Enjoy this Guest Post from Author and Mushroom Hunter Jared White from Adventuresinmushrooming.blogspot.com:
Mushrooms! We run across them all the time…
They’re in our gardens, they’re on our trees, they’re sometimes even inside our houses (yikes).
Some folks are terrified by them.
Others, mostly children (including a smaller version of myself) are absolutely repulsed by them, but most are at least fascinated by them.
As a photographer, I’ve always enjoyed finding these enigmatic gems of the forest but never thought about eating them until recently.
With inspiration from one of my favorite podcasts, I’ve been trying to be more sustainable and source my foods more locally.
You don’t get much more sustainable or local than going out into the woods yourself and collecting your own food.
Once you overcome your fear of the dreaded “toxic” mushrooms (which are fairly easy to avoid) you can save money, impress friends at potlucks, even make new friends in the woods.
Contrary to your local supermarket’s shelves, there are much more than 2 delicious edible varieties of fungi.
You may be surprised to hear me say this but the popular “portabella” or “button” mushrooms are possibly some of the blandest of the fungi world (also they’re actually the same species!).
They are just pervasive because they are one of the easiest to cultivate.
There are no doubt some seriously better shrooms growing in a forest or field near you right now.
For full disclosure, I’ve been seriously mushroom hunting for a grand total of one season.
But I’m also a stay at home dad (to a tween and teenager) and an obsessive person with a ton of free time. It’s basically been my full time hobby and all I think about and talk about and literally dream about.
My friends probably secretly wish I’d chomp on a death cap (yes, that’s a real mushroom) so I’ll shut up about mushrooms, I know my kids do. Hopefully I can inspire some of you to become an insufferable mushroom addict like me.
Once you overcome your fear of the dreaded “toxic” mushrooms (which are fairly easy to avoid) you can save money, impress friends at potlucks, even make new friends in the woods.
Now here comes the lawyer speak (but don’t let it scare you).
DO NOT EAT any mushroom that you or an expert have not positively identified. Additionally, DO NOT EAT any plant, animal, or object for that matter that you haven’t identified.
This is just common sense and nothing scary. There are a few mushrooms that can kill even a healthy person, but most will merely make you want to die for a day or two.
You’re more likely to contract food poisoning from an onion at the supermarket than a perfect wild food that you have identified and picked at the height of ripeness.
You will however, definitely contract a sense of pride and enhanced taste buds.
Starting out with edible mushrooms can be daunting but I (emphatically) suggest that you confidently identify your edibles in the wild at least twice before deciding to chow down.
This can be hard to do especially when a gorgeous specimen presents itself to you but if you have any reservation about your identifying skills you should probably pass it by until it becomes more familiar.
I’m basically saying, make good friends with the mushrooms before you bring them home to meet the family.
I also suggest joining your local mushroom club (trust me, there is one) and purchasing several guidebooks for your region.
I recommend anything authored by
- David Arora
- Gary Lincoff
- Michael Kuo
- Paul Stamets
- Tom Volk
Also MushroomExpert.com is an invaluable resource.
Even Facebook groups like The Mushroom Identification Group are fantastic places to get ID confirmations, learn to identify yourself, and basically inundate yourself with mushrooms.
The consensus of mycologists recommend beginning your culinary adventures with the “foolproof four” mushrooms. These are all striking in appearance with easily distinguishable features and few, if any, dangerous lookalikes. They are, in general seasonal order,
- Morels (Morchella sp.)
- Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius)
- Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus or cincinnatus)
- Giant Puffballs (Calvatia gigantean)
Want to learn more about the foolproof four? Stay tuned for the next article in this series, Mushroom Hunting 101: the Foolproof Four. Join the Email List to make sure you don’t miss out on that!
And be sure to visit my blog at Adventuresinmushrooming.blogspot.com to follow my further adventures and learn to identify more mushrooms along with me!
- Jared White is a bearded dad, environmentalist, shroomer, forager, rock climber, photographer, future farmer, and native Arizonan in SW Pennsylvania. Follow him at Adventuresinmushrooming.blogspot.com
Thank you for sharing your journey and insights on how to pick the right mushroom. This is very educational. Thank you!
Wonderful photos! Thank you for sharing your mushroom hunt and for sharing your travel and for letting us join you. This is a very educational reading material. Mushrooms enthusiasts should better know how to spot the difference of the edible from the poisonous once.
such a good information.thanks for sharing this
Thank you for sharing your journey on hunting mushroom, Hunting for edible mushroom is a way to good experience the forest, This article will help us how to choose the right mushroom.
Your article about mushroom hunting is fantastic. It’s so interesting and useful I believe. Thanks for sharing.
When you eat mushrooms from the wild, it is normal to check what kind of mushrooms they are before eating it because it might harm you, and it might be the poisonous ones. I agree with you that joining a club that knows more about mushrooms and does depth research about mushrooms so that you will be aware of the things that you should consider before starting hunting and eating it.