It's certainly mushroom time of year around here and they seem to be popping up everywhere.
But I must confess to being a wimp when it comes to foraging mushroom.
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| A bracket fungus on the "fairy tree" |
I've been on a foraging course many years ago as it's something I'd love to have more confidence in, I probably own 6 or 7 mushroom identification books and yet I just feel it's not worth the risk.
I have plans to grow mushrooms in the future for my own consumption but in doing so I should easily be able to tell which ones they are but when it comes to wild ones I'm sure we've all read horror stories of misidentification and sometimes from people who claim to be experts.
So aside from field mushrooms do you forage for these wild treats yourself?
Or do you think it's not worth the risk?
Like you we have lots of books on the subject and of course you can go on line and check things out but as I don't eat mushrooms, I wouldn't pick any. I would hate to poison my lovely hubby ..... even though his life insurance is up to date 😉
ReplyDeleteThere have been quite a few accidents with people who thought they were really good at identifying edible mushrooms, including one famous person who fed his dinner guests with poisonous fungi with terrible consequences ☹
I know! The link above sends chills down my spine, imagine if you did that to someone you love!
DeleteI absolutely love wild mushrooms! :-) I grew up in a family of foragers and there are certain mushrooms (chanterelles, birch boletes and others) that I am 100% sure about, from 30 years of experience. I am very eager to learn more; there are so many species out there I haven't tried yet, but I never pick anything I am not absolutely certain I know.
ReplyDeleteI think if I had been taught from a young age I'd be far more confidant.
DeleteI only collect what I can identify 100% only about 3/4 species, I love taking photos of all the fugi popping up in the woods, there is a lovely bracket fungi I have watched grow from a tiny thing over the past few years, I set up a mushroom bed this year that I was very happy with what it produced, I am planning a few more now
ReplyDeleteI love looking at the fungi but that's as far as I'll go!
DeleteAs a child we used to see fields of edible mushrooms, not now. I have once found a smallish puffball. I cooked and ate some of it.
ReplyDeleteWe used to love driving past the puffballs in the field and kicking them as we sped past!
DeleteI do occasionally, Horse Mushrooms, Field Mushrooms and Field Parasols which are really easy to identify but I wouldn't chance anything else. Unfortuntely my hubby doesn't like mushrooms and cannot stand the smell of them cooking either, so I have to wait until he's away somewhere. I also have multitudinous identification guides!
ReplyDeleteWe both love mushrooms here and I keep toying with the idea of growing them , but I have too much to do with the extension going on as well this year!
DeleteAs Dawn said above, it's always best to stick to just a few varieties that you can identify 100%. Here it is Cepes, Girolles, Hedgehog mushrooms, and Parasols. All easy to identify, and all delicious.
ReplyDeleteI like seeing them on your blog and I'd love to have a lesson, but until someone shows you in person I feel that I still wouldn't be 100% sure
DeleteIt's so funny we wrote about this at the same time! I forage for morels and chicken of the woods but that's about it. What I didn't write is that I grow shiitake mushroom on logs here. It's stupid easy - I inoculated the logs once 6 years ago and am still getting small harvests every spring an fall. It's a great thing to do if you like mushrooms. We dehydrate any surplus for winter.
ReplyDeleteI read yours a few hours after I'd written mine! I think we're of the same mindset on this subject!
DeleteI did try to do some logs with shiitake but they never seem to fruit. i shall have to try again sometime!
i'm the same as you though i wish i could do it.
ReplyDeleteI'll still to buy them for now!
DeleteI do not..yet, but I plan to take a couple classes on mushroom foraging. I love good wild foods and hate to think of all those lovely mushrooms going to waste.
ReplyDeleteI did a class but there was so many on it, it was hard to ask the instructor a question directly. Also I think it put em off more as he had quite a few horror stories to tell!
DeleteThere areso few mushrooms in our area, if we are lucky we might find ink caps, when we lived in Spain we had so many good edible ones all around where we lived, I miss going out and foraging.
ReplyDeleteI don't get aloof mushrooms where I live. I'd be too nervous to try it.
ReplyDeleteSearching and colleting the food for animals could be a tough work for many of us.There are many ways to get involved with the activities for the development of the Mushroom for animal food collection in the future.The 322review.org helps the students to learn more tips on how they can collect the appropriate techniues for the animals food storage.
ReplyDeleteI love mushrooms, they're really tasty. But take care and pay attention, because they can be poison. But when you're sure, they're good enough, you can ask custom business plan help and start your own business, make money out of mushrooms. There's not only benefit, but pleasure as well!
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