When I was a student, I started getting interested in mushroom hunting. I don't believe this was purely for economy's sake, although it seemed to go hand in hand with my home brewing period!
I haven't been out on a fungus foray for some time, but the unusually mild weather we're having has caused a glut of mushrooms this extended autumn, and I've seen so many over the last few weeks that I was planning to go out this weekend. However, I was foiled by a combination of unremitting rain and my partner having a chest infection.
I met a friend for lunch on Friday when we happened to touch on the topic of wild food, and he mentioned he had about four types of mushrooms growing in his garden and he was interested in which ones might be edible, but terrified to nibble them lest he and his family died a horrible death.
It's true that there are some mushrooms that look innocent enough, but cause a hideously painful death by destroying your organs from the inside. You may remember hearing occasional tragic tales of whole families who have been wiped out after ingesting mistakenly identified mushrooms. With names like 'Death Cap' and 'Destroying Angel' you need to be very wary!
My advice to my friend was to start off by buying a photographic identification book. Little pocket size books with illustrations are all very well and easy to take out into the woods and fields, but just not up to scratch for identification purposes in my opinion. My own mushroom hunting bible is by Roger Phillips. Roger now has a free to access website as well (although you can't seem to search using common names) - this gives lots of photographs to use as checks. When I first got interested in wild mushrooms, I too was very worried about eating the wrong thing, so I went to a lot of trouble to be fully versed in the identification of the poisonous varieties. I also followed the golden rule - IF YOU AREN'T ABSOLUTELY SURE OF IDENTIFICATION, DON'T EAT IT!
There are so many types of mushroom and toadstool out there and whilst a few are poisonous, many more are inedible, which I have always assumed means they have a horrid texture or unpleasant taste. Then there are the really delicious ones which would be a real shame to leave to rot. I saw some 'Shaggy Ink Caps' (a.k.a. Lawyer's Wigs) growing at the base of a pine tree earlier in the week - I went back to pick them today but they were gone. I have heard that the recession has spawned a surge of interest in wild food and this is threatening various species. Just as likely would be that someone superstitious or with vandal tendencies has kicked them over. I see this all the time when I'm out in the woods. Why would someone want to destroy something so miniaturely majestic and fascinating? Perhaps because they make the woods really seem like a fairy realm where humans are just passing daytime visitors?
The one thing that has become my mushroom holy grail, which I haven't found since I was a child walking along the fields by the Dorset Jurassic Coast, is the 'Giant Puffball'. They need to be white, firm and fresh, but I understand they're totally delicious. If I ever find a specimen, I'll be slicing it, dipping it in beaten egg then breadcrumbs, then frying it for my supper. It's a shame I was unaware of their delights when I was a child - whenever we found them, we just used them as footballs! There are some small puffballs which are poisonous, and some inedible, but there's an undeniable size difference making identification more definitive!
Those red ones with white spots on the cap - they're called 'Fly Agaric'. They're poisonous, although I understand that some crazy people risk ingesting a tiny portion of the cap in order to experience hallucinogenic effects. NO CHANCE you'll catch me trying that, and I strongly recommend you keep away from them too. They're very easy to identify and relatively common - your definitive 'toadstool' really. It gets its name from the fact that allegedly, if you crush the cap in milk it kills flies.
It's a great hobby, and allows for an interesting C.V. entry (I used to rouse interest by adding that I was an 'amateur mycologist'!). You can impress people with your knowledge when you're out and about. Once you've got your mushroom eyes in, you'll be amazed how much fungus there is sprouting out all over the place.
