Mushroom book

[ScottC]

I was in my local waterstones today (as you may know ): ) and i saw a book called easy guide to edible mushrooms or somthing like that by a someone pegler. It looked good with close up pictures and descriptions aswell as recipes at the back. £12.99

Well thought i'd just let you onto what looks like a good book and if anyone has a copy perhaps they could post a few comments on it here please? And correct me if the title is wrong at all. If not when i get a copy ( some time between now and next week) i can write up my opinion of it.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I was in my local waterstones today (as you may know ): ) and i saw a book called easy guide to edible mushrooms or somthing like that by a someone pegler. It looked good with close up pictures and descriptions aswell as recipes at the back. £12.99

Well thought i'd just let you onto what looks like a good book and if anyone has a copy perhaps they could post a few comments on it here please? And correct me if the title is wrong at all. If not when i get a copy ( some time between now and next week) i can write up my opinion of it.

I recently bought "champignons de France et d'Europe occidental", Marcel Bon, published by Flammarion. ISBN 2-0820-1321-9.

This is a hefty little book, 368 pages with 1500 species and varieties described. Plenty of full colour illustrations, good descriptions and chemical identification methods are explained (e.g., 10% ferrous sulphate solution or dilute (2%) phenic acid as reagents).

If an English translation is avalable, try to get a squint at it.

It is a very good treatise on mushrooms, perhaps more than you need as a field guide, but would be useful for studying at home during non-harvest periods of the year.


Keith.

 

[Danzo]

Was it a pricey volume Keith? I can read French well enough and they do respect mushrooms rather more on your side of the water. I have a few old shroom cookbooks but no really good identifying book.

Danzo

 

[Keith_Beef]

Was it a pricey volume Keith? I can read French well enough and they do respect mushrooms rather more on your side of the water. I have a few old shroom cookbooks but no really good identifying book.

Danzo

I think I paid 25 Euros for it.

You can get it from Amazon for 23.75 Euros. What a saving!

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books-fr&field-author=Bon, Marcel/171-7885680-6107403


There's a similar-looking book at 28.50 Euros. I've not had a squint at this one.
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/2603009532/ref=pd_sr_ec_ir_b/171-7885680-6107403




Then there's this, which might just be a UK version (translated and adapted for our sceptered isles):
The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North-western Europe
Marcel Bon (Editor), John Wilkinson (Editor), Denys Ovenden (Editor)
Paperback 352 pages (October 1987)
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
ISBN: 034039935X
But a bit pricey at £179.95 :yikes:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...00144/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_8_1/202-2897181-8615836


Keith.

 

[Keith_Beef]

That URL should be: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/se...field-author=Bon , Marcel/171-7885680-6107403

Keith.

 

[steve a]

The price of £179.95 must be an imput error, having said that I have a copy of this book, I'll let it go for £150.00 any takers.

 

[Tantalus]

i have the collins , mushrooms of great britain and europe

with a "the wildlife trusts" emblem on the front

isbn 0-00-220012-0

designed for field use (ish) with a plastic jacket

also by Regis Courtecuisse

(author of the book in the 2nd link from keith)

which has served me well

not a book for absolute beginners tho, i would reccomend using the book with someone who knows mushrooms first


been a godsend for me cos i learned a ton about mushrooms in germany and czeckoslovakia - as much as i could - but that left me with the problem of knowing the fungi pretty well just none of the english names

once back in blighty i was safe in the knowledge they were good to eat and would chomp away happily, others were a bit put off by the fact that i didnt appear to know any of the names lol

Tant

 

[Moonraker]

YB I would advise in getting a couple of mushroom identification books. One suitable for carrying out in the field and the other a comprehensive book kept back home for more detailed checking.

I strongly recommend:

Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe by Roger Phillips. 288 pages. August 2004 reprint. Publisher: Pan. ISBN: 0330264419

A classic with great photographs, loads of information and recipes etc. Currently only £11.89 at amazon.co.uk. I have used this for over 20 years.

I have a small pocket size cloth cover version suitable for carrying but not sure it is available now.

There are also good resources online such as:

www.agarics.org

It is based in the UK and has a good identification section.

