Mushroom picking is a fascinating and useful event, and forest mushrooms are much tastier than those grown under artificial conditions, and their benefits can hardly be overestimated. All of them are not the same both in taste and in useful properties. One of the most unique specimens is chanterelle mushrooms.
Description of the fungus, its species and their distribution
Chanterelle is an edible mushroom that is widely distributed in temperate climatic zones, as well as in the subtropics.
You can meet this species in both coniferous and deciduous forests. It grows mainly from August to October, but sometimes it can be found in the summer, starting in June. Since chanterelles prefer soil with an acidic environment, they should be searched under fallen leaves, in grass and moss. They grow mainly in large groups.
The color of the mushroom varies from barely yellow to rich red. The hat and foot are fused, the hat in the center is funnel-shaped, and its edges are wavy. The diameter does not exceed 12 centimeters, and the length of the legs varies between three to seven centimeters, while having a width of one to three centimeters.
The flesh’s pulp is dense and fleshy, if pressed with a finger, it takes on a slightly reddish hue. The smell is unusual, but attractive: it combines the aroma of fallen leaves, roots and light sourness.
The chanterelle family has more than 50 species, but the most popular is the common chanterelle, which is the most common.
The chemical composition of chanterelles
These mushrooms are very beneficial for humans. To understand if raw chanterelles can be eaten, you need to study their composition.
Mushrooms are an excellent source of proteins and healthy carbohydrates, rich in B vitamins, namely B, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B9, as well as A, C, E, D, D2, PP. In addition to vitamins, they contain many minerals: calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, fluorine, iron, copper, manganese, selenium, zinc and cobalt. They contain eight essential amino acids and tramenolinic acid, which actively helps fight hepatitis C. But the chinomannose polysaccharides and beta-glucans, which have a strong antiparasitic effect, are a truly unique substance that is part of the chanterelles.
The benefits of chanterelles for the body
The unique, balanced composition of chanterelles, saturated with vitamins and minerals, allows them to be widely used in both traditional and folk medicine. The benefits of consuming these mushrooms are difficult to overestimate. If you ask yourself whether it is possible to eat chanterelle mushrooms raw, it is worth considering that during heat treatment the described properties are minimized: already at 50 ° C they cease to be so useful.
The beneficial effects of chanterelles on the body:
- remove heavy salts;
- help in the treatment of viral infections and tonsillitis;
- contribute to the correct functioning of the cardiovascular system;
- strengthen muscles, leading them to tone;
- relieve irritability, relieve fatigue;
- improve vision, condition of hair, nails and skin;
- effectively fight varicose veins;
- help in healing wounds and eliminating skin abscesses;
- effective for furunculosis;
- significantly strengthen the immune system;
- relieve parasites in the body and their eggs;
- actively contribute to the treatment of tuberculosis, being a natural antibiotic for the body;
- help in the treatment of obesity, as they are rich in the enzyme ergosterol, which also affects the liver, has a positive effect on its enzymes, and is able to fight hepatitis C;
- support the health of the gastrointestinal tract, especially beneficial effect on the pancreas.
If it is still not entirely clear whether raw chanterelles can be eaten, it is worth paying attention that they help even in the treatment of rickets, osteoporosis and anemia, restore the intestinal microflora in dysbiosis, and are excellent helpers for the body in early forms of cancer. Mushrooms remove toxins and suppress allergic manifestations.
In addition, chanterelles are used even in cosmetology, because their extract helps in the fight against skin fungus and inflammation, with acne and bacterial lesions. Also, creams based on these mushrooms actively moisturize and nourish the skin with many useful trace elements.
Is it possible to eat raw chanterelles from parasites?
It is known that chanterelles are extremely rare for worms, and this property prompted scientists of the last century to study the effects of fungal substances on parasites. As it turned out, when the pulp was eaten, the parasites instantly died, which prompted the idea of containing poison in the mushrooms. But if they contain toxic substances, can chanterelles be eaten raw by a person without risk to health and life?
It is not poison that destroys the parasites, but a polysaccharide that does no harm to the human body. Its name is quinomannose, it is concentrated in mushroom pulp and, upon contact with the worm, blocks its nerve endings, paralyzing the lungs and leading to its instant death and elimination from the body.
Chanterelles contain another polysaccharide called beta-glucan. Firstly, it helps to strengthen immunity, which helps in the fight against parasites, and secondly, beta-glucan actively produces white blood cells called eosinophils, which include a special protein, myelin. The latter has a detrimental effect on the eggs of parasites, destroying their protective shell, not giving a chance to survive a single individual inside the human body. At the same time, no harm was found to the body itself.
When asked whether raw chanterelles can be eaten, scientists unanimously give a positive answer, because they are so useful that they are more like a panacea for the human body than a simple food product.
Contraindications
Chanterelles are indispensable for the health of the body due to their beneficial properties. As you know, the classic antiparasitic drugs, although they kill worms, have a severe effect on the body as a whole. Chanterelles, on the contrary, along with anthelmintic struggle contribute to the general strengthening and improvement of all organs and systems of human life support.
But no matter how useful the chanterelles are, they still have a number of contraindications. Like all mushrooms, they are heavy food for digestion, which means that people suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract should use chanterelles with caution, dosing their amount. It is also worth not to eat mushrooms for pregnant women and nursing mothers.
Sometimes people are faced with allergic reactions to fungi, which leads to intolerance to their body. Do not forget that the collected mushrooms in an ecologically unfavorable zone will certainly become toxic to the body. Experienced mushroom pickers can easily distinguish ordinary chanterelle from false, which can also harm a person. Although the false fox is not very poisonous, and recently it has been included in the group of conditionally edible mushrooms, you should not expect the benefits of such a mushroom.
But not only to collect the chanterelles you need to be able to correctly, but also to process. Mandatory is the initial treatment lasting from three to five hours immediately after collection. Mushrooms must also be stored correctly - in a dark, cool place, and not too long, no more than seven hours.
Chanterelle consumption
After numerous studies and questions about whether it is possible to eat raw chanterelles, it became known that these mushrooms have antiparasitic action only in raw and dried form. At the same time, they should be dried either by the natural method or in the oven, but not exceeding the threshold of 40 ° C. Before drying, all contaminants from the mushrooms must be brushed off without resorting to their contact with water. Such chanterelles need to be stored hermetically sealed, especially when it comes to mushroom powder, the beneficial properties of which gradually decrease when exposed to moisture and air. You can also prepare an alcoholic infusion or a decoction of chanterelle water.
Many parents are wondering if raw chanterelles can be eaten by children, because the effect of classic medications is extremely toxic. And the first thing to consider is that in no case should these mushrooms be given, however, like any others, to babies up to three years old.
As you know, the children's body of the first years of life is not able to digest mushrooms due to the lack of an appropriate enzyme, and as a result, the stomach and pancreas suffer from their use. Older children can be given chanterelles in any form, except for alcohol tinctures. You can also freeze chanterelles, this method perfectly preserves all the useful properties of mushrooms.
Helminthiasis is extremely dangerous for humans. Parasites not only deplete the body, but can also cause more than 300 different diseases due to damage to organs and tissues. This makes cleaning from helminths necessary for each person, and it is advisable to do this regularly. There are many tools that help in the fight against parasites, but only chanterelles are able to free the body from absolutely all species (including pinworms, roundworms, opisthorchiasis, which destroy the liver and pancreas) and even destroy worm eggs. Chanterelles can be collected and prepared on their own, or you can buy medications based on them, which are common around the world, because these mushrooms were the most effective in combating parasites, but at the same time the most harmless.