Why does this "tricky" mushroom have a fruity smell? Where do chanterelles grow and how to cook them correctly? Composition, calorie content, useful properties and contraindications for use. The low calorie content of chanterelles allows them to be consumed during a diet, replenishing the necessary substances in the body. However, it is worth remembering that you can eat no more than 500 g of mushrooms (ready-made) per week.
Useful properties of chanterelle mushrooms
200 grams of chanterelles fully meet the daily need for iron (for women), vitamin C, magnesium, sodium, chlorine and sulfur.
The benefits of fresh chanterelles and dishes with their content:
- They improve the vascular system, which helps with headaches, changes in blood pressure, numbness of the arms or legs, as well as pain in the neck and back.
- They help with low stomach acidity, acidity disorders, and even out the acid-base balance.
- Improves the appearance of the skin and prevents hair loss thanks to sulfur and niacin.
- Thanks to vitamin C, they strengthen the immune system and help fight colds.
- Iron in chanterelles increases hemoglobin, helping fight anemia (anemia).
- The trace elements contained in chanterelles improve all mucous membranes. So, they have an effect on the mucous membrane of the eye, which increases resistance to various infections.
- Various liver diseases are treated with special extracts from fresh chanterelles in European countries.
- Chitinmannose, contained in mushrooms, allows them to remain virtually untouched by worms, and also helps to get rid of parasites in the human body.
Relatively recently, scientists have identified the activity of trametonolinic acid contained in fresh chanterelles in relation to the hepatitis C virus - a positive trend in patients.
The harm of chanterelles and contraindications to use
Chanterelles, like many other mushrooms, have a rich composition, which leads to some contraindications for use. You need to use them with caution in such situations:
- Gallbladder problems … In this case, be careful, you can eat mushrooms with the permission of your doctor.
- Indigestion … Like all mushrooms, chanterelles are heavy food that must be eaten in limited quantities.
- Diarrhea … If improperly prepared, they can cause persistent indigestion, requiring medication.
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract … With caution, you should use pickled chanterelles, because mushrooms need a fairly large amount of vinegar for pickling.
- Poisoning … If the time for the necessary heat treatment of chanterelles is violated, this can lead to poisoning.
- Botulism … Incorrect preservation of meat or mushrooms, which leads to the formation of the bacillus Clostridium botulinum, which causes a rather rare but serious disease.
- "False" chanterelles … In no case should you buy chanterelles from your hands, which only partially fit the description of edible ones, and also collect yourself with care - "false" chanterelles are extremely poisonous.
Chanterelles are considered one of the "safest" mushrooms during pregnancy, but it is worth remembering about the thorough heat treatment, as well as the difficult digestibility of the fungi by the gastrointestinal tract.
Contraindications to chanterelles (in which cases cannot be used at all):
- Liver disease - fungi can provoke an exacerbation of the disease. Indigestion when exacerbated.
- Kidney disease - chanterelles contain some essential oils that irritate the kidney tissue.
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - mushrooms cannot be eaten at all: they can worsen the condition, and with prolonged remission, the disease can resume.
- Cholelithiasis - mushrooms, due to their composition, load the gallbladder too much, which can lead to the need for surgery.
It is also not recommended to feed children under 5 years of age with chanterelles. It is necessary to eat them with caution and people suffering from constipation. If there is an individual intolerance to any substances in the composition of chanterelles, you should consult a doctor.
Symptoms of mushroom poisoning come on very quickly. In case of poisoning with "false" or improperly prepared chanterelles, you must call an ambulance and immediately rinse the stomach several times.
In general, it is very easy to avoid harm to chanterelles; you just need to follow some recommendations for use and cooking technology.
Chanterelle mushroom recipes
This mushroom has one distinctive feature: chanterelles are eaten both raw and after heat treatment. However, raw ones are used only as a medicine for fungotherapy, so we have selected for you several recipes from chanterelles after heat treatment:
- Pie with chanterelles and chicken liver … Peel 400 grams of liver, “grab” it with a light crust with a short roast. Rinse 400 grams of chanterelles, cut into medium slices, add salt, simmer in a pan until the liquid is halved. Beat sour cream (250 ml) and 1 egg, add salt and herbs to taste, mix with mushrooms and liver. Roll out any favorite dough for unleavened pies, line the form with an even layer, forming sides. Place the mixture on the dough, avoiding unevenness. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes without covering.
