shroom picking

[stealurface831]

anybody mags out there picking wild shrooms? i spotted some fly agaric behind my house today and am looking forward to my maiden harvest. i know there are plenty of other species around my parts so hopefully i can track some more down. how do ya'll prepare your sacrament? i'm planning on just a drying rack for a few days but have heard of people using dehydrators and ovens.

[BCMtnHound]

It was a crazy year, but most years I gather shaggy parasols, lobsters and pines. Will take advantage of king boletes and chicken-of-the-woods when I happen across them. I also have a couple stashes of chaga. I dry all under low temps, and the pines I freeze as well after drying. The ladies of the house are not fond of the shrooms, so they usually only come out for parties or when I am cooking for myself.


Psilocybin spores are legal to purchase in Canada, for educational/mycological purposes, or so I've been informed...

[Conundrum]

Some years are better than others. Didn't go out last year because we still have some in the freezer from the year prior. They still hydrate well but probably time to eat or toss.

[Cruiser]

Used to hit the cow fields plenty when I was a kid. Those were good times. I remember when a buddy put 3 nice plump caps on his cheeseburger at lunch when we were sitting in front of school. He offered and I politely declined for 2 reasons. First, I really disliked tripping at school. Second, the taste of warm shrooms made me gag unless I could break them into quarters and pop them like pills with orange juice but we didn't have ready access to orange juice at lunch.

[Buster Highmen]

I do not recommend fly agaric, amanita muscaria, as an entertainment value.
Side effects are not worth the trip.

[stealurface831]

Used to hit the cow fields plenty when I was a kid. Those were good times. I remember when a buddy put 3 nice plump caps on his cheeseburger at lunch when we were sitting in front of school. He offered and I politely declined for 2 reasons. First, I really disliked tripping at school. Second, the taste of warm shrooms made me gag unless I could break them into quarters and pop them like pills with orange juice but we didn't have ready access to orange juice at lunch.

you have good success amongst the dung? i may take a trip (pun intended) to some fields nearby. gotta make sure they don't have the bulls out though.

[stealurface831]

I do not recommend fly agaric, amanita muscaria, as an entertainment value.
Side effects are not worth the trip.

really? i assume that you are referring to nausea as the side effect. i have heard that when dried adequately the ibotenic acid is converted to muscimol and the effects on the stomach are assuaged. was this not your experience?

[Dantheman]

really? i assume that you are referring to nausea as the side effect. i have heard that when dried adequately the ibotenic acid is converted to muscimol and the effects on the stomach are assuaged. was this not your experience?

Do you have access to Hulu or Viceland? The Hamilton's Pharmacopeia episode about Amanita is pretty wild.

[stealurface831]

Do you have access to Hulu or Viceland? The Hamilton's Pharmacopeia episode about Amanita is pretty wild.

the shroom hermit, i believe it was. i need to watch it again. i loved that show.

[tgapp]

ahh damn i am so stoked to see this thread. i love mushroom hunting - i'm a part of the mycological society here and i really enjoy foraging on hikes. mostly we get boletes, oysters, and a few other choice edibles (shaggy inkcap, etc) but i did find a few amanitas - those aren't really my bag. they're super fun to find (so beautiful), but not really my cuppa. fun fact: siberian shamans would dry the amanitas they found for exactly the same reason you mentioned by placing them in pine trees, and it is from that tradition that we get christmas ornaments.



we have a variant of Amanitas muscaria that is specific to utah - the golden muscaria. not the same as the golden amanitas. found this dude a few months ago.



pretty standard haul from an evening hike; oysters and boletes, all going into mushroom pies

that morel collection is something else entirely, well done.

[skaredshtles]

Some years are better than others. Didn't go out last year because we still have some in the freezer from the year prior. They still hydrate well but probably time to eat or toss.

Plz don't toss them.

[gnarbro365]

My better half is the mycologist of the house, but I enjoy the hunt.

[stealurface831]

man, i'm loving this fungi stoke.

[Boissal]

Since my dad retired he's been way more interested in chasing fungus. He worked for the forest service forever and used to occasionally bring some back but the last couple years he's been serious about it, found some stashes, and gets after the chanterelles like they're going out of style. Last spring I went with him on a 6 hr hike to one of the most inaccessible spots in the valley, came back with 10 lbs. I was worked, he was back at it after the next rain. He occasionally finds the black version of the chanterelles (called death trumpets in French), equally tasty but super creepy.



Young and not so young amanitas:





Not sure what this guy is:



Park City area is apparently good more morels but the haul upthread is next level...

