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In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

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Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#31

Post by caf »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #28

Something to be aware of in Australia also; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-07/death-cap-mushroom-sea... Another common garden plant most people dont know to be aware of is Oleander. I see this everywhere like in schools and am amazed. People have died using the branches as skewers to cook. The smoke can also be poisonous if people burn this plant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerium And for interest, only a prob…

There are signs up around the ACT like this:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VeN5uDOjoIA/Tx9Qq5oQCLI/AAAAAAAArV...

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#32

Post by jqm »

microcolonel wrote: post #9

I have to say; when I was a kid (in Alberta, not California), the general advice was not to pick and eat mushrooms without significant knowledge. I don't really see the allure either, common table mushrooms are very tasty and plentiful. I think this is just one of the Darwin award's new qualifying categories.

I picked and ate mushrooms as a kid frequently. I had some books and very quickly learned to identify the poisonous and edible kinds. It wasn't that hard and I never got sick. But I was careful and did research first and if there was any doubt I left the mushroom alone. I personally loved picking mushrooms... it was a lot of fun. I don't see it as dumb or risky at all as long as you know what you are doing.

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#33

Post by vinay427 »

Alex3917 wrote: post #29
andlier wrote: post #18

Here in Norway we had this publicly funded mushroom control staff located strategically near the forest to allow people to get their mushroom-forage checked by an expert. They would literally go through all the mushrooms in your basket and throw out any mushrooms they couldn't positively identify as edible. Unfortunately the money "ran" out. I guess we'll take the hit as an increased spending on public healthcare ins…

Seems like a waste of money. If people want to learn the edible species they can just join their local mushroom club like in the US. I can see paying someone to be there a couple hours a week, but as a full time job that seems ridiculous.

Perhaps training those who are already stationed (forest/park rangers, etc.) would be a more efficient path. I think the point of accessible trained staff as opposed to a mushroom club is to target those who would otherwise not take the effort to investigate what they gathered, and end up consuming harmful species.

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#34

Post by Alex3917 »

vinay427 wrote: post #33
Alex3917 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a waste of money. If people want to learn the edible species they can just join their local mushroom club like in the US. I can see paying someone to be there a couple hours a week, but as a full time job that seems ridiculous.

Perhaps training those who are already stationed (forest/park rangers, etc.) would be a more efficient path. I think the point of accessible trained staff as opposed to a mushroom club is to target those who would otherwise not take the effort to investigate what they gathered, and end up consuming harmful species.

Call me cynical, but stopping someone from eating some random unidentified plants/mushrooms seems like a net harm to humanity.

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#36

Post by hammock »

Alex3917 wrote: post #29
andlier wrote: post #18

Here in Norway we had this publicly funded mushroom control staff located strategically near the forest to allow people to get their mushroom-forage checked by an expert. They would literally go through all the mushrooms in your basket and throw out any mushrooms they couldn't positively identify as edible. Unfortunately the money "ran" out. I guess we'll take the hit as an increased spending on public healthcare ins…

Seems like a waste of money. If people want to learn the edible species they can just join their local mushroom club like in the US. I can see paying someone to be there a couple hours a week, but as a full time job that seems ridiculous.

You can give a man a fish, or you can teach a man to fish.

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#37

Post by ryandvm »

Alex3917 wrote: post #34
vinay427 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps training those who are already stationed (forest/park rangers, etc.) would be a more efficient path. I think the point of accessible trained staff as opposed to a mushroom club is to target those who would otherwise not take the effort to investigate what they gathered, and end up consuming harmful species.

Call me cynical, but stopping someone from eating some random unidentified plants/mushrooms seems like a net harm to humanity.

You're cynical.

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#38

Post by jinushaun »

wool_gather wrote: post #6

If you mistake any amanita, let alone a death cap, for any of the other mushrooms mentioned in the article -- hedgehog, matsutake, or chanterelle -- you're simply not paying enough attention to be picking mushrooms to be eaten. Never mind the gills, which were mentioned in the article, the ring is a dead giveaway, and if you don't know what the ring is, again, you shouldn't be picking mushrooms to eat. (The way that…

I also grew up picking and eating wild mushrooms. The popular edible wild mushrooms like chanterelle and matsutake are very distinct and easily identifiable. I avoid ambiguous edible varieties. When in doubt, throw it out.

I can only assume she was careless or clueless.

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#39

Post by cplease »

What's with all the fungiphobia?

Within USA/Canada, learn to identify death caps and destroying angels. If you stay away from any mushroom that you aren't sure is one of these two, don't eat any wild mushrooms raw (very few mushrooms are good raw anyway), and don't gorge on anything that isn't obviously identifiable, your odds of doing yourself any permanent harm are very low.

That's not to say all other species are "safe." Obviously, you should only collect species that you can identify. But amanitas are basically trivial to identify (know their tricks, cut mushrooms in half to check for hidden/immature gills), and if you don't eat Amanitas (again, in USA/Canada), it would be a truly freak incident if you actually died of poisoning. You're more likely to be eaten by a bear.

If you are incapable of this, then not only do you have no business foraging for mushrooms you probably shouldn't be preparing your own food. Number of people killed or disabled due to foraging poisonous mushrooms is nothing compared to those killed by improper food preparation and handling, but you don't see people quaking in their boots in the poultry aisle of the grocery. The article cites five deaths in five years in all of California. How many people died of salmonella and botulism in that time? How many mushroom-phobes would be so reckless as to drink "raw" milk?

A lot of supposedly poisonous mushrooms are in fact edible, especially when boiled.

Re: In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane

#40

Post by Camillo »

hammock wrote: post #36
Alex3917 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a waste of money. If people want to learn the edible species they can just join their local mushroom club like in the US. I can see paying someone to be there a couple hours a week, but as a full time job that seems ridiculous.

You can give a man a fish, or you can teach a man to fish.

Or you can tax a third man to pay for a second man to catch fish for the first man.
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