The world of mushrooms is complex, fascinating, and dangerous. The reason? Picking mushrooms often goes hand in hand with poisonings that can range in severity, even fatal, because you bring home an Amanita phalloides instead of a good mushroom (Amanita caesarea) or a false drumstick (Chlorophyllum molybdites) instead of a true one (Macrolepiota procera).
The least knowledgeable fall into the trap of whether they are edible or poisonous when it comes to Armillaria mellea, the typical honey mushroom, and its evil counterpart, Hypholoma fasciculare, known instead as the fake honey mushroom due to the fact that it is easily mistaken. "Both mushrooms have several things in common, starting with their formation and habitat, generally growing in groups on trunks and stumps of broadleaf and coniferous trees, including dead or dying trees, thus becoming saprophytic parasites," explains Caterina Cardia, mycologist and botanical guide, and even their aesthetic appearance could be misleading, as they resemble each other. Fake honey mushrooms are not lethal, but eating them leads to very serious gastrointestinal problems that appear shortly after ingestion. With the expert's help, let's see how to distinguish them, always with the utmost caution.
Differences Between Real and Fake Honey Mushrooms
Necessary premise: “for an expert, Hypholoma fasciculare, or the so-called fake honey mushroom, and Armillaria mellea, the true honey mushrooms, are completely different,” Cardia points out, “and if anyone picking them has even the slightest doubt, they should leave them where they are.” Mushroom picking, we remind you, is subject to the acquisition of a license, which is only issued at the end of a training course. “Furthermore, if you are unsure, at a local level there are mycological inspectorates within the ATS, with qualified mycologists who carry out the necessary checks to give the green light or not to the food safety of mushrooms.” Below are some details that may be useful for orienting yourself.
Ring: There Is None
While the honey mushroom features a thick ring, similar to the top of a flared stocking that forms a kind of bracelet (hence the name armilla, derived from the ornamental circlet worn on the arm by Ancient Roman soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle), the fake honey mushroom does not have one. In smaller specimens, a curtain, or veil, may appear to cover the plates, but this is not a true ring.
Color: Yellow Predominates
Honey mushroom is a mushroom that changes color depending on the trunk it infects, thus defining itself as a chameleon: for example, it can be honey yellow if it grows on mulberry trees or reddish-brown on oak. The gills are initially whitish, with pink or yellow hues and then begin to darken. The fake honey mushroom is different, with gills that have a characteristic yellow-greenish color, while the cap predominates in shades of yellow, from yellow-orange to sulfur yellow, with the center tending towards brownish-orange and the edges lighter.
Cap: Smooth, Not Scaled
In addition to the color, the cap has a more conical shape in the fake honey mushroom, which it will gradually lose as it opens, and the surface is smooth: the diameter ranges from 3 to 7 cm. The honey mushroom itself has thin scales in the central area, which partially disappear in mature specimens. It can reach 15 cm.
Smell and Taste: Unpleasant
As for the smell, neither is a champion perfumer, even though the fake honey mushroom is often classified as unpleasant. The taste changes everything: "Just taste a small lamella, without swallowing it, to immediately taste the terrible, very bitter taste of Hypholoma fasciculare."
Finally, Cardia specifies that beginners can also mistake the fake honey mushroom for the pioppino, another very common and much-loved mushroom. It is also called piopparello, however, "its botanical name is Cyclocybe cylindracea. Like the true honey mushroom, it has a visible membranous ring, has a pleasant smell, of mushroom and must, and the cap changes from brown to a nice coffee-and-milk color, as it tends to whiten, with lighter notes at the edges that gradually darken towards the center, while the gills are white and turn tobacco-colored with the spore print."
What Are The Consequences of Eating Honey Mushrooms?
As we have already mentioned, Hypholoma fasciculare is a highly toxic mushroom and, to the untrained eye, due to its similarity to both the honey mushroom and the pioppino, it represents one of the most common poisonings. As Cardia specifies, “it is not fatal, but it does require a trip to the hospital, because it causes a very serious gastrointestinal syndrome”. Stomach ache, cramps, vomiting, diarrhea are the frequent symptoms and appear shortly after ingesting the fake honey mushroom. “You have to be careful, however, even with the edible honey mushroom, because it is toxic if not cooked: only the flesh of the cap is consumed and must be blanched in boiling water for 20 minutes, no less, carefully drained and then cooked again according to the preparation you want to make. Its toxins, in fact, are thermolabile, and are destroyed by heat, while those of the Hypholoma fasciculare are resistant and this is why it should absolutely not be eaten, not even cooked”. And the pioppini? “Cyclocybe cylindracea does not require preliminary treatment: the stem is removed because it is hard and fibrous and it is cooked directly in the pan”.
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