Wild Mushrooms
 

RustyHinge wrote:
On 23/05/13 13:23, wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:

Are any of the non-deadly poisonous ones things that anyone would
actually want to eat, though? (For taste, I mean --- hallucinogenic
ones are of course a different kettle of fish.) AIUI, mushrooms are
generally divided into (1) tasty & safe, (2) dangerous, & (3) neither
--- with the majority falling in the 3rd group.

Yes, and you are correct. I once ate Boletus felleus (don't ask),
and I had minor diarrhoea but two other people had no effect;
the point there is that more of the boleti taste good than are
advisable to eat. Tom Gardner's remarks are also relevant to
this.

B.felleus is bitter as hell and one bite would be enough.

The critical point is that you need to be absolutely sure that
you don't eat a lethal one by mistake, because lethal means just
that - and, if they don't kill you, you may need a liver
transplant to survive. But there aren't all that many of those,
and there are a lot that are excellent and very easy to separate
from anything lethal.

And some which beat your shop-bought mushroom into a cocked frying-pan.

Some of which are also poisonous, e.g. blewetts bought
in Waitrose complete with the necessary "cook before
eating" label!

Just like many other vegetables. Nasty things vegetables :)

Wild Mushrooms
 

RustyHinge wrote:
On 23/05/13 13:12, Adam Funk wrote:

Are any of the non-deadly poisonous ones things that anyone would
actually want to eat, though? (For taste, I mean --- hallucinogenic
ones are of course a different kettle of fish.) AIUI, mushrooms are
generally divided into (1) tasty & safe, (2) dangerous, & (3) neither
--- with the majority falling in the 3rd group.

Many aren't worth bothering about, except as a curiosity.


St George's mushroom, Tricholoma gambosum.

Yum.

Lactarius deliciosus.

Yum.


Macrolepiota procera, parasolmushroom, but be cautious with M. rhacodes, shaggy parasol.

Procera yum; rhacodes splat (qv).


'Cauliflower fungus', Sperassis crispa.

Haven't found one in decades :(


Fistulina hepatica, beefsteak fungus.

Ugh, nasty, bitter.


Coprinus comatus, shaggy ink cap, lawyer's wig

Always turned to a watery mush for me :(


Merasmius oreades, fairy ring champignon - useful, as it dries, and rehydrates like new.

Careful; too many similar "LBJs", some nasty e.g. poison pie.


Armillaria mellea, honey fungus, pickles well, otherwise falls into the third group.

Lycoperdon species and Calvatia species. Giant puffballs may be sliced to the thickness of a goodly slice of bread and fried. (Try butter!) To make it into a real treat, fry the slices in butter, whip
them out of the pan when they are good and brown, then dip them in batter and sling them back into the pan...

Yum.

I also had a particularly delicious "chicken of the woods"
Laetiporus sulphureus, caught between the lion and tiger
enclosures at Longleat. No I didn't get out; a nearby warden
obliged!

Jew's ear (sorry forget the modern PC name) Auricularia auricula-judae
is great in soups/stews, for the texture.

Wild Mushrooms
 

On 04/06/13 00:33, Tom Gardner wrote:
Some of which are also poisonous, e.g. blewetts bought
in Waitrose complete with the necessary "cook before
eating" label!

I've never known anyone upset by properly cooked blewits. Raw, they
haemolise the blood.

Just like many other vegetables. Nasty things vegetables :)

Yes - many of them affect my Warfarin.

--
Rusty Hinge

Wild Mushrooms
 

On 03/06/13 23:49, Tom Gardner wrote:
RustyHinge wrote:
On 23/05/13 09:56, Tom Gardner wrote:
Pam Moore wrote:
On Tue, 14 May 2013 17:02:14 +0200, Granity
wrote:


Nice set of pictures here

'10 poisonous mushrooms to watch out for in Britain - Telegraph'
(http://tinyurl.com/cb6wzlr)

Useful site, good pictures. Thank you.

A much more useful site is
http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/

The photos are good (multiple specimens, cross sections etc),
he has good identification tools, clearly identifies poisonous
species and has good general advice.

However:
- his photos in his books are better; they are the
default standard for amateur mycologists

- it is unwise to rely on any single source of photos,
pen portraits, keys etc

Not got the bandwidth here (GPRS dongle) to go looking at websites - I
take it that's Roger Phillips?

Yup. It is a very sensible intro to his books: the pictures are
large enough to be useful but small enough that they make you
want to get the book! It also has info not in the books.


Back in the '70s the curator of the Dept. of Mycology in the British
Museum of Natural History advised be to get Roger Phillips' 'Mushrooma
and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe'

I still use it a lot.

Mine is the 1981 Pan edition, text copyright Phillips 1981,
no mention of other printings. I strongly suspect it is a
first edition of the Pan paperback, since ISTR remember getting
it as soon as it appeared :)

I'll normally take Philips plus one or two others when I go foraging.

Get a more modern edition to use - Macmillan IIRC: that Pan book is
worth looking after. First edition *is* 1981.

