka, I met several species I had never seen alive before. One could even say that I made several mushroom discoveries! (Well, on my personal level...) Today's post is dedicated to the mushroom called Hericium, or Hydnellum.

Previously, these mushrooms were united into a single Hydnellum genus (lat: Hericium, Hydnum), but now they are being referred to different genus. Hericium has many varieties, among them are edible, conditionally edible and inedible. They do not contain poisonous substances, and the taste of all Hericium species qualities as mediocre, they slightly resemble honey mushrooms and are suitable for frying, pickling and drying. (I'll come back to this in more detail below). They are best to be consumed at a young age.

I was able to (approximately) identify iD of our find as Sarcodon scabrosus (in Russian: Саркодон шероховатый). But thats not for sure. This species is hard to distinguish from its closest relatives. (The similarity is very high, as well as the morphological variability of all species included in the family is great, so the exact definition deliver significant difficulties). Key features are gray or blue-green color at the base of the stem and the absence of "buckles" on the hyphae.

After our encounter I pick up a dozen of these mushrooms - the fleshy red-brown hat looked luxurious, beckoning and whispering to me in a friendly way: pick me! put me to the backet! I’m a splendid mushroom! ... At first we decided that it was a Sarcodon Imbricatus - an edible mushroom, and I collected about a dozen pieces ... and at home, I clarified the exact name of the mushroom, and I had to part with the collected one.

In fact, the species diversity of hedgehogs is very great. The most delicious are Hydnum repandum, Hydnum albidum, and Hericium erinaceus (this one you probably have heard of, I am sure). They can be used for cooking only at a young age, since old specimens tend to acquire a bitter taste and hard flesh. Some species lend themselves to reproduction / cultivation in suburban conditions.

It is important to take into account that the fruiting bodies of this fungus can accumulate harmful substances from the environment, therefore, mushrooms collected in ecologically clean places should be consumed, and not at landfills and roadsides.

In general, these mushrooms are not very much appreciated by mushroom pickers. They are more interesting in their shape and variety than in their taste. And yet, they require a special attitude towards themselves. For example, the harvested mushrooms must be stored in the refrigerator and processed within 2-3 days (after the mushrooms acquire a bitter taste). And without a refrigerator, the harvested mushrooms darken after three hours - if you pick up a lot of mushrooms in the forest, then processing becomes difficult or even impossible. And this is another reason why the mushroom is also not popular.

By the way, Norwegians and Finns traditionally use old specimens of this fungus for dyeing sheep's wool, to get a bluish-green dye.

I hope that over time I will come across other species of these strange mushrooms, and I will collect material for a comparative story about several species of this family.