Description of a rare species of mushrooms where curly sparassis occurs, calorie content and chemical composition of the pulp. Useful properties and possible harm when used. What to cook, can it be confused with other mushrooms, use in cosmetics and medicine. Curly sparassis can be introduced into the diet of those who are losing weight, patients with anemia and after serious illnesses. There are specially designed diets in which mushroom cabbage dishes support the body's reserve of nutrients. Chemical analysis of the pulp isolated an antibiotic that destroys staphylococci.
Useful properties of curly sparassis
Curly sparassis is an edible mushroom, no preliminary long-term preparation is required when preparing dishes, so the nutrients in the composition are preserved. The benefits of mushroom cabbage for the body:
- Antibacterial and antimicrobial action;
- Reduces blood sugar and prevents the development of obesity, which is one of the symptoms of insulin-dependent diabetes;
- Normalizes the level of blood pressure, prevents a sharp change in the systolic indicator;
- Improves liver function, accelerates the elimination of toxins against the background of viral infections;
- Helps to avoid the development of depression, prevents insomnia;
- Strengthens general immunity, accelerates the production of macrophages;
- It has antitumor activity, reduces the possibility of malignancy, the effect is most pronounced in sarcoma and melanoma;
- Suppresses the development of HIV infection;
- Prevents hormonal disorders, eliminates discomfort during menopause.
When introducing curly sparassis dishes into the diet, only artificially grown fruit bodies are used. In the wild, the mushroom is rare.
Harm and contraindications to the use of mushroom cabbage
Mushrooms have a common negative property: they absorb harmful substances from the external environment. Curly sparassis grows on trees, does not come into contact with the soil, but this does not mean that the fruit body is harmless with respect to toxins. The fungus absorbs gases and salts of heavy metals scattered in the air, therefore, it cannot be collected in the area of highways and in cities.
Contraindications to the use of curly sparassis:
- Pancreatitis;
- Food allergy to mushrooms;
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract in the acute stage;
- Peptic ulcer;
- Acidic gastritis.
You should not introduce curly sparassis dishes into the diet of pregnant women, children under 3 years old and the elderly. In representatives of these categories, adaptation to a new product is delayed, enzymes that promote assimilation are not produced in sufficient quantities. Indigestion can cause toxic symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, and indigestion.
Sparassis curly recipes
Curly sparassis is a rather expensive product. It is used boiled, fried and even raw, added to sauces or gravies just before turning off. Interestingly, spices are practically not required during cooking, with the exception of salt. Mushroom cabbage has a delicate nutty taste, and the spices simply clog it.
Preparation for the preparation of a rare delicacy is carried out as follows: the fruit body is placed in cold water for 15-20 minutes to get rid of impurities. There is no other way to clean the folds, even if you disassemble the mushroom into inflorescences. After removing dust, dirt and insects, the inflorescence-blades are washed with running water.
Recipes from curly sparassis:
- Cooking in a saucepan … Mushroom blades are lowered into a container with cold water, cut into small pieces, brought to a boil, salted and cooked for 20 minutes. Then they are thrown back on a sieve to glass the water. Vegetable oil is added before serving.
- Cooking in a slow cooker … Mushrooms can be cooked in it in two ways. In the steam basket, for 30 minutes, add salt while laying. In the bowl, setting it to the "stewing" mode, putting the mushroom slices into a preheated saucepan. Cooking time - 16 minutes. You do not need to pour water, the pulp will give juice by itself.
- Frying mushroom cabbage … To fry mushroom inflorescences, the pan is well heated, a small amount of butter is melted, and mushroom pieces are fried, constantly stirring. You can switch off after 20 minutes. During cooking, the water evaporates, the contents of the pan are almost halved. The nutty flavor remains.
- Drying curly sparassis … Dried in almost the same way as other mushrooms, but with some peculiarities. First, the inflorescence blades are separated from the fruiting body, then they are cut and only then they are spread on baking sheets. Drying in the oven takes 4-5 hours at a temperature of 60-70 ° C, the door must be kept ajar. In an electric dryer, the process takes 3 hours. If you plan to make mushroom powder after drying, then it is carried out in 2 stages. First, the inflorescences are washed entirely, soaking in cold water, then the moisture is allowed to drain, dried for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 30-40 ° C, and only then the temperature is raised or put into a dryer.
- Mushroom powder … Dry mushrooms are ground to flour in a blender, adding a little salt. From spices, cinnamon or cloves are used, just a little, so as not to interrupt the natural delicate taste. Mushroom powder is stored in sealed glass jars without air access.
- Mushroom Powder Sauce … Fry a large onion in butter, put 2 tablespoons of flour in a pan and stir vigorously so that no lumps form. Pour in a little water, so that a puree-like mass is obtained, and add mushroom cabbage powder. Boil for 2 minutes, add sour cream and finely chopped parsley, add some salt. Cook for another 2 minutes, turn it off and let it brew for 5 minutes before serving. The sauce goes well with pasta and any kind of porridge.
- Pepper stuffed with curly sparassis … Pepper is cleaned of partitions and seeds, cut into 2 halves. In the future, they are used as bowls for stuffing. Peel the onion, fry in butter, add finely chopped chicken fillet to the pan, fry for 10 minutes, and then finely chop pieces of sparassis and bring to readiness, slightly salting. Cheese is grated separately. Fill the halves of the pepper with the mushroom mixture, sprinkle with cheese, spread on a baking sheet. It is placed in an oven preheated to 170-180 ° C. Turn off when the cheese is completely melted. You can use any greens for decoration.
Fried or boiled curly sparassis is suitable as a side dish for seafood, the taste goes well with shrimp, the dish is served as an appetizer, along with cheese and almonds. Boiled sparassis is used as a filling for dumplings, pancakes, spread on pizza. The powder is added to sauces, sprinkled with ready-made soups, hot dishes, and tonic drinks for bodybuilders are made.
Interesting facts about sparassis curly
It seems that it is almost impossible to confuse curly sparassis with other mushrooms, it differs so much in appearance. However, after the rain, a mushroom with the botanical name Tremella takes on the shape of a hare cabbage, and the popular names are ice mushroom or shiver. Its body also consists of a mass of twigs-lobes, but the consistency is much softer. As soon as it becomes drier, the ice fungus inflorescences shrivel. It's okay if you mix it up, since this mushroom is also edible. In pickled form, it is very difficult to distinguish between different types of fruit bodies. The formation of the fruiting body of mushroom cabbage occurs almost instantly. After the introduction of the spore into the wood within 10 days, the diameter of the "ball" reaches 60 cm and by weight 10 kg. But with artificial cultivation, the fruit body is formed within 2 months.
The Japanese and Americans have learned to grow sparassis in a specific color - white or pale beige. Plantation substrate is made by mixing coniferous sawdust and wheat bran, achieving high yields. 800 g of fruit bodies are removed from 3 kg of the prepared substrate.
In the cosmetic industry, mushroom cabbage extract is used as an ingredient in cosmetics to prevent age-related changes. The substance restores skin tone, maintains water and electrolyte balance and stimulates the production of natural collagen.
In medicine, the compound "sparassol" has been isolated from the pulp of curly sparassis, which has antibacterial and antitumor activity.
In the wild, the mushroom is rare; it is listed in the Red Book not only in Russia, but also abroad.
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