Shield pinkgillEntoloma clypeatum

Clean, slice, boil for 15-20 minutes in salted water and drain the water. Then fry, stew, add to soups or pickle. Raw or undercooked — do not eat it — it causes stomach upset. Keeps fresh in the fridge for up to 2 days.

The genus Entoloma is mostly poisonous — among its 200+ species, several dozen cause serious gastrointestinal poisoning. Confusing E. clypeatum with a dangerous relative is a real risk. If you have no experience telling E. clypeatum apart from E. sinuatum, E. rhodopolium and others — do NOT pick this mushroom. It's safer to walk on by.

Cut a mature mushroom, remove the stem and place the cap gills down on clean paper (half white, half black — for contrast). Cover it with a glass. After 4-8 hours, check the color of the print. In Entoloma it's pinkish brown. In similar Tricholoma (knights) — white. In Agaricus mushrooms — chocolate brown. This is the most reliable test for the genus.

Strictly under rose-family trees and shrubs — apple (garden and wild), plum, pear, hawthorn, dog rose, blackthorn, bird cherry, rowan. Typical spots: old orchards, country gardens and yards, forest edges with hawthorn bushes, shelterbelts with blackthorn, parks with old fruit trees. It often grows in groups of 3-10 mushrooms. It does not grow under oak, pine or birch — this is an important diagnostic feature.

The Forest-Steppe (Western, Right-Bank, Left-Bank) — especially in the orchards of Podillia, in Polissia, and in the Carpathians and Prykarpattia. Less often — in the ravine woods of the Steppe and in ravine shrub belts.

April — June, peaking in May. One of the first spring mushrooms, along with morels and false morels. It coincides with the blossoming of apple trees and hawthorn. In July–September this species usually no longer fruits — any "E. clypeatum" found in late summer should make you suspicious.

The worst case is the poisonous Livid pinkgill (Entoloma sinuatum): large, with a whitish cap, but it grows in deciduous forests under oak/beech, from July. How to tell them apart: the garden one — under rose-family trees, in spring, grayish brown; the poisonous one — under oak, in autumn, whitish yellow. It is also confused with St George's mushroom (Calocybe gambosa): also edible, also under rose-family trees, but it has a white spore print (not pink) and a white cap. And it is the safer choice — if in doubt, take the Calocybe, not the Entoloma.

Yes — other Entoloma species can grow in the same area, mostly small ones (E. vernum, E. rhodopolium). Remember: E. clypeatum is large (5-12 cm), fleshy, with a white stem. If the mushroom is smaller than 5 cm or has a thin gray stem, it's a different Entoloma species — leave it alone.