It is the best known of the lepiotes. It has a fine flavor and a good odor. Excellent edible, especially when not yet fully opened, grilled.
Be careful not to confuse it with another Lepiota (Lepiota cristata), toxic. Remember those of you who already know it: collect only the large ones, spotted foot (snakeskin) and mobile ring.
Thus, this macrolepiota is known as parasol, dampener, matacandelas, matacandil, galipierna or galamperna, cucurril, cachiporra, apagallum, cogordo, zarrota, pan de lobo… It is one of the mushrooms with the greatest diversity of popular names. Undoubtedly because of its wide geographic diversity of habitat, since it appears in almost any type of terrain.
When we talk about parasol mushroom , we are talking about one of the largest mushrooms that can be found in the forest. A real beauty that is sure to delight any mushroom picker. We are going to explain what shape macrolepiotas procera have and how to distinguish them in order to be sure which species of mushroom we are placing in our wicker baskets.
The shape of the macrolepiota cap is very characteristic, especially when it is developing. The name drum mallet comes from it and it fits perfectly. At first it is spherical or oval, evolving to a flat convex shape. It has a central mamelon.
Its dimensions are among the largest we can find in the fungi kingdom, easily reaching 30-32 cm in diameter.
The cuticle of the macrolepiota separates easily and has radially placed scales, being more numerous as we approach its central part. The color of the cap is light, between white and faint cream, with scales of a darker brown tone.
White, creamy white, tight and soft. Free, broad and ventruda. They tend to darken at maturity.
We are talking about a mushroom with an extremely long foot. It can easily reach 12 to 40 cm in length. Perhaps it is due to a way to ensure the correct dispersion of spores, as this mushroom usually grows in grassy areas and often high. Slender and very fibrous. It is hollow and its lower part ends in a bulb that is half buried. It presents a tawny lines on its perimeter in the form of zigzag, of a brownish gray color. The fibrous nature of the foot means that it has to be discarded when cooking macrolepiotes.
This is one of the characteristics of this type of mushroom. It has a double ring. It is also completely mobile, sliding smoothly over the foot. White on top and cream brown underneath. The ring is very evident in developed specimens.
This mushroom has a scarce and somewhat elastic flesh. It has a pleasant smell and flavor, reminiscent of nuts or walnuts, which makes it very appreciated in the kitchen.
It is a very common and common species in many areas and soil types. Although we can see some parasol mushroom specimens growing in isolation, it is common to find several specimens together, even growing in the form of a corm, although this form is less usual. On some occasions and after an important hatching of macrolepiotes, hundreds of specimens have been found in a few meters.
The macrolepiota is used to a great diversity of habitats and can be found in almost all our geography. It is a true all-rounder mushroom.
It is a mushroom that likes forest clearings, roadsides, pastures, in short, areas where there is light. Although they can also be found in cork oak groves or under pine, chestnut and holm oak trees. We have already mentioned that this is a very common mushroom.
It is a traditional seasonal mushroom, i.e. from late summer and autumn. Although in certain areas it is also common to see it in spring. As always, the development of this mushroom will depend on the climatic conditions of each area and the rainfall received.
This is the least pleasant part, because despite being an easily recognizable mushroom if we stick to its characteristics, it is also true that its confusion is one of the most dangerous.
There are some varieties of edible Macrolepiotas in which confusion would have no relevance:
On the other hand, a confusion with other poisonous lepiotes would be fatal. In fact 2018 saw an unusual bloom of lepiotas brunneoincarnata that caused numerous serious poisoning problems. When we talk about toxic lepiotas we refer to:
All of them have in common an obvious smaller size compared to an adult specimen of macrolepiota procera. Therefore, a rule of thumb would be this:
You should never collect lepiotes that have a cap smaller than 10 cm in diameter, NEVER.
