TIL it's estimated that out of the 100,000 or more species of mushrooms worldwide, just over 100 are toxic.
"Shitting out your liver" toxic tho.
Hopefully not based on those AI generated mushroom identification books
Many common mushrooms look the same. If you are not an expert you may miss a small difference and so misidentify what you are looking at.
I still wouldn't trust wild mushrooms though.
As someone who forages there are plenty of safe , easy to identify, and way better tasting mushrooms that are in the wild; obviously do your research and make sure your alowed to forage on the lands etc
This talk puts people off of foraging when again is easy to get into, its free, and can be fun/productive activity when your outside ( again as well as supper yummy,store bought stuff cannot beat chicken/hen/lions mane at all)
Maybe you can tell me if this is true, or still in line with modern thinking.
Read a book 30 years ago about eating wild mushrooms. The author suggested that, if you weren't certain, you could chip a tiny piece off with your tooth, see how it goes. No stomach issues? Try a slightly larger piece. Rinse and repeat.
Does that ring true? Always sounded perfectly reasonable to me. I've got 2.5 acres of swamp with all kinds of fungi, love to start trying some. Now and again I find monster shelf fungi that look good. And my god, I learned what stinkhorns are last spring.
Also, is there any easy way to start leaning field ID? I'm familiar with the parts and terms, so I got that going for me.
Good odds, right?
I understand that you jest, but risk is not only about odds. When you calculate risk you also want to consider the severity of failure not only likelihood. If you risk shitting out your liver you want better odds than if you just risk feeling a bit I'll for a bit.
This post was sponsored by the Toxic Fungi Association
