Don't Poison Yourself

Don't poison yourself this mushroom foraging season, and even more importantly, don't poison anyone else!

 

Toxic or treat? There are two species of mushroom on this table. If you can't tell the diffence, don't eat either of them.*

Poisonings from ingesting toxic mushrooms are on the increase in France. The reasons seem to be threefold.

 

Red-capped scaber stalk  Leccinum aurantiacum (Fr. Bolet orangé des chênes), edible if well cooked. Often abundant it is used to bulk out the more prized ceps, and is usually a major component of commercial dried wild forest mushrooms mixes.

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First, weather conditions. After a series of dry summers and autumns, we had a couple of wet autumns. This resulted in an abundance of mushrooms and a longer picking season, so people had more opportunities for misidentifying the mushrooms they had foraged and poisoning themselves and their friends.

 

Bay Bolete Imleria badia (Fr. Bolet bai), nearly as good as a cep, except for its unappetising staining on the sponge (but most people discard that anyway).

Second, there has been a resurgence of interest in mushroom foraging because people are interested in traditional activities, because they like the idea of free food, and because they like the idea of providing for themselves in a sort of self sufficient and independent way. So many people out there are beginners, and from my observations, absolutely clueless and in some cases hubristic. A lot of these people are not using tried and true methods of learning how to identify mushrooms, partly because they don't know how or where to access them. They don't know how to use a field guide and they don't know anyone who can mentor them through learning how to identify mushrooms. Last year a group of three or four experienced mushroomers set up the Facebook group Champignons du 37, concentrating on the art of gathering edible mushrooms in the Tourangelle forests (mainly Loches and Chinon). Within weeks they had 4000 members, and after 6 months there were 7400 members, which took them and me by surprise. I was expecting more like 400 people to sign up. Reading the posts it became painfully obvious that the majority of members were absolutely clueless. But they did at least want to learn. I imagine it came as quite a shock for them to find out just how much there was to learn.

 

The lovely but inedible velvetiness of Tripe fungus Auricularia mesenterica (Fr. Auriculaire poilu).

And that brings me to the third reason poisonings are increasing. The use of identification apps, which do little more than picture match. Please, if you are foraging for mushrooms for the table, I cannot stress enough that THERE ARE NO GOOD IDENTIFICATION APPS FOR FUNGI!!  DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RELY ON THEM IF YOU ARE GOING TO EAT THE MUSHROOMS. Identifying a mushroom takes more than just matching a single photo taken from the top or the side. In many cases mushrooms cannot be accurately identified from photographs no matter how experienced you are. There are just too many lookalikes, too many variables, and identification requires your sense of smell and touch in some cases, even occasionally your hearing, as well as being able to see all parts of the mushroom, including the whole stem (not cut off), underneath the cap, and a cross section (cut the mushroom in half from top to bottom).

 

An old Earthstar Geastrum sp (Fr. Géastre) in really poor condition. NEVER eat any mushroom in this condition, even if you think it is an edible species (which earthstars are not anyway).

There is a widespread belief in France that your pharmacist can identify any mushrooms you bring in. This was once the case, but is no longer true. Ask your pharmacist by all means, but you will likely find that they do not offer this service. If you are lucky, as we have been until recently in Loches, they will offer their professional opinion. If you are even luckier they will lead outings in the forest so you can learn about mushrooms. Be prepared for it to take years to feel confident in your own level of expertise, even with a good mentor and a good field guide.

 

False Turkey Tail Stereum hirsutum (Fr. Stérée hirsute) being consumed by Golden Ear Tremella aurantia (Fr. Tremelle orangée). So the Stereum is eating the wood, and the Tremella is eating the Stereum.

Even when you are confident of the identification, if the mushrooms are old or in poor condition, don't eat them. Mushrooms that are past their best or poorly preserved may develop toxins even if they are normally considered edible. Make sure they are well cooked too. Cooking can destroy some toxins, but not all. Do not eat wild mushrooms more than once a week and do not give them to children under the age of seven.

 

This is a delicious and prized Field Mushroom Agaricus campestris (Fr. Rosé-des-prés), but there is a common lookalike that won't kill you, but will send you to Accident and Emergency with severe stomach cramps. Do you know how to tell the difference? **

In summary:

• There are around 15 000 species of mushroom in France, with over 250 edible mushroom species; over 350 toxic species and 39 of them are deadly.
• Don't use an ID app to identify mushrooms. Apps work well these days for plants, but aren't good enough for other groups, especially for mushrooms if you are planning to eat them. The most popular app in France is Champinouf. It just picture matches, so is more or less useless.
• Never rely on colour alone to identify a mushroom. Always use a suite of characteristics to arrive at an identification.

 

*In the first photo, roughly speaking, there are Blushers Amanita rubescens (edible if well cooked) on the left, and Panthercaps A. pantherina (toxic) on the right. 

**Always check Agaricus mushrooms by scratching their stems. If they stain yellow you have the toxic Yellow Stainer A. xanthodermus (Fr. Agaric jaunissant).