After the rain on the roadsides, in the meadows and glades there are round or pear-shaped mushrooms - raincoats. Ripened specimens have a spore powder within it that resembles dust, which flies out of the fruiting body if touched. Because of this, raincoats have other names: fluttering, dust collector, tobacco mushroom and others. Mushroom pickers often ignore him, and for good reason, Europeans have long appreciated his taste. Consider how edible raincoats, their varieties, and which of them is best prepared.
Edible or not
Almost all types of raincoats edible. But the food should be consumed only young copies with white elastic flesh. As the spores age and mature, their pulp becomes yellow, friable, then darkens and fills with spore powder. Already only slightly yellowed copy is not recommended, as it has already lost its taste.
Important! Sometimes young pale toadstools are similar to flies. But it is easy to determine this by cutting the mushroom body in half and finding in the section the leg and the cap characteristic of the toadstool. If you have already found a pale toadstool at home, then all other fungi that have come into contact with it should be thrown away, since this species of amanita has already "infected" them with its poisonous spores. Wash hands well with soap and water.
With edible raincoats are similar crooks. These mushrooms also have a spherical shape, but their skin and flesh are more rigid, it darkens quickly when the spores mature, remaining long dense, often has a marble pattern and veins. Even young lozhadozhiviki do not have the flesh of pure white color, usually yellowish or olive tones are present. Everyone also notices its unpleasant smell. 
So the edibility of a raincoat is easy to identify. It is only necessary to cut it in half and look at the pulp inside. It should be white, dense, without a leg or a sign of the formation of spores.
Familiarize yourself with the most common types of edible and dangerous mushrooms, so as not to be mistaken on a "quiet hunt."
Appearance
For raincoats are characterized by some common signs.
Fruit body
The shape of the fruit body in raincoats resembles a ball or a pear and has a closed structure. The sizes depend on the species. They have a thick peel, often with thorns, falling off with age. As it grows old, the fungus darkens and forms inside the chamber, in which there is a spore powder. The peel becomes thinner and tears easily, throwing out spores. 
Leg
Division into cap and leg is absent. Some species have a pseudopod, sometimes barely noticeable, and in some it is very pronounced.
Pulp
At a young mushroom pulp is white, rather dense and elastic. The fungus quickly grows old and the flesh at first yellows and becomes less elastic, sticky. Then it continues to darken, shrinks and fills with spore powder. 
Spore powder
A spore powder is dark olive or brown in color and looks like the dust that comes out when pressed from an old mushroom. The spores themselves are ball-shaped and can be of different sizes in different species.
When and where does the rain mushroom grow
Raincoats are common on all continents except Antarctica and grow everywhere. Mostly in our area you can search for them from the end of summer and autumn. You can find them anywhere, along roads, in gardens, on lawns, in meadows and glades, in the forest. Some species are found only in meadows and meadows, while others prefer forests, most often coniferous or mixed.
Important! Raincoats strongly absorb various toxins in themselves, so it is not possible to collect them along the roads or near industrial centers.
Video: how and where they collect raincoats
Varieties
Raincoats are a kind of champignon family of mushrooms. The same family also includes dwarfs, a similar genus of fungi, the most famous of which is a giant raincoat (or giant golovach).
Learn more about champignons: the benefits and harm to the body, methods of growing, growing at home.
Giant
A giant rain can reach up to 50 cm in width and up to 7 kg of weight on average. This fungus often grows in the tropics, but we also occasionally occur in meadows, pastures, glades and other places. He has a white or grayish color, which becomes brown in old age. The flesh of young specimens is edible and has a delicate flavor.
Pear shaped
This species grows on rotten wood in large groups and can often be found in pine forests. Mushrooms in youth have white flesh, almost white color and slightly prickly, with time they turn brown and become smooth, as if cracked. Their pedicle is usually conspicuous and makes them pear-shaped, 1.5–7 cm tall. Like most raincoats, it is a good edible mushroom, but only at a young age.
Brown or umber
It looks like a small ball with a diameter of 1-6 cm on the palatine. At a young edible age has a whitish color, which eventually becomes ocher and then brown tones. The surface is covered with needle spikes, which have a darker color than the shell of the fungus. Up to 8 cm tall. Prefers coniferous or mixed forest tracts.
