Mushrooms are a very vast and varied kingdom of wildlife. However, for people who are not professionally involved in biology, mushrooms are living creatures growing in the forest. Some of them are very edible, and some are deadly. Every inhabitant of Russia is more or less familiar with mushrooms, and only about 1/7 of the country's population never eats them. Here is a small selection of mushroom facts and stories:
1. Fungal spores were found in air samples taken by meteorological probes at an altitude of more than 30 km. They turned out to be alive.
2. That part of the mushroom that we eat is, in fact, the organ of reproduction. Fungi can reproduce both by spores and by part of their tissue.
3. In the middle of the 19th century, a fossil mushroom was found. The rocks in which it was found were more than 400 million years old. This means that mushrooms appeared on Earth much earlier than dinosaurs.
4. In the Middle Ages, scientists for a long time could not attribute mushrooms to the kingdoms of animals or plants. Mushrooms grow like plants, do not move, have no limbs. On the other hand, they don't feed by photosynthesis. In the end, the mushrooms were isolated into a separate kingdom.
5. Images of mushrooms have been found on the walls of Mayan and Aztec temples, as well as on rock drawings in the Chukchi Arctic.
6. Mushrooms were prized by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks called truffles “black diamonds”.
7. One of the many tales about Napoleon says that once his chef served a fencing glove boiled in mushroom sauce for dinner. The guests were very pleased, and the emperor personally thanked the chef for the good dish.
8. More than 100,000 known species of fungi are found almost everywhere, including in the oceans and permafrost. But there are about 7,000 species of cap mushrooms proper, and they live mainly in forests. About 300 species of edible mushrooms grow on the territory of Russia.
9. Each mushroom can contain many millions of spores. They are scattered on the sides at a very high speed - up to 100 km / h. And some mushrooms, in calm weather, emit small streams of water vapor with the spores, allowing the spores to travel a greater distance.
10. In 1988, a huge mushroom was found in Japan. He weighed 168 kg. The reasons for this gigantism, scientists called volcanic soil and an abundance of warm rains.
11. Mushrooms can be estimated by the size of the mycelium. In the United States, a mushroom was found, the mycelium of which spreads over 900 hectares, gradually destroying the trees growing in this area. Such a mushroom may well be considered the largest living creature on our planet.
12. The white mushroom lives for a few days - usually 10 - 12 days. During this time, its size changes from a pin head to 8 - 12 centimeters in the diameter of the cap. The record holders can grow up to 25 cm in diameter and weigh up to 6 kg.
13. Dried porcini mushrooms are more nutritious than eggs, boiled sausage or corned beef. A broth made of dried porcini mushrooms is seven times more nutritious than meat broth. Dried mushrooms are also much higher in calories than salted or pickled ones, so drying is the preferred storage type. Powdered dried mushrooms are a good addition to any sauce.
14. Mushrooms are not only very nutritious. They contain many vitamins. For example, in terms of the concentration of vitamin B1, chanterelles are comparable to beef liver, and there is as much vitamin D in mushrooms as in butter.
15. Mushrooms contain minerals (calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron) and trace elements (iodine, manganese, copper, zinc).
16. Mushrooms should not be eaten if you have problems with the liver (hepatitis), kidneys and metabolism. Also, do not feed small children with mushroom dishes - mushrooms are quite heavy on the stomach.
17. When picking mushrooms, you need to remember that most of them love soft, moist, humus-rich and at the same time well-warmed soil. Usually these are the edges of the forest, the edges of meadows, paths or roads. In a dense berry bush, there are practically no mushrooms.
18. Oddly enough, but the appearance of the well-known and become the embodiment of the poisonousness of red fly agarics (by the way, they are not as poisonous as their relatives of other species) suggests that a short time for picking porcini mushrooms is coming.
19. It is necessary to process and cook mushrooms only in aluminum or enameled dishes. Other metals react with substances that make up the mushrooms, causing the latter to darken and deteriorate.
20. Only a few types of mushrooms can be grown artificially. In addition to the well-known mushrooms and oyster mushrooms, only winter and summer honey mushrooms grow well “in captivity”.