Happy picking!

 

[Little Mole]

Mine is a DK Pocket Nature Fungi. Fungi of Britain and Northwest Europe. All fungi shown photographed in their native terrain. I had three books last time I went mushroom hunting and found it difficult to identify much. Sometimes a description would fit but the illustration wouldn't, especially not in black and white. This book also has a scale so you can tell the exact size of your potential lunch by sizing it against the book and comparing it with the picture. It's a good one, you can cross reference to similar looking fungi just to be sure. It also refers to edibility and flavour etc.

 

[Moonraker]

That is a good field size guide also Little Mole. YOu are right about confusion in identification. The way I started was to just concentrate on the most popular edibles and also go with other people. Then work on the other ones I saw on my forages.

 

[Little Mole]

The only edibles I can positively identify are field mushroom, horse mushroom, puffball (although I've never eaten it) and that's about as far as I'd go without a guide...at least until I can identify a few more species. :biggthump

 

[Moonraker]

The only edibles I can positively identify are field mushroom, horse mushroom, puffball (although I've never eaten it) and that's about as far as I'd go without a guide...at least until I can identify a few more species. :biggthump

I meant using the guides to identify those common fungi most often picked, the ones which are distinctive. For example the Hedgehog Fungus ( Hydnum repandum) is very distinctive (due to it's evident lower surface of spine-like structure, hence the name!) and commonly picked. Another example would be Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) which is not easily confused with any poisonous species.

The Field Mushroom ( Agaricus campestris) I would be cautious of for beginners because of it's similarity to highly poisonous species (Death Cap and Destroying Angel).

 

[Little Mole]

My mother taught me to identify field mushrooms. She knew a few other edible species but we never tried them. We never took risks. Having a book will allow me to learn about and identify fungi outside the ones I know well. I didn't know about hedgehog fungus. I remember seeing it in the book though. I'll have to watch out for it. :biggthump

 

[Tantalus]

you guys are so right

colour pics and a form of grouping the fungi that makes sense are a must

both of these can be researched in the bookshop tho

for me the collins book is a winner with its layout and colour pics

drawback is that it may or may not say edible

there is a lot on spore patterns and spore features that i simply do not use

another problem with mushrooms is that they are still being reclassified as we speak so different mushrooms may have different latin names depending on who is classifying to which system

pick 3 of 4 mushrooms thay ya know for sure- field mushroom, chicken of the woods, jews ear and fly agaric just for a selection that you should be beginning to recognise

then look em all up in the different books and see how easily ya can find em and how useful the info is to you

also if it is a size to reasonably take into the woods with you

hope this helps ya choose
Tant

 

[Frogo]

If you are looking for a book then you might want to give this one a go.
MUSHROOM IDENTIFIER By Peter Jordan
Only shows them that are edible and explains how to be shore that you have identified them by taking spore prints etc.

Also I did hear that Mr Mears is going to release one as well.

Frogo

 

[Keith_Beef]

Was it a pricey volume Keith? I can read French well enough and they do respect mushrooms rather more on your side of the water. I have a few old shroom cookbooks but no really good identifying book.

Danzo

I'll lend it to you. There's no passround forum here on BCUK, is there?


Keith.

 

[ScottC]

Ok thanks for all your help guys. Now i have narrowed it down to two base books at the moment and they are: Wild Food by Roger Phillips and Food For Free By Richard Mabey. Which is the best?

 

[Moonraker]

That's a toughy :yikes: ! Forced to make a choice it would be 'Wild Food'.

 

[Adi007]

Absolutely the best mushroom ID guides I've ever seen for the UK is the materials by Peter Jordan over at http://www.tastymushroompartnership.co.uk/ ... the laminated forage cards are absolutely wonderful, as is the poster they make. :biggthump

 

[Wayne]

Absolutely the best mushroom ID guides I've ever seen for the UK is the materials by Peter Jordan over at http://www.tastymushroompartnership.co.uk/ ... the laminated forage cards are absolutely wonderful, as is the poster they make. :biggthump

I'll second that Adi the Peter Jordan books are a great resource.