Support MycoNote →

MycoNote

Smell

Garlic

Garlicky — mushrooms tagged «Garlicky»

A garlic smell (alliaceous) is one of the nicest surprises for gourmet foragers. It is so intense and unmistakable that some species can be identified even with your eyes closed.

0 species in the database.

No mushrooms with this trait yet.

The chemistry of the garlic smell

The specific garlic smell in mushrooms comes from the very same sulfur-containing compounds as in real garlic (allicin derivatives). The smell is most powerful in small saprotrophic mushrooms that grow on forest litter or dry twigs.

David Arora in «Mushrooms Demystified» singles out two absolute leaders in this category:

1. Mycetinis scorodonius (Marasmius scorodonius): A tiny mushroom with a yellowish or leathery-brown cap and a very thin, tough (wire-like), dark stem. Its smell is simply astonishing — one little mushroom smells as strong as a big clove of fresh garlic. This mushroom makes an excellent edible seasoning.

2. Mycena alliacea and the garlic parachute (Marasmius alliaceus): Slightly larger relatives that grow mostly on beech litter and rotting stumps. They also have a powerful garlic aroma and dark, tough stems.

In the kitchen

M.Ya. Zerova notes that garlic mushrooms are used not as a dish in their own right (they are too small and tough) but solely as a flavoring.

The peculiarity of the garlic smell in these mushrooms is that it disappears during boiling but comes back after drying. Once dried, the mushrooms become a wonderful natural spice. You can grind them into a powder and add it to sauces, soups or meat a few minutes before the dish is done — the woodland garlic aroma will be unbeatable.

Questions and answers

If you rub the stem of a garlic mushroom, will the smell stay on your hands?
Yes! The essential oils of these mushrooms are so persistent that your fingers will smell of garlic for several hours after picking, even if you wash them. It's a very telling sign of a garlic mushroom, but check the other features too: the tiny cap and the thin, dark, wiry stem.
Are there poisonous mushrooms that smell of garlic?
In our latitudes there are no deadly poisonous macromycetes with a clearly pronounced smell of fresh garlic. The known garlic species, Mycetinis scorodonius and M. alliaceus, are edible as seasonings; the smell alone doesn't make just any small mushroom edible. And don't rely on your nose as a safety test: the most dangerous mushrooms, such as the death cap, have almost no smell.
Where is the best place to look for garlic mushrooms?
They don't form mycorrhiza, so they can grow almost anywhere. Most often they grow in large groups (colonies) on fallen pine needles, dry beech leaves, old stumps or right on small dry twigs buried in the soil.

Sources

  1. 1.Зерова М.Я. та ін. Визначник грибів України. 1979
  2. 2.Roger Phillips. Mushrooms (Roger Phillips)
  3. 3.David Arora. Mushrooms Demystified
  4. 4.Index Fungorum