What are the reasons for the fungi to turn blue?

Mushroom pickers are a special people. They prefer the silence and loneliness of the forest paths by stormy and cheerful fishing or hunting. Although the degree of ability to concentrate attention, concentrate and wait for these hobbies are quite equivalent, because it's not for nothing that the collection of mushrooms is called "silent hunting".

And with regard to patience, when ignorant people ask questions about this hobby, mushroom pickers are also masters. But what are they most often asked about? It turns out the leader among the questions about "quiet hunt" is the following: "If the fungi on the cut turn blue, it means they are poisonous?"

Looking for an answer

Let's find out the detailed answer to this question. As it turned out, blue flesh is a sign of a variety of mushrooms. From ordinary priberezovikov to deadly dangerous satanic fungus. And this phenomenon is not at all evidence of the presence of toxins in the pulp. Why do mushrooms turn blue in this case? This is due to the ingress of air into the pulp at the time of the fault. The substances contained in its tissues are oxidized and, due to the reaction with oxygen, acquire a blue tint. And, as it turned out, so many representatives of the mushroom kingdom are subject to such a color change. Even very tasty and useful.

Which mushrooms on the cut are turning blue?

Yes, the most different! The leader in the azure flesh is a mushroom with a talking name called bruise. In appearance it is completely inconspicuous, it has a grayish brown cap about 15 centimeters in diameter. But if you put pressure on the surface, it quickly turns blue. The bruise is suitable for eating in a dried and marinated form, although it can be met infrequently - it is listed in the Red Book.

Another rare species of blue mushrooms is chestnut. Outwardly, it very much resembles a boletus in the shape and size of the cap. Therefore, if the white fungus you find is turning blue on the cut, you are mistaken, and this is a chestnut or, perhaps, Polish mushroom. Differences between them are - if the first becomes blue with pressure on the foot or if the pulp is damaged sufficiently insignificantly, then the Polish is painted with a bright blue pigment. In addition to them, two kinds of mushrooms, reddish and Frost's boletus, also color their legs with azure.

It is often confused with white dangerous satanic mushrooms. They, incidentally, also fit the category that we list. Satan's mushrooms turn blue in the cut, but only slightly. And before they break off, they have a property first rose, like many other poisonous representatives of the Berendeyev kingdom.

But others, well known to most, the names of mushrooms belong quite edible and very tasty species. For example, bryozoans and boobies are blue at the cut. Possess azure flesh also some species of oak and moss.

Conclusion

Thus, we see that the fungi on the cut are very different in color. However, it should be noted that of the poisonous species this ability is possessed only by the satanic. So, if you find a fungus in the forest with a bluish hint of a hat on a fracture or legs, with a high probability it can be eaten. And in order not to confuse it with the satanic mushroom, it is worth remembering that the poisonous hat most often comes with a dome, but the spores are red or orange, like the characteristic net on the stem.