Mushroom advice

[Toddy]

It's one of those never ending downpour days here and all of my plans for the day have gone haywire, so I'm reading some old craft books I was given yesterday.
One of them, "The Girls' Make-and -Do" book is a 1946 reprint of a1938 printing.
Under the title of, "A Few Useful Hints for Your Hike", is written,
"MUSHROOMS OR POISONOUS FUNGI? Perhaps you will come across a field of mushrooms if you are walking in the early morning. If seeking mushrooms carry a little salt with you. Then, if in doubt as to whether the fungus is a mushroom, put a pinch of salt on the gills (the under side) and watch developments. If the gills turn black, it is a mushroom; if yellow it is poisonous--so throw it away."

Anyone any ideas on this??

cheers,
Toddy

 

[gregorach]

Sounds dodgy to me...

 

[JFW]

Toddy,

it does sound a bit dodgy, but the only way to tell if this rule of thumb works is to try it out on a few known samples - both edible and poisonous. As we know some of these old tales actually have a grain of salt, I mean truth.
Would like to hear your results - I may even try it my self for research only.

Cheers

Farquhar

 

[Toddy]

It does sound dodgy, doesn't it?
I wonder though, if it werre only used on the mushrooms that are found where the field mushroom grows and are lookalikes?
Need to have a try......not many field mushrooms about here though

atb,
Toddy

 

[gregorach]

'Specially not at this time of year....

 

[xylaria]

Both the common horse mushroom and the yellow stainer grow in fields. the yellow stainer produces gastric symptoms. They look the same, both have dark gills and are of simerlar size. The yellow stainer smells faintly of coal tar soap and supposidly tastes bitter. The most obvious feature is that it stains bright yellow very quickly. It does so without the use of salt. There are plenty of very poisonous fungi that don't stain yellow.

Yes alot of old wives tales have a grain of truth, but wild fungi were never collected in any great number by the british, so this one i feel is more of a old cobblers and aged wisdom.

In the interest of science I will try it out, Feb and march are the worst months to look for any fungi, so it will be a while before I post the results.

 

[Mikey P]

It sounds proper dodgy that. I think the one lesson I've learnt from all of the textbooks and guides I've read and the people I've spoken to is that there is no simple rule of thumb for edibale/non-edible mushroom ID.

You just have to learn them.

Poo.

 

[Toddy]

. Yes alot of old wives tales have a grain of truth, but wild fungi were never collected in any great number by the british, so this one i feel is more of a old cobblers and aged wisdom.
QUOTE]

In that vein, I know a lot of old British fungi collecting advice was *where* to look rather than what to look for. I suspect a lot of the movement of people and materials of the Industrial revolution and it's aftermath have thrown a lot of that a real wobbler though.

atb,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

Yes I have noticed the same thing, I have heard alot old advice that will say things like 'avoid the white ones that wander alone in the woods'. Which are normally very good general advice.

The "where" to look is so fundimentally important to ID, esspecially when you think in past how well people knew there patch. Big, flat, dark gilled mushrooms growing in fields are generally safe if you avoid yellow stainers and purple stainers .