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A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

cleveland.com

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Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#191

Post by jeffrallen »

masswerk wrote: post #110
KerrAvon wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curiosity: do you find that you (at 30+ years) are so good at identification in the wild that you don’t find any “bad” specimens once you get them home, or do you still catch some outliers where you needed to look at them more closely? Or does the process involve taking them home for closer examination?

"Old school" foragers typically stick to a few mushrooms to be safe. Meaning, they have quite an expertise on 3 or 4 kinds of mushrooms (or, even more likely, just a couple of them) and are staying away from anything else, especially, if there is a similar, poisonous mushroom. (At least, this is what all I happen to know are doing.) Also, if you aren't 100% confident, stay away from it. (And there is the real problem…

This is the way. Grandma teaches you her 3 or 4 favorites, you find them for her, and then she checks them herself. My wife is passing on this passion to our kids and my 4 year old already knows (1) which are good and (2) the only way to eat a wild mushroom is on the plate, after mommy checked and cooked it.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#192

Post by flohofwoe »

Jeez, trusting an image recogition app for identifying mushrooms is nearly Darwin Award level of stupidity. In my "corner of the woods" the wise elders say to not even go mushroom foraging in regions that are a just a couple hundred kilometers away, because the mushrooms look slightly different there (at least when it comes to the mushrooms that are called 'Champignons' in German (lat. Agaricus)).

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#194

Post by nicolaslem »

kaitai wrote: post #83
chrisgd wrote: post #16

Why do people like eating mushrooms from the woods? How much of it is the potential risk? There are plenty of options at the grocery store.

You look at the woods differently when you hunt for mushrooms. Your whole vision changes. You see the exact same things as, say, a hiker, but you process it entirely differently. It's a gamified experience of the wilderness, too, in some ways. It provides many people a connection to their culture and ancestry. It's a literal connection to the earth. Besides the amazing health benefits of mushrooms, I'm sure your micr…

> It's a gamified experience of the wilderness, too, in some ways.

I sometimes collect trash from the woods near me and weirdly enough the feeling in the brain of finding a good mushroom is very similar to the feeling of finding a plastic bottle to collect.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#196

Post by trhr »

dmitrybrant wrote: post #107
ncann wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I read somewhere before about how if a mushroom is white, then stay away from it. How true is this from your experience?

Using that rule of thumb, you would successfully avoid Amanita virosa (destroying angel), but you could still get poisoned by Amanita phalloides (death cap) which has a pale-green cap. I don't endorse any rules-of-thumb for foraging, but a much better differentiator for beginners is whether the mushroom has pores vs. gills under the cap. There are virtually no deadly varieties that have pores.

> There are virtually no deadly varieties that have pores.

Never heard this one before. Adding it to my bug out notes. Thanks!

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#197

Post by ehecatl42 »

hinkley wrote: post #101
ceejayoz wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"derived from the milk thistle plant" likely involves more than just "eat some powered plant"; Wikipedia seems to indicate it involves more purification steps than the supplement form of things.

Or like the cancer drug from yews takes something like a handful of trees per patient. You’re not just gonna chew on few cubic feet of bark.

That will kill you. Taxus baccata is highly toxic... “slips of yew, silvered in the moon's eclipse” and all that.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#198

Post by trhr »

junglistguy wrote: post #151
masswerk wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Old school" foragers typically stick to a few mushrooms to be safe. Meaning, they have quite an expertise on 3 or 4 kinds of mushrooms (or, even more likely, just a couple of them) and are staying away from anything else, especially, if there is a similar, poisonous mushroom. (At least, this is what all I happen to know are doing.) Also, if you aren't 100% confident, stay away from it. (And there is the real problem…

rather 20-30 but I live in europe, in america you are different kind of human :D

America has thousands, if not millions, of invisible people living from the land and amongst the trees -- but you're right that our city dwellers don't know many wild plants.

The most obvious examples are our two major trails, the Pacific Coast and the Appalachian, which take a full year to hike and are done by tens of thousands annually.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#199

Post by yieldcrv »

dmitrybrant wrote: post #69

I've been foraging mushrooms for 30+ years, and I triple-check every single specimen before cooking it. The idea of a novice forager using an app to identify mushrooms is... unconscionable! Like... breathtakingly stupid. I've commented on this before, but it continues to baffle me how poorly-educated our public is about wild plants, berries, and mushrooms. And stories like this just perpetuate the fear (and stigma?)…

> The idea of a novice forager using an app to identify mushrooms is... unconscionable! Like... breathtakingly stupid.

Out of curiosity, have you used any of the apps?

They're really good at flora, and include identification of fungi because they are outdoors and attached to soil and flora. They greatly amplify the most passive and casual interest to something far beyond the tools employed professionals would have. Even the state (but thats a low bar, admittedly).

But the identification isn't for eating things. But knowing that people do that, and for mushrooms I would say there is a case for a warning label in the apps, after positive identification of some things.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#200

Post by yieldcrv »

trhr wrote: post #195

Hahahahahaha. Imagine using something from the App Store to identify mushrooms instead of a reference book that is specifically written to keep you alive.

I would say there is a case for warning labels in identification apps. especially when mushrooms are identified.

The apps themselves are really good. If you haven't used some popular ones I would say you're being too dismissive. But those apps were never for finding something to eat, and especially not for finding mushrooms to eat.

I can see how this isn't as Darwinian as I would otherwise lean toward.

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