In article ,
Granity writes:
|
| Incidentally, to anyone picking field mushrooms, there is a simple
| test for A. phalloides. NEVER eat any mushroom like that until it
| has developed enough for the gills to colour up - if you want to eat
| real button mushrooms, buy them from a shop or grow them yourself.
|
| Don't test with a silver fork or in any of the other ways described
| by folklore - it passes all of them.
|
| If it has a volva at the base of the stem then it's almost certainly an
| Aminita,
| Agaricus (the normal edible mushrooms that you buy in the shops) don't
| have a volva.

That is true, but is a very BAD test. The remains of the volva can
be hard to see and may be lost during picking. Relying on that is
one of the ways that people kill themselves and others.

The gill colour is far more reliable - Amanita phalloides is white
or greenish, and Agaricus campestris is pinkish, through mid-brown
to almost black, as it ages. That is why you should ALWAYS check
that the gills are clearly pinkish-brown or brown; eating button
mushrooms from the fields is not a safe activity.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.