[Rideski]

I’ve seen several of those red and white dots on bike rides. Didn’t know I was supposed to be picking those.

[jorion]

Muscaria/fly agaric doesn’t sound like much fun as a deliriant. I guess they’re edible if properly boiled first, but why bother?

I always think it’s a shame that the mushrooms are popping off in a lot of the places I ski in spring (albeit a couple thousand feet lower) and I never mushroom hunt there, but I never have time for both.

Tonight made some awesome matsutake gohan (pine mushroom rice) and some delicious Russian potatoes and chanties braised in cream the other night, but sadly both were purchased not foraged.

[Dantheman]

the shroom hermit, i believe it was. i need to watch it again. i loved that show.

It's such an awesome show. Drugs, travel, history, some insane chemistry, it checks a lot of boxes.

[Mazderati]

My understanding is wild mushrooms that are very different can look the same; that there is a nuance to knowing what is poisonous vs safe to eat. Is that overblown?

[CovertM]

This year was rough in CO, absolutely no moisture in my parts. My most reliable Chanterelle patch was a total bust this year. Didn't get up too high to look for boletes, saw a few during archery season but all were rotten. Looking forward to next year.

Chanties from the last couple years:

[tgapp]

My understanding is wild mushrooms that are very different can look the same; that there is a nuance to knowing what is poisonous vs safe to eat. Is that overblown?

not at all overblown. there are some mushrooms which are very safe that look very similar to mushrooms which can be deadly. unless you are 110% sure on an identification, never eat anything you find in the wild - and even then, be extremely cautious. many mushrooms produce toxins which can cause acute kidney and liver failure - not something to mess around with at all.

in my case - i only eat mushrooms where the entire family is known to be safe, or where i am extremely confident in the identification. good examples of these are boletes (mushrooms which look like a sponge, not gills underneath), oysters (which have a number of unique identifying features), hedgehogs, shaggy inkcaps, chicken/hen of the woods and morels. a lot of stuff in the agaricus family (most of which look like classic gilled mushrooms) can be dangerous, so i stay away from that. best to stick to areas where all mushrooms are safe/easy to identify.

if you are unsure, post online, ask an expert, and go throw the gradual exposure test - first rub it on the back of your hand. wait 30 minutes for a reaction. then rub the mushroom on the inside of your hand, wait another 30 minutes. then rub it on your neck. wait a bit. then cook/pan fry the ever living shit out of it, and eat a small quantity. wait another 30 minutes. only try one new mushroom at a time, and save some from every batch to take to the ER in case you get sick and need to get emergency medical care.

[tgapp]

jesus lord almighty that chantarelle haul is amazing. the chantarelle is a good example of a mushroom where you need to be confident in your identification abilities.

here is a real chantarelle:



and here is a false (poisonous) chantarelle - Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca:



plenty of very clear differences, but to the untrained eye, in the field, it could be very easy to make that mistake

[BCMtnHound]

+1000 on the cautions noted above. And add to that that some fungi react differently to different people. I love shaggy parasols and have no issues with properly prepared honey mushrooms (armillaria), but some people suffer severe gastric upset from them, even when properly prepared.
Never make assumptions about consuming fungi, either for your own consumption, or serving them to others.

[bagtagley]

There was a kid in my HS homeroom that would show up with big, stinky bags of shrooms he picked fresh off the cow shit that morning. He never charged, just thought it was a shame for them to go unpicked and liked to share. We popped those huge, disgusting fuckers right there in home room the first couple times, but quickly realized that tripping at school was a buzzkill, so we pocketed them after that.

[CovertM]

To those concerned about identification, get a good book and maybe find a mentor to help with identifying your first mushrooms.

I really like this book and have recommended it to many new shroom hunters.

https://www.amazon.com/All-That-Rain.../dp/0898153883

[tgapp]

To those concerned about identification, get a good book and maybe find a mentor to help with identifying your first mushrooms.

I really like this book and have recommended it to many new shroom hunters.

https://www.amazon.com/All-That-Rain.../dp/0898153883

this is great advice - especially that book.

another tip that has served me well: say i pick a mushroom and i think what i have is a birch bolete - it's got the right cap, stem, etc. i'm all but ready to dice 'em up and put it in a stew, what i'll do is google "birch bolete look alikes" and "birch bolete false positive" etc - see if there is ANYTHING i could be mistaking that mushroom for, and then go through the identification process for whatever false positive is out there until i can conclusively rule it out - eg - "i know that this is not a destroying angel because the gills are brown, not white"