WARNING: MUSHROOM HUNTING AND EATING WILD MUSHROOMS IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS. SOME MUSHROOMS ARE EXTREMELY TOXIC AND CONSUMPTION OF THEM CAN RESULT IN SERIOUS ILLNESS OR DEATH. THERE ARE NO ANTIDOTES FOR SOME MUSHROOM TOXINS. ONCE INGESTED DEATH IS INEVITABLE. MUSHROOM HUNTING SHOULD ONLY BE DONE BY EXPERTS WHO HAVE STUDIED THE SUBJECT FOR MANY YEARS OR WHILE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF AN EXPERT.

WARNING: THE AUTHOR, PUBLISHER, AND DISTRIBUTORS OF THIS ARTICLE BEAR NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR INJURIES INCURRED BY INDIVIDUALS WHO DISREGARD THIS WARNING OR WHO ENGAGE IN UNSAFE OR IRRESPONSIBLE ACTS WHILE STUDYING, COLLECTING OR EATING FUNGI SPECIMENS.

Wild mushroom hunting is very new to America and Americans. To Europeans and other Old World cultures it's as common as picking wildflowers. In France, all apothecaries must be trained in mushroom identification. There also, pharmacies must post charts in their windows which identify mushrooms. The Germanic and Slavic peoples are extremely skilled at this, and knowledge is passed down from one generation to another. Whereas in this country, most people view all wild mushrooms with a jaundiced eye. This prejudice comes from the fact that our nation's founders were English and Dutch. Neither of these nationalities have a history of interest in fungi. In fact, their history is one of fear of mushrooms. This has caused us to shy away from any interest in pursuing fungi for study or for culinary purposes. This is very unfortunate as there are many commonly found fungi which are easy to identify and excellent to eat.

I must note at this juncture that the best way to learn mushroom identification is to watch the old masters of the craft and carry a good field guide. The masters themselves learned by watching experts for years before they started to eat mushrooms on their own. This is wise advice and those who don't follow caution are asking for trouble.

THE MOST POISONOUS SPECIES

I always instruct my students on how to identify the most poisonous varieties first, so that they will immediately leave them alone. These are the amanitas which strike fear into the hearts of anyone who hunts mushrooms. Fortunately, they are very easy to identify. They are characterized by having gills which are always white. Amanitas have a bulbous structure (called a volva) at the base of their stem (called a stipe). Along the stipe there is also a membraneous veil which is usually located just below the cap. Amanitas are also quite brittle and when handled. On the cap there are quite often little spots or warts. If a mushroom has any of these characteristics then this is reason enough to avoid it.

Another mushroom group which is equally toxic as the amanitas is the gallerina. This is a small brown fungi which usually grows along the base of sick or dead trees and tree stumps. This species has caused mushroom hunters to coin the phrase, "Beware of L.B.M.s" which means little brown mushrooms. Their small size belies their extreme toxicity.

So, in short, don't hunt mushrooms unless you know what you're doing or unless you're in the company of someone who does.

These two fungi types will invariably kill within a 48 to 72 hour period. There is no antidote even in this day and age. The worst part of it is that you don't have any symptoms until the toxins have been absorbed by the body (about 20 hours) and by then it's too late. The only hope for survival is an immediate liver transplant and perhaps kidneys too.

I'll digress a little at this point and relate a germane anecdote. A few years ago I heard a news broadcast about a family of Vietnamese refugees in California who had been out hunting mushrooms as was their custom in their homeland. They were hunting for fungi which they were familiar with but they ran into a look alike which was an amanita. They took their mushrooms home and prepared a great family feast. Within 24 hours all were hospitalized with acute amatoxin poisoning. Only one person in the family of 20 survived and he lived only because he had a liver transplant. Here again, I can't stress safety often enough or long enough.

SOME EDIBLE SPECIES WHICH ARE EASY TO IDENTIFY

Chicken-of-the-Woods
Laetiporus sulfureus

Mushrooms grow almost anywhere. Some of the varieties are perfectly safe and are easy to identify. The simplest of all to find and safely identify is the famous "chicken-of- the-woods". Its scientific name is now Laetiporus (formerly Polyporus) sulfureus. It is a shelf mushroom which means that it grows on trees in a shape reminiscent of a knick-knack shelf one hangs in the corner of the room. Its season is from mid summer through late fall. Its colors make it visible and easily identifiable from far distances away. It is a bright orange color and its underside is yellow. As it ages the underside becomes a creamy tan color. It can reach tremendous sizes as well. I have found as much as 35 lbs. on a single tree and I've heard of others finding as much as 100 lbs. on a single tree. It is almost always found on dead or dying oak trees. In California it's also found on eucalyptus trees. If you find one on a eucalyptus it should not be eaten as the eucalpytus oil is absorbed by the fungi and renders it slightly toxic to the extent that the oil will upset your stomach.

