Mushrooms

[aeolium]

This is a season where walking in woods or fields can produce Prufrockian agonies of indecision as to whether or not to pick fungi encountered along the way. Having heard some horror stories of bad decisions (even in one case a fatal misjudgement from someone who was thought to be well-informed about mushrooms) I tend to err towards extreme caution, usually confining myself to the common field mushroom Agaricus campestris and sometimes Pluteus petasatus. Yet I love mushrooms and was annoyed, when we were in Cornwall recently, to be dissuaded from picking what later turned out to be the shaggy mane mushroom Coprinus comatus, edible and good.

Do MBers have any particular favourites among fungi and any advice about how to pick wisely?

[umslopogaas]

We used to get a lot of enquiries about toadstool identification every autumn during my time at the RHS, and I expect they still do. My advice is firstly, buy 'Mushrooms' by Roger Phillips (Macmillan, £18.99 pb when I bought mine), secondly join the British Mycological Society and thirdly sign up to some forays - the BMS should be able to advise if and when there are any near where you live. There are sadly very few professionals working in this field, but there are a lot of very knowledgeable amateurs.

The descriptions and photos in Phillips' book are very good and should enable you to identify at least the more distinctive ones quite easily: there is a bit of jargon, but he provides a glossary. He does give some microscopic characters, but its usually possible to identify without needing a microscope. A hand lens is useful.

At the risk of making yourself rather ill, read his description of poisoning by Amanata phalloides (Death Cap), it will certainly drive home the importance of correct identification!

One word of warning. If you come across a patch of something you are confident is edible, only eat a small amount first. Some people can be allergic to stuff that most people enjoy without any problems.

I must say, having sampled quite a few edible wild fungi, that relatively few are really worth the bother. 'Edible' should be qualified to 'Edible but uninteresting', it is really only those that are 'Excellent' that are worth the effort.

Coprinus comatus is good, providing you get it young, before it starts to turn black. Macrolepiota procera (Parasol) is pretty distinctive and very good.

Avoid full-grown specimens and favour younger ones: big ones are usually infested with maggots of mushroom flies.

[vinteuil]

... can't resist - from Hazlitt's Farewell to Essay Writing :

"I used to walk out at this time with Mr. and Miss Lamb of an evening, to look at the Claude Lorraine skies over our heads melting from azure into purple and gold, and to gather mushrooms, that sprung up at our feet, to throw into our hashed mutton at supper. I was at that time an enthusiastic admirer of Claude, and could dwell for ever on one or two of the finest prints from him hung round my little room; the fleecy flocks, the bending trees, the winding streams, the groves, the nodding temples, the air-wove hills, and distant sunny vales; and tried to translate them into their lovely living hues."

Otherwise: some of the best writing concerning the dangers of mushroom eating to be found in one of the funniest books of recent years - John Lanchester's A Debt to Pleasure -

[umslopogaas]

I trust either Hazlitt or one of the Lambs could tell their Amanitas from their Lepiotas, or that hashed mutton would have been the last supper.

[Anna]

The Roger Phillips book mentioned above is on offer at Amazon for £10 inc P&P. I have two of his, Grasses, Ferns, Mosses & Lichens and Wild Flowers. I also have, and also recommend, the John Lanchester as a very enjoyable read. I seldom eat mushrooms but my brother and I went on an organised fungi hunt/identifcation day and it was enormous fun.

[vinteuil]

...

Otherwise: some of the best writing concerning the dangers of mushroom eating to be found in one of the funniest books of recent years - John Lanchester's A Debt to Pleasure -

... in which the dénouement depends on the skilful administration to unsuspecting guests of some Amanita phalloides; the narrator providing a scholarly disquisition on the interesting differences (gustatory as well as toxicological) between A phalloides, Amanita virosa, Amanita citrina, Amanita caesarea, Coprinus comatus, and Cantharellus cibarius...

[Nick Armstrong]

Otherwise: some of the best writing concerning the dangers of mushroom eating to be found in one of the funniest books of recent years - John Lanchester's A Debt to Pleasure -

One of my favourites...

[MrGongGong]

Cage's Mushroom book is wonderful
but completely out of my price range ...............

http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/268626/surprising-literary-ventures-20/

[Mary Chambers]

Shaggy ink caps (I think the same as shaggy mane) grow in my garden sometimes, and I have eaten them. but didn't find them particularly interesting. Perhaps I was inhibited by being slightly afraid that I might have made a mistake. However, I survived.

I've always been fascinated by fungi, for some obscure reason.

[Anna]

I've always been fascinated by fungi, for some obscure reason.

Not obscure at all, they are totally fascinating and totally weird in their many shapes and colours. We used to make spore prints as children. My neighbour often has fairy rings appearing overnight on his grass, a mystery as to how they suddenly appear. Sometimes you come across some amazing honey fungus on trees.

[umslopogaas]

Mr GG #8, what was the price they are asking? I opened the link OK, but I couldnt find the price.

[umslopogaas]

Anna #10, the Royal Hort. Soc. has advisory leaflets on both fairy rings and honey fungus. I should know, I had a lot of input into both of them. Fairy rings are fairly harmless, but honey fungus definitely isnt sweet news for a gardener. It is the most common cause of death of garden plants (other than non-pathogenic neglect) and is certainly amazing to a plant pathologist, but not welcome if you are trying to create a garden.

[doversoul1]

Puff balls (I’m not sure if this is their ‘proper’ name) as large as a football grew in my garden for a few consecutive years. I was told that they were eatable but did not quite fancy them.

Slightly off topic but has anybody preserved mushrooms by drying them? I was given what must have amounted to three buckets full of field mushrooms in three separate occasions within a couple of weeks. I made soup with most of them and froze it but it would have been very useful if I could have preserved them for later use. They had so much more flavour than bought ones.

[umslopogaas]

Doversoul, according to Roger Phillips the giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) is edible and good if cooked while young.

He says he usually dries fungi by placing them on a piece of fine wire mesh suspended about 5 cm above a radiator. Unfortunately he doesnt give any suggestions for cooking with them. I have seen dried mushrooms (not sure what type) for sale in shops that specialize in Asian cookery.

[amateur51]

Doversoul, according to Roger Phillips the giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) is edible and good if cooked while young.

He says he usually dries fungi by placing them on a piece of fine wire mesh suspended about 5 cm above a radiator. Unfortunately he doesnt give any suggestions for cooking with them. I have seen dried mushrooms (not sure what type) for sale in shops that specialize in Asian cookery.

http://www.ehow.com/how_15919_dried-mushrooms.html

Reconstituted porcini squeezed and chopped make a good addition to a mushroom risotto using button mushrooms; the water left from soaking them is worth adding to the cooking. liquor