"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

How interesting. I wish I had not thrown away my book on edible and
inedible fungi. I did it when I realised that I simply did not have the
courage to pick and eat a fungus described in the book and "recognised"
by
me. Except for Jew's ear and giant puff balls. It is impossible to
mistake
them.

Giant puffballs, yes, but there are things you could confuse with Jew's
ear, though they're unlikely to do you any serious harm.

Beefsteak fungus, Sperassis crispa, blewits/bluelegs/blue stalks and
wood blewits are pretty unmistakeable too. I'd lash out a few quid and
buy 'Mushrooms and other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe' by Roger
Phillips, Pan or Macmillan, ISBN 0 330 26441 9

Whereabouts do you live?

Just outside Hawes, high up in Wensleydale.
I did once see a fresh yellow beefsteak fungus on a tree, but I was plain
scared to pick it.

I will order the book.

Friends of mine who were keen collectors used to go foraging with 2
companion books by the same author. "Edible Fungi" and "Inedible Fungi".
They restricted their collecting to specimens which they were sure *were* in
the first volume and *were not* in the second volume. It was they who
taught me to eat giant puffballs.

[Franz Heymann]

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