The Factoidz editors have warned you on the other factoids I’ve written on the topic of mushroom hunting. I have also included warnings of my own. These warnings are not just boiler plate disclaimers. They are rooted in the tragic fact that many people get sick, seriously sick, and or die from consuming poisonous mushrooms. All these warnings are not meant to scare you away from this hobby. They are meant to cause you to approach this activity with caution and a healthy respect for the potential dangers this hobby poses to you and others. Just like any other activity, say like driving, certain simple rules of the road must be adhered to so that no one gets hurt or killed. The following seven rules are the basics. These rules are meant to guide the very beginner.
1. Find mushroom mentors. Whether it’s online or a friend, relative or neighbor, ask for help throughout the process of finding and consuming your first few mushrooms.
2. Investigate the deadly mushrooms that grow in your area first. Learn what these mushrooms look like, smell like, what time of year they grow, what trees they grow near and anything else that will tell you what you need to AVOID!
3. Pick three species of mushrooms that grow in your area and are impossible to confuse with the poisonous ones that you investigated. To see examples of three mushrooms that grow here in New England that are not only impossible to confuse with a poisonous variety, they are delicious and nutritious: click here.
4. When you take your mushrooms home you need to prepare them to take a spore sample. Keep the mushrooms in a safe place during the twenty four hours or so that it takes you to get your spore sample. Keep them out of the reach of children and don’t put them anywhere near food or where they could be confused with food.
5. Now that you have spore prints along with digital photos (I’ve included this factoid on Jerry’s photography channel. I take pretty good pictures of mushrooms, don’t you think? It’s about the only time I’m half way decent with a camera!) you have all the things you need to tell your mentor. Include other info like where and when you found them, and what trees they were near. Report to your mentor right away. With this info, your mentor will confirm that it is safe to eat your find.
6. Set aside a sample! Before you eat this mushroom, cut off a sample and set it aside. This will help the doctors determine what kind of bad mushroom you may have gotten a hold of. This will help them to determine how to treat you. Eat only a small portion and eat only one species at a time. Wait twenty four hours. If you don’t get sick, congrats, you’ve got a good healthy mushroom! I know this seems like you are using your internal organs as a poison mushroom detector. Not so. Sometimes the difference between mushroom poisoning being fatal, or just a few hours praying to the porcelain god… is the dose; the amount of mushrooms consumed.
7. The last safety rule and just plain old good practice is this: Keep records! Eventually you will have your favorite spots where you find the same mushrooms year after year as their seasons come. This factors out the unfamiliar after a while. This makes it easier and safer to find choice wild mushrooms. Remember, your photos and records are your "trophies" when it comes to this art/ science/ hobby.
Before you share your finds with others to eat, make sure you’ve gone through all of the above steps. Be sure to warn others that even though these wild mushrooms are not poisonous, a few people may get an upset stomach from the same mushroom, such as chicken of the woods, that others just find delicious. The reason for this is because different wild mushrooms are made up of different compounds and proteins. These proteins that the body can process, although the body isn’t that familiar with them, make you wonder what properties they have to heal that the more common foods do not. Remember, penicillin is a mushroom, a mold that grows well on cantaloupe. Look at the illnesses that mushrooms have cured and all the lives they have saved. Many cancer fighting properties are being found in mushrooms of the more exotic varieties. This is why these varieties are beginning to be cultivated and distributed in large circles recently.
Follow these safety rules and you will get a lot of fun out of this hobby, and it will get you out walking in the woods… A healthy activity that produces healthy food!
Ooops! There’s another factoid: Safety in the woods -how to use a compass, and stuff like that…
Mushroom links:
Safe edible wild mushrooms from the North East, USA
