Morel (Gyromitra esculenta) - beware of poison!!!
Subscribe to our group "Mushrooms of Ukraine" on Facebook:
/ hryby.ukrayiny
---
Mushroom pickers, hello! In this video I will introduce you to a dangerous poisonous spring mushroom, which inexperienced mushroom pickers often confuse with morels - this is the common morel. But this confusion is more in the names than in the appearance - morel means wrinkled and indeed all lines have a wrinkled cap shape, which is why this name is so firmly stuck in the heads of ordinary mushroom pickers. In fact, if you delve a little into the description and photos - it will be very difficult to confuse these mushrooms, but more on that a little later, first let's talk about the time and habitats. The common morel is a spring species, you can find it from the end of March to May. The common morel grows in mixed and coniferous forests, most often pine, with sandy, non-turfed soils, like the giant morel, it likes to grow on the sides of forest roads, paths and along the edges of ditches, but it especially likes to grow on burnt-out areas of coniferous forests. This mushroom is relatively rare.
The cap of the common morel is small, 2-5 cm in diameter, very rarely up to 10 cm, irregular in shape, wrinkled-finely folded, brain-shaped, similar to a walnut, the edge of the cap is almost completely fused to the stem, inside it is sinuously hollow. The color of the cap depends on age, in young specimens it is almost black, dark brown, or chocolate brown, with age it lightens to an ocher-brown color. The stem of the common morel is short, 2-3 cm long and the same diameter, often narrowed towards the base, beige or light brown in color, sometimes with a slight pink tint, hollow inside. The flesh is light, waxy and very fragile, without a special smell.
The common morel can be confused with the giant morel, but the latter grows in mixed and deciduous forests, gravitating towards birches and aspens, has a much larger size, light brown color, larger and rarer convolutions, and an almost spherical shape, the stem is often absent as such.
And now about the most interesting thing - about edibility. In Western literature, this mushroom is classified as an absolutely poisonous species and this is confirmed by chemical analysis - a strong toxin gyromitrin, a derivative of hydrazine, the use of which can lead to death, is found in the composition, because It is recognized as one of the strongest mushroom poisons. And in addition, the carcinogenicity of substances contained in morels has been proven. In most Soviet reference books, the morel is classified as a conditionally edible species and edibility is indicated after preliminary boiling, but gyromitrin does not completely decompose during boiling, and you can poison yourself even by inhaling the vapors of the broth, since the substance is volatile. In many countries, morels are prohibited for sale, but despite this, many mushroom pickers continue to collect this mushroom in the same way as the thin pig, and do not get poisoned ... There are a lot of different theories on this account, from the geographical races of mushrooms and the influence of temperature conditions on the quantitative content of the toxin, to the individual sensitivity of the human body. By the way, cases when morels are consumed by a group of people, and poisoning occurs only in some, are known and not isolated. But none of these theories have been confirmed and I will not dwell on them in detail, if desired, they can be found on the Internet. One thing is for sure, that eating this mushroom is like Russian roulette and a shot can happen every time you eat it, and the consequences can be the most tragic, even fatal, it all depends on the amount of toxin that has entered the body, and this can be as little as 200 grams of fresh mushrooms. Before you pick these mushrooms, ask yourself one simple question - is one dinner worth your life? Instead of dinner, the common morel can be used in the form of external rubbing, as a painkiller, for various joint diseases.