Did you know? Since ancient times, spores of rainwear have been used in folk medicine for the treatment of bronchitis, pneumonia and tuberculosis, against tumors. The flesh is applied to wounds and scratches for their speedy healing.
Meadow
It has a small size of 1-6 cm in diameter and 1.2-5 cm in height. Over time, the spherical shape flattens and the white color turns brown. A wrinkled palatine is visible. It grows mainly in meadows, glades, forest edges. Edible at a young age, when the flesh is white, elastic.
Prickly, or Pearl
The form of this species of mushroom is similar to a mace or pear up to 4 cm wide and from 2 cm to 9 cm high. It has a wide, rather noticeable leg, and its surface is covered with spines, similar to pearls. The color is white, turns brown with time, and the white dense flesh becomes friable, soft and darkens. Young mushrooms are edible. Grow from June to late autumn (to October) in the meadows, forest edges and meadows.
Did you know? The largest edible mushroom in the world is a giant raincoat. It had a weight of 22 kg and its circumference was 2.64 meters. Canadian Jean Guy Richard found it in 2007. He carefully dug this mushroom with a garden spatula.
Chemical composition and beneficial properties
The composition of this product includes (per 100 g):
- proteins - 4.3 grams;
- carbohydrates - 1 gram;
- Fat - 1 gram.
Mushroom contains such minerals: Calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, fluorine, chromium, iron, zinc, iodine, rubidium and molybdenum.
The flesh contains beneficial enzymes amylase, lipase, proteinase and oxidoreductase. Contains amino acids tryptophan, methionine, cystine, phenylalanine and others.
Its fruit body contains a natural antibiotic that suppresses the tubercle bacillus and a substance calvacin with anti-cancer properties, confirmed by animal experiments. 
Useful properties of raincoats:
- cleanse the body and remove toxins, radionuclides;
- have hemostatic properties;
- low-calorie - 100 grams contains 27 kcal;
- have antibacterial properties;
- antitumor properties (including anti-cancer);
- increase immunity;
- make the skin supple, healthy;
- regenerating properties;
- improve metabolic processes;
- positively affect the gastrointestinal tract;
- improve the cardiovascular system.
Read also about the beneficial properties and application in various branches of mushrooms: milk mushrooms, boletus, ceps, shiitake, chaga (birch fungus).
Use in cooking
Due to its excellent taste and availability, the rain mushroom is often used in cooking for preparing many dishes - soups, salads, casseroles, snacks and more. In food suit only young specimens this species. They can be used in dried, fried, boiled, pickled form. Raw mushrooms should be used soon after harvest or dried. You can also boil first to stop the production of the spores, and then fry, simmer or pickle. Usually prefer to dry or fry. 
Before cooking, raincoats clean and remove hard skin. Usually they are cleaned dry, so as not to lose the mushroom spirit. Dried, spreading them in the sun or in the oven over low heat, can also be strung on a string and hang over the stove. Dried mushrooms are used as an additive that gives the dishes a mushroom flavor. Very tasty mushroom soup is made from dried raincoats, not worse than from white mushrooms.
We advise you to read about the technology of cooking mushrooms: pickling (chanterelles, wild mushrooms, milk mushrooms, ryadovki), pickling (dried mushrooms), drying (oyster mushrooms), freezing (white, oyster mushrooms, chanterelles, mushrooms, champignons).
Can cook Italian raincoats. To do this, clean the mushrooms, peel them off. Then boiled in salted water. After it is thrown back on the sieve and allowed to cool. Cut into small pieces and place with the bulbs in a saucepan. Fry in oil until half the liquid from the mushrooms boils away. The bulbs are drained and flour is added, then fried again for about twenty minutes. Pound the yolk with sour cream and pour into a saucepan. Add spices to taste (pepper, salt, cloves, etc.), greens and simmer on low heat for about ten minutes.
Video: how to fry raincoats
Collect raincoats and eat it is quite possible. They are not only tasty, but also useful. The main thing is to follow the simple rule - always make a cut of the fruit body and inspect its insides to determine edible specimens and take only young mushrooms with white flesh.
