Shrooms for begineers

[dwardo]

I think the main bit of advice so far is to get out with someone who knows what they are doing

So you all better just hide next season or i will take you up on it !

:notworthy

 

[stovie]

I was referring to mushrooms that you have first identified with certainty, i.e. edibles ones!
.

I did appreciate that Simon (no offence meant) but others might not

 

[Moonraker]

I did appreciate that Simon (no offence meant) but others might not

Sure, no problem I have edited my original post to reflect your comment

I have also added some recent news from France on recent serious poisoning cases which involved misidentification of parasol mushrooms, just to underline that picking mushrooms is safe as long as you are aware of the potential dangers and well informed

 

[Fire Starter]

Hi Dwardo,

I stumbled across a giant puffball whilst out walking along the banks of the River Mersey in Warrington during September. I picked it and took it home to consult my fungi reference books ( I dont want to go on about the book though) for a positive ID. It was the size of a football and like others have said, it is difficult to mistake with any other fungi or even a sheep. The main problem is it's state of ediblity.

The inner flesh should be white. I cut my specimen open to inspect the flesh which was white, Bingo! - so I cut half of it into slithers, fried it up with Bacon. Best shroom I have ever tasted. No wonder it is classed as one of the choice edibles. I kept the other half for another day.

The problem was In my experience, once picked it has a short shelf life of 2-3 days.
The white inner flesh started turning a yellow/green. I assumed it was on its way to becoming Black, by which time it would not be edible. But it was so good first time round, I thought I would take a chance. Mistake.

I cooked it as before but this time it had a bitter taste to it and I ended up with stomach ache for 24 hours.

 

[xylaria]

The one we ate at the begining of november certainly wasn't in the best condition. It was mostly white with greeny discolouration in the centre and had wood lice living in the bottom of it. I cut away the white parts that were firm and dry and just cooked those bits. The next morning it started to yellow quiet so we threw what was left on the compost heap.

All puffballs will develope a slightly bitter taste as they start to turn, I just spit it out fungi with that flavour. I have never been made ill from eating fungi, maybe I have strong stomach, but I do go to quiet abit of effort not make me or my family ill. I have to be very sure of something for me to feed to my children. The thing with puffballs is that when they are white the taste is spectacular and then with age the taste fades as the centre becomes soft. In my opinion they are still edible at that stage, they are just not brill. Experiance tells me I can still eat puffballs that are on the turn if I taste each piece before cooking. The bitter taste is more obvious when raw.

I will be more thorough in my advice in future.
IF IN DOUBT LEAVE IT OUT. IF IT TASTES LIKE EAR WAX SPIT IT OUT.