
In California, Poisonous Death Cap Mushrooms Are the Forager's Bane - Thevet
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/20/470825175/in-california-poisonous-death-cap-mushrooms-are-the-foragers-bane
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tristanj
Not mentioned in the article, but the victims are often people who grew up in
other countries where it's safe to eat wild mushrooms. After moving here they
keep the same habits and pick these poisonous mushrooms.

There were quite a few cases where asian immigrants mistook death caps for the
edible Asian paddy straw mushroom, and got very sick.

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wool_gather
If you mistake _any_ amanita, let alone a death cap, for any of the other
mushrooms mentioned in the article -- hedgehog, matsutake, or chanterelle --
you're simply not paying enough attention to be picking mushrooms to be eaten.

Never mind the gills, which were mentioned in the article, the ring is a
_dead_ giveaway, and if you don't know what the ring is, again, you shouldn't
be picking mushrooms to eat.

(The way that amanitas form and grow often leaves a tattered-looking membrane
circling the middle of the stem. You can see it in the pictures in the
article.)

I'm sorry that this lady got so sick. Luckily, she got a second chance, and
hopefully she will learn more about what she's doing before she goes picking
again.

~~~
jinushaun
I also grew up picking and eating wild mushrooms. The popular edible wild
mushrooms like chanterelle and matsutake are very distinct and easily
identifiable. I avoid ambiguous edible varieties. When in doubt, throw it out.

I can only assume she was careless or clueless.

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cplease
What's with all the fungiphobia?

Within USA/Canada, learn to identify death caps and destroying angels. If you
stay away from any mushroom that you aren't sure is one of these two, don't
eat any wild mushrooms raw (very few mushrooms are good raw anyway), and don't
gorge on anything that isn't obviously identifiable, your odds of doing
yourself any permanent harm are very low.

That's not to say all other species are "safe." Obviously, you should only
collect species that you can identify. But amanitas are basically trivial to
identify (know their tricks, cut mushrooms in half to check for
hidden/immature gills), and if you don't eat Amanitas (again, in USA/Canada),
it would be a truly freak incident if you actually died of poisoning. You're
more likely to be eaten by a bear.

If you are incapable of this, then not only do you have no business foraging
for mushrooms you probably shouldn't be preparing your own food. Number of
people killed or disabled due to foraging poisonous mushrooms is nothing
compared to those killed by improper food preparation and handling, but you
don't see people quaking in their boots in the poultry aisle of the grocery.
The article cites five deaths in five years in all of California. How many
people died of salmonella and botulism in that time? How many mushroom-phobes
would be so reckless as to drink "raw" milk?

A lot of supposedly poisonous mushrooms are in fact edible, especially when
boiled.

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andlier
Here in Norway we had this publicly funded mushroom control staff located
strategically near the forest to allow people to get their mushroom-forage
checked by an expert. They would literally go through all the mushrooms in
your basket and throw out any mushrooms they couldn't positively identify as
edible. Unfortunately the money "ran" out. I guess we'll take the hit as an
increased spending on public healthcare instead.
[http://www.newsinenglish.no/2015/08/10/money-ran-out-for-
mus...](http://www.newsinenglish.no/2015/08/10/money-ran-out-for-mushroom-
control-over-protests/) edit: here's a better link with pictures, but in
norwegian: [http://www.nrk.no/norge/savner-stotte-til-
soppkontroll-1.119...](http://www.nrk.no/norge/savner-stotte-til-
soppkontroll-1.11907766)

~~~
Alex3917
Seems like a waste of money. If people want to learn the edible species they
can just join their local mushroom club like in the US.

I can see paying someone to be there a couple hours a week, but as a full time
job that seems ridiculous.

~~~
vinay427
Perhaps training those who are already stationed (forest/park rangers, etc.)
would be a more efficient path. I think the point of accessible trained staff
as opposed to a mushroom club is to target those who would otherwise not take
the effort to investigate what they gathered, and end up consuming harmful
species.

~~~
Alex3917
Call me cynical, but stopping someone from eating some random unidentified
plants/mushrooms seems like a net harm to humanity.

~~~
ryandvm
You're cynical.

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beefsack
In the past decade or so here in Canberra, Australia, we've had a handful of
fatalities in the local Chinese community. Death cap mushrooms can look
similar to straw fungi, which is popular in Chinese cooking.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides#Similarity_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides#Similarity_to_edible_species)

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Gustomaximus
Something to be aware of in Australia also;

[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-07/death-cap-mushroom-
sea...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-07/death-cap-mushroom-season-
arrives-early-in-canberra/6077330)

Another common garden plant most people dont know to be aware of is Oleander.
I see this everywhere like in schools and am amazed. People have died using
the branches as skewers to cook. The smoke can also be poisonous if people
burn this plant.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerium)

And for interest, only a problem in North Queensland check out the Gympie
Gympie tree. This is really something to keep a wide berth. Amazing what
nature can produce.

[http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-
enviro...](http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-
environment/2009/06/gympie-gympie-once-stung,-never-forgotten/)

~~~
caf
There are signs up around the ACT like this:

[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VeN5uDOjoIA/Tx9Qq5oQCLI/AAAAAAAArV...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VeN5uDOjoIA/Tx9Qq5oQCLI/AAAAAAAArVw/8KT2YHgqWhs/s600/Mushrooms.jpg)

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flashman
It'd be cool if there were mushroom-testing reagent kits, like for MDMA etc.

