Russula variata
- Photos
- Videos
- Description
- Habitat
- Edibility
- Similar Species
- Preserving (Drying or Freezing)
- Recipe Suggestions
- References
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Videos:
Description:
Russula variata has a cap that is usually mottled with greens and purplish pinks–though a single color can sometimes dominate completely. It is found under oaks and other hardwoods, primarily in eastern North America, and it features repeatedly forked, soft gills as well as a white spore print. The taste ranges from mild to somewhat acrid.
Cap: 5-15 cm; round to convex when young, becoming broadly convex to flat or shallowly depressed; dry or slightly moist; fairly smooth, or sometimes becoming cracked with age; green to olive green or purplish pink–or with these and other shades mottled; the margin sometimes slightly lined in older specimens; the skin peeling fairly easily, sometimes halfway to the center.
Gills: Attached or slightly running down the stem; close or crowded; forking frequently and conspicuously, near the stem, near the cap margin, and in-between (enlarge the illustration for an example); white; occasionally spotting slightly brownish in age, but not bruising; when young soft, greasy, and flexible (un-Russula-like in this regard).
Stem: 3-10 cm long; 1-3 cm thick; white, occasionally discoloring brownish in places but not actually bruising; brittle; dry; often becoming cavernous; fairly smooth.
Flesh: White; brittle; thick.
Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste mild or, more frequently, slowly moderately acrid (be sure to include the gills in a taste test), becoming mild with age.
Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative to orangish. Iron salts on flesh and stem surface negative.
Spore Print: White.
Habitat:
Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods, especially oaks–but occasionally reported (perhaps erroneously) under conifers; growing alone or gregariously; summer and fall; possibly widely distributed, but more frequently encountered in eastern North America.
Edibility:
Edible
Similar Species:
Russula cyanoxantha is very similar, but has gills that fork less frequently and a consistently mild, rather than acrid, taste. The two mushrooms are so similar that some mycologists have considered Russula variata to be merely a variety of Russula cyanoxantha.
Preserving (Drying or Freezing):
They are great dried and used in soups but fresh is fine too…
Recipe Suggestions:
Recipes for russula, or where they can be easily substituted.
- Pickled Hygrophorus Russula
- Puffball Ravioli With Wild Mushrooms and Kale
- Wild Mushroom Julienne
- Sweet and Sour Venison (or Beef etc) Soup With Wild Mushrooms
- Wild Mushroom Duxelles
- Wild Mushrooms With Garlic And Parsley
- Bison-Black Barley Stew, With Wild Mushrooms
- Wild Mushroom Conserve
- Wild Mushrooms With Garlic, Breadcrumbs and Chili
References:
https://www.mushroomthejournal.com/greatlakesdata/Taxa/Russuvaria306.html