In my years of walking the trails and foraging I met all kinds of people. After disclosing that I am actually looking for mushrooms the most common reaction is fear and surprise. I would like to point out that this reaction is typical for North America. In Europe situation is quite different (especially Eastern Europe). Usual questions are:
“Don’t you know they can kill you?”
“There are so many; how can you be sure which one is not poisonous?”
Well, the way I see it I need to be sure only about two dozen of species, which does not sound so bad. Why? True, there is a thousands of species around, a great number not yet described and classified. In Ontario there is approximately a dozen dangerously poisonous mushrooms and dozen good edibles.
You probably wander what do I mean by “dangerously poisonous”. Majority of field guides published in North America lists a great number of species as “poisonous”, probably a lot more than “inedible”. The usual symptoms of poisoning would be some level of NADIVO syndrome (Nausea, Vomiting and/or Diarrhea), lasting 24-48 hours. I am not trying to advertise a stint in the bathroom, feeling totally miserable as fun, but still two days later you are back to normal. This scenario is much better than searching for liver/kidney donor following poisoning with Death Cap or Destroying Angel.
Some bad boys (like above mentioned Death Cap and Destroying Angel from genus Amanita) cause the whole genus to be “not recommended”, that way eliminating some really good edibles, like famous Caesar’s mushroom and Blusher.
Some of mushrooms now listed as poisonous or “not recommended” were traditionally good edibles, consumed over hundreds of years. The good example is Tricholoma equestre or Tricholoma flavovirens, also known as Man on horseback or Yellow knight. At some point couple of people in France consumed great quantities of this mushrooms (we are talking pounds) several days in a row and got sick. What is alleged toxin is still unknown, but mushroom is proclaimed poisonous and forbidden for sale. I do not recommend consumption of this particular species, although I did meet several mushroom hunters that are still happily consuming them. I only figure that if group of people consume great quantities of anything over several days, some of them will probably get sick.
Anyway, I do not advice reckless consumption of anything that remotely looks like something that you consider edible. But if you stumble upon something easily recognizable and without known dangerous look-alike, let’s say nice Maitake or Chicken of the Woods, do not run in panic and try to pick and consume a small portion. Maybe you will like it.
