Velvet shankFlammulina velutipes

Yes, it's a good edible mushroom. In winter it's especially safe, because at subzero temperatures there are practically no poisonous look-alikes. In summer and autumn it can be confused with the funeral bell (Galerina marginata) — the critical check: the funeral bell has a ring on its stem and its spore print is rusty brown; the velvet shank has no ring, and its spore print is white.

Yes, that's its main specialty. Mushrooms that sprouted in November and froze stay whole and edible for weeks. Cut them, warm them up at home, and cook. During a thaw the mushroom comes back to life and keeps growing. Freezing and thawing don't spoil it.

Peel the tough slimy skin off the cap (optional) and slice the caps. You can fry them straight away for 10-15 min, or boil for 5-7 min and then fry or stew. Pickled velvet shank is good. The stems are too fibrous — better leave them, or dry them for mushroom powder.

On trunks, stumps and fallen logs of deciduous trees — mainly alder, poplar, willow, aspen and beech, less often oak. It loves weakened or freshly dead trees. It often grows in groups and clusters of 5-30 fruiting bodies, in floodplain forests, along riverbanks and in old parks with poplar avenues.

Throughout the forest and forest-steppe zones: the Carpathians, Prykarpattia, Polissia, and the Western, Right-Bank and Left-Bank Forest-Steppe. In the steppe it grows in floodplains and in parks with old poplars. One of the most common winter mushrooms.

October-March. It's the only noticeable edible mushroom that actively fruits in winter. Peak: November-February, with several flushes during thaws. Warm days of +5°C and above bring a new flush. In hard frosts the mushrooms sleep but don't spoil — they thaw and keep growing.

No, the velvet shank doesn't fruit in summer. It needs cool, damp conditions. The season starts at the end of October (the first frosts) and lasts until March (the first steadily warm days). From April to September the mushroom “sleeps” as mycelium inside the trunk.

The most dangerous mix-up is with the poisonous funeral bell (Galerina marginata). Two key differences: (1) ring — the funeral bell has a thin ring on its stem, while the velvet shank has none; (2) spore print — the funeral bell's is rusty brown, the velvet shank's is white. The funeral bell doesn't fruit in winter, so the risk is minimal then. In summer and autumn, check both features.

Take a mature mushroom, cut off the stem and lay the cap gill side (hymenophore) down on clean paper. Cover it with a glass (so it doesn't dry out). After 2-6 hours lift the cap — the paper will show a colored deposit of spores. The velvet shank's is white. The funeral bell's is rusty brown. This is a standard technique for telling similar mushrooms apart, and every forager should have it in their toolkit.