Page 218 - The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

can distort the hue of your mush-
room’s spores, which could, in
turn, lead to a serious identifica-
tion mistake.
To keep the air from interfering,
place a clean bowl or cup upside
down over the mushroom cap
and paper.
Some species will take longer
than others to deposit their
spores. You should wait for 4-24
hrs., without moving the mush-
room or the paper.
Mushroom, gills down, showing the spore print it made

Mushroom, gills up, after spore print is complete Mushroom, gills up, after spore print is complete

Consult a Guidebook 100% certainty, throw it out. Always obtain an expert

opinion before cooking and eating wild mushrooms.
Compare your field notes, the mushroom’s spore
Never Eat Wild Mushrooms Raw
print, and (if possible) microscopic details you’ve not-
ed to the descriptions offered in a mushroom guide- Once you’ve positively identified an edible species of
book. If your specimen displays some but not all of the mushroom with 100% certainty, make sure to cook it
features described in your field guide, do not assume thoroughly. Some edible mushrooms, like morels, are
that it is the same species as the one you are reading poisonous when raw or undercooked. On the same
about. note, never eat any mushroom that is past its prime.
Mushroom hunters make a practice of consulting mul- Like any expired food, mushrooms in an advanced
tiple field guides. New mushroom species are discov- state of decay can cause food poisoning.
A Note on Spore-Bearing Surfaces
ered each year and information on the edibility of a
given mushroom can change as our understanding of
The profiles found in this section of the book will
them grows.
often include information about the mushroom’s
So, make sure your guidebooks are up-to-date and
spore-bearing surface. Four common surfaces men-
that at least one of them is regional. A mushroom with
tioned are:
no poisonous look-alikes in the southeast may have
Gills: These are bladelike structures attached to the
poisonous look-alikes in the northwest.
underside of the cap, which produce spores. The gills’
Getting in touch with a local expert or joining a mush-
shape, size, texture, color, distance from each other,
room hunting group are great ways of building up
and relationship to the stem are all important identi-
your knowledge and experience.
If in Doubt, Throw it Out fying features. While the gills of most mushrooms run
parallel to each other, a few species are known to have
If you cannot confirm a mushroom’s identity with forking or cross-veined gills.
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