In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane • Hacker News Board

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

#41

Post by im3w1l » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:06 AM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #16

flashman wrote: post #13

It'd be cool if there were mushroom-testing reagent kits, like for MDMA etc. Edit: apparently chemical tests exist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_tests_in_mushroom_ide...

It's not needed, it only takes an hour or so to teach a beginner the major genuses that contain poisonous species. In fact for the first year the rule is basically that if it looks like a mushroom then don't eat it.

> In fact for the first year the rule is basically that if it looks like a mushroom then don't eat it.

Sure, that prevents people from dying. But what about all those mushrooms that people didn't dare pick? Is that not a loss - a loss that could be remedied by such a kit?

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

#42

Post by yread » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 9:24 AM UTC

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 like blushers but you really have to be able to positively identify it as it's easy to confuse with (in Europe) common super poisonous mushrooms.

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

#43

Post by Alex3917 » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 12:43 PM UTC

im3w1l wrote: post #41

Alex3917 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not needed, it only takes an hour or so to teach a beginner the major genuses that contain poisonous species. In fact for the first year the rule is basically that if it looks like a mushroom then don't eat it.

> In fact for the first year the rule is basically that if it looks like a mushroom then don't eat it. Sure, that prevents people from dying. But what about all those mushrooms that people didn't dare pick? Is that not a loss - a loss that could be remedied by such a kit?

> Is that not a loss - a loss that could be remedied by such a kit?

Not really. Just because something doesn't contain a handful of specific poisons doesn't mean you want to eat it. The vast majority of mushrooms are neither poisonous nor edible.

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

#44

Post by sheepdestroyer » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 1:15 PM UTC

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…

Here in France, part of the mandatory curriculum to be a pharmacist (druggist) is to learn about mushrooms. Therefore they have a duty to identify -for no charge- the mushrooms you bring them. You do not have to be a customer. And I really mean every pharmacy. They all have a huge mushroom encyclopaedia to make sure in case of doubt.

I used to bring psilocybes to my local pharmacy when I started to search for them and was not quite sure yet what they exactly look like. I got bad looks but was never sent away without safe information.