mushroom magic

[johncorrigan]

My favourite natural world programme of the last couple of years was 'Secret Life of Rockpools'. Apart from it being fascinating I really enjoyed Professor Richard Fortey's presentation...a bit Dan Cruickshanks without the annoying affectations. Anyway I must have watched it four times now and gaze into rockpools with more than an 'Eyeballs in the pooliverse' approach these days.

Last night Prof Fortey was back, this time with mushrooms and though I didn't understand it all he gave a really interesting account of the various funghi, taking them back into the Mycology lab for further investigation...I'll be having another look at this one to catch up on the gaps, I hope.

[Serial_Apologist]

Be careful which ones you eat.

There's the one about the condemned prisoner. On being asked what he would like for his last meal, he replies, "Mushrooms". Asked why, he says, "I've never tried them". And why not? "Because I never dared".

[umslopogaas]

I didnt see the programme, but S_A's advice (#2) is very wise. If you want to sample wild mushrooms and you arent VERY sure of your identification skills, the advice I was given is, dont touch the ones with white gills. That way, you will avoid the fate of those poisoned by eating Deathcap (Amanita phalloides) as described in Roger Phillips's 'Mushrooms' (Macmillan): "Poisoning by Deathcap is characterised by a delay of 6 to 24 hours between ingestion and the onset of symptoms, during which time the cells of the liver and kidneys are attacked. ... The next stage is one of prolonged vomiting and diarrhoea accompanied by severe abdominal pains, lasting for a day or more. Typically this is followed by an apparent recovery, when the victim may be released from hospital, or think their ordeal over, but death results from kidney and liver failure within a few days."

No antidote existed at the time of writing (the book was published in 2006).

[Flay]

I didnt see the programme, but S_A's advice (#2) is very wise. If you want to sample wild mushrooms and you arent VERY sure of your identification skills, the advice I was given is, dont touch the ones with white gills. That way, you will avoid the fate of those poisoned by eating Deathcap (Amanita phalloides) as described in Roger Phillips's 'Mushrooms' (Macmillan): "Poisoning by Deathcap is characterised by a delay of 6 to 24 hours between ingestion and the onset of symptoms, during which time the cells of the liver and kidneys are attacked. ... The next stage is one of prolonged vomiting and diarrhoea accompanied by severe abdominal pains, lasting for a day or more. Typically this is followed by an apparent recovery, when the victim may be released from hospital, or think their ordeal over, but death results from kidney and liver failure within a few days."

No antidote existed at the time of writing (the book was published in 2006).

Not much safer than paracetamol then?

[Bryn]

There are very few species of 'mushroom' type fungal fruiting bodies which are fatally toxic. It is, though, essential to learn how to identify them. In addition, there are many which cause decidedly unpleasant bodily reactions. That said, there are some really delicious fungi to be found in the U.K. If you think you are pretty sure about the common field mushroom, still be careful. There is a rather similar looking species commonly know as the yellow staining mushroom, Agaricus xanthodermus. As that name suggests, if broken, the break will quickly oxidise to a yellow colour. That species can give you a very nasty stomach upset. If making a foray for boletus sp., make sure you know the difference between Boletus satanas (Devil's Boletus), which has not actually been recorded as fatal but offers very unpleasant symptoms, and the two edible (when well cooked) Boletus erythropus and Boletus luridus. I am rather fond of B. erythropus, which is reasonable common round here, but it does need to be well cooked or a stomach upset will ensue. Ink Caps can be fun. The shaggy ink cap, Coprinus comatus, often found on waste ground, does reduce a lot in cooking, but has a pleasant peppery flavour. The Common Ink Cap, Coprinopsis atramentaria is regarded as edible, so long as not consumed with, before or after alcohol. Indeed, it has a use as a negative reinforcement in combating alcohol dependency.

[Roehre]

I didnt see the programme, but S_A's advice (#2) is very wise. If you want to sample wild mushrooms and you arent VERY sure of your identification skills, the advice I was given is, dont touch the ones with white gills. That way, you will avoid the fate of those poisoned by eating Deathcap (Amanita phalloides) as described in Roger Phillips's 'Mushrooms' (Macmillan): "Poisoning by Deathcap is characterised by a delay of 6 to 24 hours between ingestion and the onset of symptoms, during which time the cells of the liver and kidneys are attacked. ... The next stage is one of prolonged vomiting and diarrhoea accompanied by severe abdominal pains, lasting for a day or more. Typically this is followed by an apparent recovery, when the victim may be released from hospital, or think their ordeal over, but death results from kidney and liver failure within a few days."

No antidote existed at the time of writing (the book was published in 2006).

antidote still doesn't exist

[umslopogaas]

The comparison with paracetamol is actually rather interesting. I am not aware if there are any beneficial effects of a very low dose of Deathcap toxin, but its not impossible there might be. Being involved in crop protection I was faced from time to time with the "pesticides are poisoning the planet" brigade from Greenpeace and the like. I used to point out that of course pesticides are poisons, they wouldnt work if they werent. By analogy, one paracetamol probably wont cure your headache, two probably will and twenty will probably kill you. But surely you wont refuse to take two pills to cure your headache because swallowing the whole packet will be fatal? By the same argument, the right dose of pesticide will solve the problem with minimised side effects (not necessarily none, but small price to pay for saving the crop), whereas excessive or careless use will cause problems. We would always seek to use as little pesticide as possible and maximise the use of other methods - the approach that is known as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - not least because pesticides are expensive, but in reality, pesticides were often essential because they work and if you wont use them, the other methods often dont work so well. And if you wont use pesticides you have to deal with farmers who have pesticide salesmen as frequent visitors and who can give very convincing demonstrations of the efficacy of their products. In fact, the main argument against using pesticides was often not environmental damage, but price.