--
Rusty Hinge

Wild Mushrooms
 

On 04/06/13 00:45, Tom Gardner wrote:

Coprinus comatus, shaggy ink cap, lawyer's wig

Always turned to a watery mush for me :(

Only use the caps which are not turning to (p)ink.

Do not discard the stalk, just clean the base. Slice the whole
mushroom(s) in half longitudinally.

Fry in an excess of butter. Remove from heat and put aside.

Make a roux from the remaining butter and work it into a sauce with a
decent white wine.

Make toast or fried bread, lay the mushrooms on it, cover with sauce and
give it a short blast in the microwave.

--
Rusty Hinge

Wild Mushrooms
 

On 04/06/13 00:45, Tom Gardner wrote:

Merasmius oreades, fairy ring champignon - useful, as it dries, and
rehydrates like new.

Careful; too many similar "LBJs", some nasty e.g. poison pie.

I really can't understand *anyone* mistaking M. oreades for anything else.

Nor the converse.

--
Rusty Hinge

Wild Mushrooms
 

On 04/06/13 00:45, Tom Gardner wrote:

I also had a particularly delicious "chicken of the woods"
Laetiporus sulphureus, caught between the lion and tiger
enclosures at Longleat. No I didn't get out; a nearby warden
obliged!

I've never found one in decent enough condition to try,unfortunately,
and I've been a mad mushroom maniac since around 1951...

Jew's ear (sorry forget the modern PC name) Auricularia auricula-judae
is great in soups/stews, for the texture.

Yes. I was just listing some off the top of me 'ed. I dry that (when I
find it growing on me 'ed - after all, I am an elder innit). It
rehydrates as effectively as Merasmius oreades and when dry, it can be
granulated in a coffee grinder or powdered in a liquidiser.

If you do the latter, keep one specially for this purpose as it is less
than kind to the blades.

--
Rusty Hinge

Wild Mushrooms
 

RustyHinge wrote:
Make toast or fried bread, lay the mushrooms on it, cover with sauce and
give it a short blast in the microwave.

What's the microwaving for? Surely everything is already hot from having
just been made?

Wild Mushrooms
 

RustyHinge wrote:
On 04/06/13 00:45, Tom Gardner wrote:

Coprinus comatus, shaggy ink cap, lawyer's wig

Always turned to a watery mush for me :(

Only use the caps which are not turning to (p)ink.

Do not discard the stalk, just clean the base. Slice the whole mushroom(s) in half longitudinally.

Fry in an excess of butter. Remove from heat and put aside.

Make a roux from the remaining butter and work it into a sauce with a decent white wine.

Make toast or fried bread, lay the mushrooms on it, cover with sauce and give it a short blast in the microwave.

I did that but stopped before making a sauce. Not
convinced there would be much flavour of the Cc,
but might try it.

Wild Mushrooms
 

RustyHinge wrote:
On 04/06/13 00:45, Tom Gardner wrote:

I also had a particularly delicious "chicken of the woods"
Laetiporus sulphureus, caught between the lion and tiger
enclosures at Longleat. No I didn't get out; a nearby warden
obliged!

I've never found one in decent enough condition to try,unfortunately, and I've been a mad mushroom maniac since around 1951...

Only one I've had too :( All the others have been too woody.


Jew's ear (sorry forget the modern PC name) Auricularia auricula-judae
is great in soups/stews, for the texture.

Yes. I was just listing some off the top of me 'ed. I dry that (when I find it growing on me 'ed - after all, I am an elder innit). It rehydrates as effectively as Merasmius oreades and when dry, it
can be granulated in a coffee grinder or powdered in a liquidiser.

If you do the latter, keep one specially for this purpose as it is less than kind to the blades.

I wouldn't grind it, because I think the texture is what
makes it worthwhile. The dried stuff from chinese supermarkets
is also acceptable from that PoV.

Wild Mushrooms
 

On 04/06/13 13:30, wrote:
RustyHinge wrote:
Make toast or fried bread, lay the mushrooms on it, cover with sauce and
give it a short blast in the microwave.

What's the microwaving for? Surely everything is already hot from having
just been made?

How quickly can you turn a roux into a sauce?

--
Rusty Hinge

Wild Mushrooms
 

On 04/06/13 13:57, Tom Gardner wrote:

/dried mushrooms/

I wouldn't grind it, because I think the texture is what
makes it worthwhile. The dried stuff from chinese supermarkets
is also acceptable from that PoV.

Excellent for flavouring and thickening.

--
Rusty Hinge

Wild Mushrooms
 

RustyHinge wrote:
Make toast or fried bread, lay the mushrooms on it, cover with sauce and
give it a short blast in the microwave.

What's the microwaving for? Surely everything is already hot from having
just been made?

How quickly can you turn a roux into a sauce?

Dunno, but I would put the toaster on whilst it was making rather than before,
I think. Sounds nicer than microwaved cold toast, anyhow. I find that tends
to go a bit hard. (I'd probably just eat the toast cold - I have no problem
with lukewarm food)