Hen-of-the-Woods
Grifola frondosus

Chicken of the woods has a relative called "hen of the woods" which is also good to eat. It also grows on dead trees (usually around the base) and is brown with white underneath. Hen- of-the-woods is smaller than its relative but tastes like chicken. The flavor is not quite as pronounced as it is in chicken-of-the-woods. It grows in a sort of clump and does not look like a shelf as other tree fungi so often do. Again, do not eat this unless you have positively identified it.

Boletes
Boletus and Suillus genus

Another commonly found and easily identifiable fungi is the bolete genus. These grow throughout the summer and into the early fall. They're characterized by what is under their cap. Rather than having gills the boletes have what, for the lack of a better word, appears to be sponge. They also appear to be waxy or have a plastic-like appearance as seen from a few feet away. Boletes come in many colors which include red, white, brown and tan. The sponge comes in many colors too which are, orange, white, brown, yellow, and cream. Boletes often are combinations of colors such as red caps with white sponge or red caps with yellow sponge. All boletes are edible except for those which have red or orange sponge. Even so, these toxins will not endanger your life. They irritate the digestive system and will cause symptoms much like those of a bad case of stomach flu. Nonetheless, red and orange sponged boletes should not be eaten. There is one other bolete, the so called bitter bolete, which, as its name implies, is very bitter and can not be eaten raw. The bitterness can be cooked away by boiling which then makes it palatable.

Chanterelles

Another easily identified mushroom family are the chanterelles. These are also commonly found all over the continent. They grow in mid to late summer and are marked by their typical horn or funnel shape. They have gills which run from the middle or top of the stipe all the way out to the edge of the cap. There are three types which are sought after, all of them being rather small in size. The largest is the golden chanterelle (Cantharella cibarius) which is up to 3 inches in height and is a rich golden color. The most common is the red chanterelle (Cantharella cinnabarinus) which is never more than two inches high and is reddish orange in color. The third and rarest type is the so-called black trumpet or horn-of-plenty (Cantharella cornucopiodes). This aptly named variety is very small (about the size of the red type) and very aromatic. It smells rather like licorice. Being dark and because fungi prefer to grown in dark areas, the black trumpet is hard to see. Mushroom hunters find it with their noses before they can see it. Chanterelles are all quite fragrant. When placed in a bag they quickly produce an apricot-like aroma. They have a somewhat peppery taste when eaten raw and when cooked they become slightly sweet.

CAUTION: CHANTERELLE LOOK ALIKE!

There is a mushroom called the jack o'lantern (Omphalatus olearius) which is sometimes called the false chanterelle because it resembles the golden chanterelle. The jack o'lantern fungi are also toxic. Jack o'lanterns have a sort of funnel shape and they smell kind of sweet. They are a sort of orange-yellow color while the golden chanterelle is a canary yellow color. The biggest difference between them though is that the chanterelle grows as an individual mushroom or sometimes in a pair while the jack o'lantern grows in a cespitose or bunch of several mushrooms all connected at the ground. Jack o'lantern poisoning is probably the most common type of fungi poisoning. Fortunately, jack o'lanterns seldom cause death. They will make you ill enough to hospitalize you. The symptoms are severe stomach cramps, followed by projective vomiting and diarrhea. I know of two people who poisoned themselves exactly this way. Both times the people ate first and came to me later on for identification and both were hospitalized. Bad mistake! By the way, they're called jack o'lanterns because they glow in the dark.

Morels
Morchella deliciosa and Morchella esculenta

Mushrooms can grow in any season. Knowing which season each species prefers to grow in is part of knowing how to identify them. One of the few spring-time fungi are the morels. These grow from late April through May. They are rarely found outside the company of two tree species. Most of the time they are found growing around the base of old apple trees in abandoned apple orchards. Occasionally they can be found near elm trees. But, with the Dutch elm disease having killed off most of the adult elms around it's very hard to find morels with elms anymore. Morels are very strange looking. They are hard to describe verbally. The best description I have ever been able to summon is that they look something like a brain on a stem. Morels taste much like cashew nuts.

CAUTION: MOREL LOOK ALIKE!

