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Milk mushrooms are considered one of the most popular and favorite fruit bodies among mushroom pickers and gourmets. These fruiting bodies belong to the highest category of mycobionts. Experienced mushroom lovers will always recognize the milky white mushroom with a yellowish mycelium and with a cap on which concentric rings are located.

Milk mushrooms have a special meaning in Russian cuisine - salted mushrooms are a favorite snack on any festive table. In addition, pickling milk mushrooms is an excellent option for harvesting fruit bodies for the winter.

Since these mushrooms have a bitter taste due to the milk in the pulp, there are situations when the mushrooms turn black when soaked, boiled or salted.

What happens to the fruiting bodies, why does the breast turn black? Sometimes these mushrooms can darken almost immediately on the cut. Almost all types of milk mushrooms are classified by mycologists as conditionally edible mushrooms, since their consumption in raw form is impossible. As mentioned above, the unpleasant hot-peppery taste of the fruit bodies disappears only after soaking and boiling. However, fans of mushroom "hunt" respect these mushrooms, which bear fruit abundantly unpredictably, have a high nutritional value and excellent gastronomic qualities. Especially appreciated is the white milk mushroom, which is also called real. But be that as it may, many mushroom pickers, especially beginners, wonder why the white milk mushrooms turn black.

It turns out that any lump turns black on the cut, because it emits a caustic sap of a whitish hue, which, when it comes into contact with air, first turns into a gray-yellow color, and then literally turns black. However, this should not frighten fans of “mushroom hunting”, who are suspicious of fruit bodies that “suspiciously” change color on the cut. In practice, it has been proven that after proper processing, mushrooms become edible and very tasty, with a crispy structure.

Why do milk mushrooms turn black on the cut when soaked in water?

Milk mushrooms with milky juice, bitter in taste, must be soaked for 1.5-3 days, although some species can be soaked for up to 5 days. There are cases that mushrooms also change color in this process. Why do milk mushrooms turn black when soaked, and what should the housewives take in this case?

Darkening of mushrooms during soaking is a common problem. It is worth saying that only those milk mushrooms that have been without water for a long time turn black. Therefore, experienced chefs advise, during preliminary cleaning, to immediately put clean mushrooms in water and cover with a lid.

During the entire soaking process, the water in the mushrooms must be changed several times a day. But sometimes, when soaking, the milk mushrooms turn black, why is this happening? It turns out that mushrooms should not only be completely submerged in water, but also not be exposed to sunlight. It is light that is another reason why milk mushrooms turn black in water. Therefore, after the mushrooms have been peeled, they are immersed in cold water, pressed down with a load and covered so that no light enters. If, nevertheless, a problem arose and the mushrooms turned black - do not be discouraged, everything can be fixed.

• Wash the mushrooms again, cover with cold water and press down with a load.
• Let the mushrooms stand for several hours, and then boil and then marinate or pickle.

Note that the main point of soaking milk mushrooms is not only to remove bitterness from them, but also to give the pulp elasticity. At each next water change, you need to evaluate the degree of elasticity of the mushrooms - it may already be time to salt them.

Warm water when soaking milk mushrooms is a quick way to relieve them of bitterness. But it also happens that the milk mushrooms turn black.If the water is not changed in time, the mushrooms will not only change color, but may also turn sour, which will lead to a complete loss of the mushroom harvest. To avoid this, salt is added to the water. It takes a lot of this ingredient to soak, but it pays off. In this case: how much salt to take, how often to change the water and whether it is worth using this method at all - the owner himself decides.

Why do salted milk mushrooms turn black in brine?

Why do milk mushrooms turn black when salted and how to fix it? After a long soaking, you can start pickling the mushrooms. For this, two well-known methods are used - hot and cold. The hot option is more popular, since the mushrooms are boiled in advance for greater reliability. With the cold method, the milk mushrooms, after soaking, are immediately sprinkled with salt, spices and put on top of the load until the mushrooms let the juice out. After several days of salting, the fruit bodies let in enough juice to completely cover them with the brine.

In brine, milk mushrooms also turn black, why do they change color and what contributed to this? The first thing that can cause color change is old overripe specimens. Bitterness does not come out of them so quickly, which leads to a problem: brine or mushrooms turn black.

There is another reason why salty milk mushrooms turn black. After salting, there may be little brine in the jars, and the mushrooms come into contact with the air - this leads to darkening. Therefore, experienced chefs recommend salting the milk mushrooms immediately in an enamel pan, where the mushrooms are pressed down by the load and remain completely immersed in the brine. After 10-14 days, the fruiting bodies are transferred to jars, pressed down and poured with brine under the very lid.

If, after the processes of soaking and salting, the darkening of the milk mushrooms did not occur, then everything was done correctly. However, if, nevertheless, the mushrooms have turned black, you should not be upset, since this problem can also be corrected. In this case, the milk mushrooms are washed under the tap and each layer is again sprinkled with salt and spices. Pour cold boiled water and take out into a cool room.

What to do so that milk mushrooms do not turn black during cooking?

It happens that during cooking, for some reason, the milk mushrooms turn black. This may be due to the fact that the mushrooms have been outside the liquid in which the boiling is taking place for some time. The top layer of the mushrooms in the pan was not completely submerged in water, which led to a color change.

Experienced housewives advise to boil milk mushrooms 2-3 times for 15 minutes, while the first time the procedure should take place in sour-salt water, and the mushrooms themselves need to be pressed down with a small load. It is better to take citric acid rather than vinegar for acidification, which will make the taste of the mushrooms more delicate. In addition, citric acid can whiten darkened milk mushrooms.

• Water is poured into the mushrooms, salted and so much acid is added so that the water becomes a little sour.
• After 15 minutes, the liquid is drained and the milk mushrooms are boiled in plain water, without adding salt and citric acid. Sometimes clove buds or black peppercorns are added to the water for zest and taste.

After reading the detailed information and knowing what to do so that the milk mushrooms do not turn black, you can prepare an amazingly tasty snack for the winter from these fruit bodies, thereby surprising the household and guests.