This edible mushroom has the nickname "smelly" for a reason. In the state when it is ripe or already overripe, it smells like decomposing fish.
It can be found already in spring in deciduous forests under oaks and birches. Likes acidic soils. It grows in forests, parks and clearings.
The hat has a diameter of up to 8-9 cm. The juvenile fruiting body is semicircular, opening up over time and becoming arched, finally becoming flat in old age.
The color of the hat is very variable. From purple, light pink, wine, mahogany, to purple-black. The skin on the surface of the cap is easy to separate.
Gills are white in color, becoming ocher, light beige with age. They are narrow. The white flesh turns brown with age. He's fat and meaty. The smell is delicate in young fruiting bodies, fishy in old ones. Mild, mushroom flavor.
The thick cylindrical stem is full in the young mushroom, empty in the mature one. It has no collar. The white color in the young changes to brown with age.
The mushroom is edible, but as mushroom pickers say, it is collected as a last resort, as there is nothing else in the forest. It is mainly suitable for canning in vinegar.