- Risotto with chanterelles … Rinse 600 grams of fresh chanterelles, dry, cut large ones into several parts. Fry the chanterelles with a pre-sautéed half onion in small cubes. Fry until light golden brown. Add a little garlic, black pepper and salt to taste. Transfer the mixture to an oven dish and bake for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees. Cut the other half of the onion into small cubes and fry in butter. Then you can add a little olive. Pour 200 grams of washed rice into a frying pan, fry until the rice becomes transparent. In the next step, you can add a little red wine for sourness. Gradually add water (salted) or broth to the rice as it boils until the rice is soft. Put the finished chanterelles in rice, mix. You can sprinkle with grated soft cheese before serving.
- Vegetable stew with chanterelles … Fry onions (200 grams) in a cauldron, add 1 kg of peeled and chopped chanterelles to it, salt to taste, simmer until almost completely cooked, let cool in a separate bowl. Salt sweet peppers (300 grams) and eggplants (300 grams), fry in a cauldron until soft with garlic and herbs. Grind tomato pulp without skin (1, 7-2 kg) in a blender or meat grinder, pour into a cauldron, add chanterelles with onions and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes after boiling. Serve with rice or boiled potatoes.
- Creamy chanterelle sauce … Rinse 400 grams of chanterelles, cut into small cubes, cook for 20-30 minutes after boiling. Drain into a colander, let cool. Cut onions (200 grams) into small cubes, fry until almost cooked. Add chanterelles to it, salt to taste, simmer for 5-10 minutes. Pour in cream (250 ml), add allspice to taste, simmer until the sauce becomes thick. Sprinkle with fresh, finely chopped herbs before serving.
Interesting facts about chanterelles
There is a common misconception about the origin of the name "chanterelles": many think and even write that the root of the word is "fox", and the origin is from the appearance (wavy and fluffy). However, this is not entirely true, although there is something in common between foxes and chanterelles. Chanterelle mushrooms are named not in honor of fluffy animals so popular recently, but from the word "fox", which in translation from Old Russian sounds like "yellow", which gave its name to both chanterelles and others.
"False" chanterelles (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) are considered conditionally edible in many European countries, as well as in Russia and England, because of the unpleasant odor, loose texture and isolated cases of poisoning.
It is very easy to distinguish them from the officially edible mushrooms:
- The "false" chanterelles have an almost perfectly even round cap and a hollow, even leg, while the real ones have an uneven geometry, wavy and fluffy edges, and a fleshy leg tapering to the bottom.
- False chanterelles are usually much smaller in size.
- The plates under the cap of these mushrooms break off in one line, and do not smoothly go down, unlike edible chanterelles.
- When pressed on the flesh of a fresh chanterelle, a pinkish trace remains.
- Finally, real chanterelles are very rarely wormy.
However, in the subtropics, as well as in the Crimea, Omphalotus olearius grows, which is an extremely poisonous mushroom and visually similar to everyone's favorite chanterelles. Omphalot grows mainly on the roots of oaks and olives. But there is one and very reliable way to distinguish it: when you break the pulp, you immediately feel a very unpleasant smell. Also, this poisonous mushroom, unlike chanterelles, has a brighter color, its plates phosphoresce in the dark, and the cap has an even shape.
We said above about the substances that characterize the "apricot" smell of chanterelles, but there is an interesting fact on this topic: chanterelles and apricots have only two common aromatic compounds (1-octen-3-ol and hexanal), but none of them has a fruit smell!
In Jewish culture, chanterelles are kosher because these mushrooms are almost free of worms.
In fungotherapy, chanterelles are used to cure various liver diseases, restore vision and treat night blindness, treat diseases of the upper respiratory tract, pancreas, as well as a slimming agent and an antioxidant. In China and Japan, dietary supplements are produced based on chanterelle extract.
How to cook chanterelles - watch the video:
The popularity of chanterelles can be explained by the fact that they have a pronounced smell, they do not need to be subjected to long heat treatment, they are considered one of the best mushrooms in taste, they are easy to find in the forest, and on our counters you can always find a "fresh basket" with these amazing mushrooms.
