Many common mushrooms look the same. If you are not an expert you may miss a small difference and so misidentify what you are looking at.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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Hopefully not based on those AI generated mushroom identification books
I still wouldn't trust wild mushrooms though.
As someone who forages there are plenty of safe , easy to identify, and way better tasting mushrooms that are in the wild; obviously do your research and make sure your alowed to forage on the lands etc
This talk puts people off of foraging when again is easy to get into, its free, and can be fun/productive activity when your outside ( again as well as supper yummy,store bought stuff cannot beat chicken/hen/lions mane at all)
Maybe you can tell me if this is true, or still in line with modern thinking.
Read a book 30 years ago about eating wild mushrooms. The author suggested that, if you weren't certain, you could chip a tiny piece off with your tooth, see how it goes. No stomach issues? Try a slightly larger piece. Rinse and repeat.
Does that ring true? Always sounded perfectly reasonable to me. I've got 2.5 acres of swamp with all kinds of fungi, love to start trying some. Now and again I find monster shelf fungi that look good. And my god, I learned what stinkhorns are last spring.
Also, is there any easy way to start leaning field ID? I'm familiar with the parts and terms, so I got that going for me.
There was an old dual survival bit about how to eat things if you don't know what they are. They took a sample and first rubbed it on their skin and waited. Then on their lips and wait again. Then they took a very small bite and again waited. The point was that if you feel numbness or tingling or bad vibes at any point you should probably find something else to try. Also I'm pretty sure they had the boilerplate "if it's a mushroom and you don't know what it is, don't even try". Dave the dead Neanderthal died for all of us homos and don't u forget it.
It might be diffrent depending on who you ask, ive heard that u can kinda tell by rubbing them around ur gums, super bitter/spicy its bad - i dont think id eat a bit of them, some types take a few days to show signs, like ik that for some people some coral mushrooms can upset their stomachs but it effects them 2-3 days later....
Personally i dont do either of these methoods, the easiest way is by looking up id guides online, they give descriptions as well as if theres any look alikes... all you gotta look up is "your region + forageable mushrooms" which should give you a good list of whats in your area or what to look for, i do agree with being 100% sure on an id before eating tho
"Shitting out your liver" toxic tho.
Good odds, right?
I understand that you jest, but risk is not only about odds. When you calculate risk you also want to consider the severity of failure not only likelihood. If you risk shitting out your liver you want better odds than if you just risk feeling a bit I'll for a bit.