Edit: apparently chemical tests exist
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_tests_in_mushroom_ide...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_tests_in_mushroom_identification)

~~~
Alex3917
It's not needed, it only takes an hour or so to teach a beginner the major
genuses that contain poisonous species. In fact for the first year the rule is
basically that if it looks like a mushroom then don't eat it.

~~~
im3w1l
> In fact for the first year the rule is basically that if it looks like a
> mushroom then don't eat it.

Sure, that prevents people from dying. But what about all those mushrooms that
people didn't dare pick? Is that not a loss - a loss that could be remedied by
such a kit?

~~~
Alex3917
> Is that not a loss - a loss that could be remedied by such a kit?

Not really. Just because something doesn't contain a handful of specific
poisons doesn't mean you want to eat it. The vast majority of mushrooms are
neither poisonous nor edible.

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madengr
Somewhere I read that if a mushroom has white gills then it could be
poisonous, and that brown gills are safe to eat. Not that I'm going to pick
mushrooms, but is that advice sound?

~~~
mordechai9000
Not at all. The bit about white gills is probably referring to Amanitaceae,
which include some marvelously toxic species that destroy the human liver. But
the advice is way too general to be useful. Brown-gilled species are not
universally edible, and white-gilled species are not universally poisonous.

To forage safely for plants or mushrooms, you should know the identifying
characteristics of your target species and any non-edible lookalikes.

There are definitely no general rules for determining mushroom edibility.

A great resource is Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora.

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microcolonel
I have to say; when I was a kid (in Alberta, not California), the general
advice was not to pick and eat mushrooms without significant knowledge. I
don't really see the allure either, common table mushrooms are very tasty and
plentiful.

I think this is just one of the Darwin award's new qualifying categories.

~~~
kyleblarson
Have you tasted Morels?

~~~
ams6110
I have and had the same reaction as GP. They tasted pretty much like any
regular store-bought mushroom.

~~~
Alex3917
You need to use dairy and not olive oil with them, for what it's worth. Unless
you sautée them with butter and salt you're not going to bring out the flavor.

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reefoctopus
Death cap survivor story:
[https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2006/11/22/i-survived-
the-...](https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2006/11/22/i-survived-the-
destroying-angel/)

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CapitalistCartr
At the moment, I'm reading Euell Gibbons (Stalking the Faraway Places). I love
his work, and he gathers mushrooms, but that's where I draw the line. Too much
downside risk.

~~~
wool_gather
There are several wild mushrooms that are unique in appearance, or have only
one or two problematic lookalikes that are easily tested. If you're interested
in picking, you can look into them.

The "chicken of the woods" and "hen of the woods" are perfect starter
mushrooms. (Although chickens' edibility when growing on softwoods is
questioned, so it depends where you live.) There is nothing that bears any
resemblance to them.

Chanterelles and porcini each have a few straightforward guidelines for
distinguishing them.

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gojomo
Is there (or could there be) a quick, layperson-usable chemical test for the
toxins? (If so, it could be applied to both the raw mushrooms and dishes like
soups prepared from them.)

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reitanqild
As partially colorblind (like 10% of all men) picking mushrooms scares me.

Not saying I don't pick musrooms, only I only pick mushrooms I'm sure don't
have any dangerous lookalikes.

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matwood
Given how hard wild mushrooms can be to identify, I'm surprised that there are
people who pick and eat them.

~~~
pluteoid
Correctly identifying any given mushroom can be hard, requiring the right
taxonomic keys (and the comprehensive ones come in multiple volumes), a
microscope, various stains and reagents, and lots of training. Field
mycologists have a term, LBM, meaning "little brown mushroom", which speaks to
the pain of separating such specimens to species level even with lots of ID
experience.

On the other hand there are many edible species which are unmistakeable and
which you can quickly learn to reliably identify based on obvious features. In
many European countries, foraging for wild mushrooms is a traditional pastime
and intimately linked with national cuisine.

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mlvljr
This one mushroom is pretty well-known to be deadly here in Russia, knew that
since age 3 or so. Good thing, it is easy to recognize.

Anyways, never ever try out your luck with mushrooms, if you were not well-
taught to deal with them by someone experienced, in person (internet advice /
taking and sending m-room photos do not count, period).

Couple seasons of mushroom-hunting alongside someone, willing to teach you, is
a minimum before you ever decide to put any mushroom you picked up yourself
into your (or someone else's) mouth.

Btw, even experienced people sometimes do not pick up mushrooms, they have
suspicions about (there are some not quite deadly ones here, masquerading as
edible in my place, for example).

