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Curry Chat => Talk About Anything Other Than Curry => Topic started by: Sverige on June 08, 2016, 08:12 PM
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Anyone know a reliable method to safely identify mushrooms? There seem to be risks involved in jumping to too many conclusions that these things are edible, when they could in fact be deadly. Is there a simple guide which may be followed or is it a case of committing to plenty of study before become confident in such matters.?
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My own method is simply to eat those that /cannot/ be mistaken for a deadly poisonous species. This include all boletus (Boletus edulis, Boletus spp.) [my personal favourite, but avoid those that cut red or yellow -- they can give you an upset stomach], fairy ring champignons (Marasmius oreades), parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera), blewits (Lepista nuda) and shaggy ink caps (Coprinus comatus). Those are the /only/ mushrooms I will gather and eat, unless I am accompanied by an expert mycologist.
** Phil.
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True story from a conference in Sobieszewo, Poland, in the early 1990s. The organisers learned that many of the foreign delegates were harvesting mushrooms, and were understandably concerned. During the opening session the next day, the Chairman made an announcement : "Ladies and gentlemen, it has come to our attention that some conference delegates are picking our local fungi. While we welcome this interest in our native species, we are concerned that those of you who do not come from countries where these fungi are found may accidentally pick and eat a poisonous species, perhaps even a deadly species. We therefore recommend that before eating any mushroom you have picked, /please/, have it properly identified by a Pole, or a Ukrainian, or a Russian, etc.". Applause followed. Then a gentleman spoke, in a pronounced foreign accent, from the back of the room : "Mr Chairman, your advice is necessary, but not sufficient. Before eating any mushroom they have picked, our guests should have it properly identified by an /elderly/ Pole, or an /elderly/ Ukrainian, or an /elderly/ Russian". Long, loud and sustained applause !
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Sorry bud, the only help I can be is that I can safely identify them in Tesco :-\
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In all honesty, I only ever used to gather Psilocybe semilanceata and Amanita muscaria.
I doubt you would want to add those to a curry or serve them to your guests....... or you might ;)
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Lol Geezah. Those were the days...
No there is no formula for safely identifying all mushrooms but there are formulas for identifying safe mushrooms from certain genuses. Eg. poisonous members of the agaricus (field mushroom) family tend to turn yellow if you bruise them and will smell of TCP esp agaricus xanthodermus and agaricus moelleri. But it is not so straightforward as horse mushrooms (agaricus avensis) are edible but also can have a faint tinge of yellow to them. If you taste a member of the russula genus and it has a mild taste it is generally thought to be safe to eat, if it is bitter or has a hot chilli-like taste it will seriously upset you. The notorious beechwood sickener springs to mind!
I've been foraging for mushrooms and all types of wild food for years. At last count I'd eaten 59 species of fungi. If you need any help with ID upload a photo and I'll do my best to help. I do guiding sessions aswell if you're ever around the Midlands. There's plenty of easy species to get you going. Just yesterday I picked some chicken of the woods - ideal for beginners!
Failing that buy a book called Mushrooming with Confidence by Alex Schwab. About the most foolproof ID book as you'll ever lay your hands on.
Best
Mushroom Mike
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Thanks guys. Seems I have found the right guy in Mike. Will take a pic tomorrow and upload. Ta
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Not great photos, sorry
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Not great photos, sorry
Agreed :)
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Winter Polypore (polyporus brumalis)
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Thanks Mike. So from what Mr Google tells me this is not an eater and is actually left over from last year.
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Hi
No not an eater sadly. Most of the polypores, although not generally poisonous are usually too tough to eat. The word winter is a bit of a red herring. It does fruit through winter but will continue until late spring, likewise winter chanterelles can start during early autumn... Fungi know no seasonal boundaries, they grow when conditions are right!
Nevermind keep posting your finds...
PS Normal chanterelles (girolles) are doing well all over the place at the moment I've noticed, so if you're in your local woods keep your eyes on the ground for little "golden nuggets" growing amongst the moss... :)
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Thanks Mike. A few more sprouting in the garden. Some look the same as before but some might be edible?
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Very hard to tell. 1,2 and 4 look like they could belong to the lactarius family. If you slash the gills with a sharp knife they should exude a latex or "milk" - (hence the name lactarius.)
The 3rd one down is intriguing but as always I'd need to see the underside.
What type, if any trees are present in the vicinity?
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Thanks Mike. Doesn't matter if you can't ID them, it's just curiosity on my part really.
Mainly evergreens around here, but silver birch is quite prevalent too.
Few more pics of the underside of the intruiging no.3, along with the slashed gills from the first one, which do not appear to exude latex.
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I think the top one is a webcap (of some sort) you can tell by the way the edge of the unopened cap is joined to the stem by a web-like membrane. The genus is cortinarius from the Latin word cortina meaning "veil" (not the 1980s Ford saloon car!) ;) They are mostly poisonous or "suspect". Some are deadly!
Non of these really strike me as common edibles that I'm familiar with.
Daft question but are you actually in Sweden, if so where?
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Ok, I'd best wash my fingers then, because I pulled that first one out of the ground to photo it! Yes, in Sweden, about an hour west of Stockholm. Might be a different selection of mushies here to what you're used to!
Thanks for your advice, I think I'll not cut any up and fry up with bacon and eggs.
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No they all the same species there are just so many of them to be able to identify them all.
The reason I ask is because these guys http://www.getfunghi.co.uk/ are coming up on my Twitter feed a lot lately. They are running guided forays on the island of Orust. 400SEK pp inc a mushroom fry up lunch.
I think this was the place I saw Jamie Oliver picking chanterelles on his Sweden program - just last night in fact! Would be a great opportunity to get you going as a beginner.
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Looks interesting indeed, quite a way from me though (over 4 hours drive). If it were down the road I'd go for it :)
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That's a shame. I wonder if there's any other guides nearer.... The only other thing to do is head to the pine or mixed forests and look for chanterelles/girolles. They seem to be quite common in Sweden, easy to spot and easy to identify. Lots of them about at the moment there too!
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Thanks Mike, I'll google those names and get an idea what to look for. The forest is adjoining my garden, so not far to walk!
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The garden's full of mushrooms again, easily several hundred out there if not more. Sigma would be in his element, but I'm not gonna eat any!