Peppermint liqueur, in dried form, competing in hotness with hot pepper, is not suitable for cooking and frying. But in salt form, after careful processing, it is quite competitive with many other mushrooms. In addition, it has some useful properties that allow you to successfully use it as an adjuvant in medicine. Read more about peppers in the article below.

Description

Belonged to the family of russula (genus Mlechnik), this mushroom has the following distinctive features:

• its white or cream-colored hat varies in diameter between 5 and 20 cm;
• the central part of the cap can be mottled with small cracks and covered with reddish spots;
• young mushrooms have a convex hat with turned edges, and mature specimens differ on top in the form of a funnel with wavy edges;
• the surface of the cap is dull, glossy or velvety;
• on the reverse side are thin plates;
• white and elastic legs reach a height of 8 cm and 4 cm in thickness;
• the white pulp of the mushroom is dense and brittle;
• milky juice is also white, but during oxidation it can acquire an olive-green and even bluish color.

Variety of peppercorns

However, the description will be incomplete since this mushroom has a variable appearance, changing the pure white color of the hat to a pale cream. The plates on the back of the hat eventually turn from white to cream. Initially, a snowy white leg is often mottled with ocher-colored spots.

Did you know? To reach the surface, mushrooms are able to develop extremely powerful efforts, punching with their soft hat not only asphalt and concrete, but also iron and marble.

Similar views

Close relatives of the pepper loaf from the Mlecnik genus are similar in appearance, but still have specific characteristics:

• aspen chest can be determined by the plates of pink-orange color and grayish or pinkish tones in the color of the legs;
• violinist hats and legs are distinguished by characteristic hairiness, by less densely placed plates;
• parchment differs in a wrinkled hat and a higher leg;
• bluish lump most of all others it resembles a peppermint, but it can be distinguished by milky juice, which, when dried, acquires a gray color with a greenish tint.

Where and in what season can you meet

The habitat of the pepper representative of the lactarias extends in the temperate latitudes of North America, Europe, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. Prefers the fungus to grow in moist and shaded areas, on clay soils, in deciduous forests - near birch and oak. He begins to bear fruit in July and continues to produce crops until mid-autumn. The main collection time is in August and September.

Did you know? Scientists cannot rank mushrooms as plants, since without chlorophyll they are not capable of photosynthesis and eat exclusively prepared organics. Moreover, like humans, fungi can produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

Tasting qualities, is it possible to eat

This representative of the milkers is considered to be a conditionally edible fungus., that is, it can only be eaten in processed form, in which it is not dangerous, but in no case should be consumed raw, since it can, indeed, be dangerous to health.

The caustic and extremely pungent taste of mushroom pulp sharply reduces its gastronomic qualities, not allowing it to boil or fry. But competently carried out salting of pepper peppermint allows you to get a rather tasty and healthy product. In addition, as already mentioned, in dried and crushed form, it completely replaces ground pepper.

Properties of the fungus and its use

Possessing nutritional value - 22 kcal per 100 g, peppermint is saturated with proteins and many nutrients, namely:

• potassium;
• magnesium
• phosphorus;
• selenium;
• ascorbic acid (vitamin C);
• nicotinic acid (B3);
• ergocalciferol (D2);
• phylloquinone (K1);
• folic acid (B9);
• pantothenic acid (B5).

In addition, almost all of the currently known amino acids are present in the pepper mass, presented primarily in the form of:

• lysine;
• alanine;
• valine;
• threonine;
• aspartic acid;
• glutamic acid.

Important! Peppercorns are the only ones that can be dried without harming human health.

Such a high saturation of the fungus with useful substances, with obvious taste properties, motivates people to spend quite noticeable efforts on salting it. No less actively this product is used in traditional medicine and as an adjuvant in the treatment of drugs.

How long after salting can I eat a mushroom

Excessive severity of the taste of the lactum under discussion forces it to be carefully processed during salting to remove bitterness. Nevertheless, even after a well-done salting, the finished product can be consumed only a month later.

Important! Rubber gloves should be worn on the hands during peppermint processing, as milky juice can stain the skin and even leave burns on it.

Application in pharmacology and traditional medicine

Being in a leading position in the content of phytoncides in its composition that can destroy many bacterial species, Peppermint is widely used in folk medicine, which uses it to treat renal failure, tuberculosis, purulent conjunctivitis, to remove warts and relieve seizures.

• In traditional medicine, using peppermint as an auxiliary and main (against tuberculosis) pharmacological agent, they rely on such features:
• with the help of amino acids alanine and leucine, slightly reduce the blood glucose in diabetics;
• strengthen the body's immune system;
• to remove poisons and toxins from it;
• cleanse the liver;
• fight the causative agent of tuberculosis;
• activate the digestive system;
• regulate the body's metabolism;
• prevent the onset of atherosclerosis;
• calm the nervous system;
• optimize the activity of the cardiovascular system;
• strengthen bone tissue;
• improve the condition of the skin and hair;
• build muscle.

Knowingly bitter mushroom peppermint, if cooked properly, can become a tasty and healthy food. The recipe for its salting is simple, although the process itself is troublesome and long-term. But many mushroom pickers, in order to prepare mushroom pickles, consciously go to extra efforts, believing that they are completely justified.