Honey Mushroom is a little-known edible mushroom (boil before consumption for about 15-20 minutes), it can be boiled, fried, stewed, salted, marinated, or fermented. Honey Mushroom is rich in minerals such as potassium, phosphorus, iron, as well as calcium and zinc. It grows from May to September on decaying wood of deciduous trees (birch, willow, aspen).
Cap: 5-11 cm in diameter, initially convex with rolled edges and watery brownish spots, then spreading, sometimes with a blunt bump or slightly depressed center, with yellowish "marbled" watery spots in damp weather. Gills: broad, white or yellowish.
Stipe: 5-7 cm long and 1-1.5 cm in diameter, widened at the base, longitudinally fibrous, sometimes hairy at the base, pale pinkish, with a whitish coating, turning yellow upon touch. Flesh: very dense and elastic, fibrous in the stipe, grayish or yellowish, with a raw odor.
Cultivation on nutrient substrate: straw or sunflower meal is soaked in boiling water, left for 7-8 hours, then drained. Before sowing, the substrate moisture should be 70%, temperature 20-30°C. The cooled substrate is mixed with mycelium and placed in a transparent bag. Germination lasts 15-18 days at a temperature of 14-28°C. In areas where fruiting bodies have begun to form, make careful cuts in the bag film. Fruiting occurs in waves every 5-7 days.
As substrate, use high-quality straw without mold. Cut it into pieces 2-3 cm long. For 3 kg of substrate: 1 kg of dry straw, 100 g of bran, 20 g of chalk, 40 g of gypsum, 1.8 liters of water. Mix the substrate thoroughly and leave it in a warm place for 3 days (during this time, stir it twice). Then take a low-pressure polyethylene bag (PND), fill it with substrate, tightly seal it, and seal the edges with a match. Next, sterilize by steaming the bag over boiling water (for 1 hour 30 minutes). Pour 4 liters of water into a pot (bucket), place a glass jar on top, and put the bag on it so that it doesn't touch the water. Cover the pot (bucket) with a lid, leaving a small hole for steam to escape. After steaming, cool the bag to room temperature. Using a heated nail, make 12 holes in the bag in a checkerboard pattern. After 15-20 days, mushrooms will begin to appear on the substrate surface. For the 2nd-3rd wave of mushroom growth, tie the bag, keep it at room temperature for 7-10 days, then repeat the cultivation cycle.