There is a poisonous fungi named the false morel (Gyromytra genus) but, these have only a slight resemblance. False morel's caps are not attached at the base of the cap to the stipe whereas the true morel's caps are completely attached to their stipe from top to bottom. Plus, false morels look like a true morel which someone has stepped on. Check a good field guide to see what I mean by these descriptions. And do not eat morels unless they have been positively identified.

Beef Steak
Fistulina hepatica

Another fungi which is excellent to eat and is easy to identify is the beefsteak mushroom (Fistulina hepatica). It is a shelf mushroom which grows on dead trees in the summer time. It is named the beefsteak because of its close resemblance literally to a piece of meat. It is brown with white underneath. It looks so much like a slice of liver that it's amazing! When sliced fluid comes out of it which is red, making it look like blood. This is one mushroom which is actually better if eaten raw rather than cooked. It tastes sour like a lemon.

Milk Mushrooms
Lactarius

These are so called because they produce when touched droplets of fluid which look like milk. They are funnel shaped and large which makes them look something like giant chanterelles. There are several varieties around and the ones which make a milk which begins as white but turn yellow in a few minutes will make you sick. So, lactarius mushrooms should be approached with caution. Three varieties which I hunt and recommend are the pepper lactarius, the apricot, and the voluminous lactarius. The pepper lactarius is white, large, and tastes extremely hot. The final proof that you have a pepper lactarius is to take a small piece of it and place it between your cheek and gum and suck on it for about 30 seconds. It becomes very hot and peppery, so much so that you have to spit it out. This is why it can't be eaten by itself or in more than small amounts. The only way I recommend using it is in small quantities, chopped finely and added to stir fry vegetables or sprinkled in a salad. It adds a peppery flavor to the meal. If eaten by itself you will get a very bad stomach ache as it's just too hot - much like jalapeno or habanero peppers.

The other two types - the apricot and the voluminous - look very similar in that they are both pink. If you look at the gills you'll find that the apricot's gills are far apart and what is termed broken (this means that the gills do not go all the way from the stipe to the edge of the cap. They go part way up, then there is a break, then they begin again and then extend to the edge of the cap). The apricot does not produce much milk either. The voluminous lactarius' gills are unbroken and close together. As its name implies it produces prodigious amounts of milk to the point that they'll mess up your hands. The milk also has a strong fishy smell.

ONE MORE PIECE OF ADVICE

At this point I'll cease to continue listing fungi species because one problem people create for themselves is that they try to become expert on identifying too many species. When you do this you always run the distinct risk of spreading yourself too thinly. If this is done then you are getting into dangerous territory. I always tell my students to try to become proficient in about 6 edible species. Never do more than 10.

HOW TO COOK THEM

Now comes the real fun part: preparing them to eat. Cooking is much like chemistry in that you often don't know what you'll get when you're finished. I'll share a few of my favorite fungi recipes.

Chicken-of-the-Woods Cutlet

Boil two pounds of chicken-of-the woods mushrooms. Slice them thinly. Mix milk and egg in a bowl and dip mushrooms. Place Italian-style bread crumbs in a plastic bag, add dipped mushrooms and shake thoroughly. Fry breaded mushrooms in olive oil. Chicken mushrooms need a lot of oil so be careful not to burn them. I often make this dish and serve them to friends. I let them think that it's chicken cutlet. When they're all finished I break the news and they're hooked for life.

Pickled Mushrooms

Boil chicken-of-the-woods or bolete mushrooms. Mix four parts of white vinegar with one part water. Add hot peppers, bay leaves, and allspice. Add mushrooms to sterile jars and seal lids tightly. Let stand for at least 3 weeks before serving.

Wild Mushroom Salad

Boil one pound of chicken of the woods mushrooms, one pound of boletes, one pound of morels, one pound of chanterelles, and one pound of common store bought white mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus). Cut up mushrooms into small chunks. Add to large bowl. Add small amount of pepper lactarius (no more than one tablespoon), finely diced, for spice. Also add one red and one green pepper, one onion, and one jar of olives. Add tablespoon of black pepper, one cup of vinegar and one cup of vegetable oil. Mix all the ingredients together and serve.

GO AND HAVE FUN, BUT BE CAREFUL!

So there you have it. If done properly and safely mushroom hunting can be a very fun experience and a great culinary delight. When you become really good at it and people trust your knowledge you become a really fun guy (get it? Fun-gi!).

RECOMMENDED READING

Audubon Field Guide To North American Mushrooms-Lincoff
Field Guide To North American Mushrooms-Orson Miller
Field Guide To North American Mushrooms-Roger Phillips

Copyright © 1996 AJS