The Mushroom Thread! Amazing Pix! *HEAVY

[Aframechickens191]

wow thanks everyone! wasnt expecting all these replies lol been a few days since i was on the computer

been trying to get my garden to survive this aweful drought weve been having....yea, no mushrooms to be seen right now thats for sure!

we have found "puffballs" before in our trees, the one we got was about 8 in. or so, and we cooked it up with onions if I remember correctly; I was young when that happened. I also remember my dad getting sick from it so we didnt eat any more after that just admired them on the ground lol.

yes, I love how photogenic mushrooms are! I absolutely love taking pictures and the fact that fungus can be both bizarre and elegant at the same time makes it irresistable to my lens! hahaha! thanks for sharing the other neat pics too

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
8 inches or so? Wow, I've always wanted to find some giant puffballs, I've seen pics of some almost a foot across. I usually only find little ones, but last year I found 3 about 4 inches across. We ate them!

I love puffballs, but they have to be picked and eaten while they are still pure white inside. If there's a tinge of yellow or brown, they are no longer food. Many cases of "mushroom poisoning" are actually cases of food poisoning, when people eat mushrooms that are past their prime.

There is also a chance that some other mushroom could have been harvested and mixed in by accident, or a fragment of some other plant or substance that was what made your dad sick. Or maybe he just got sick at that time, and it had nothing to do with the puffballs. Did everybody eat them, or just your dad? If the puffballs themselves were bad, and you all ate them, your dad would not have been the only one who got sick.

Or maybe he has a sensitivity to mushrooms.

 

[booker81]

I found a bunch of giant Puffballs late last fall and marked them on my gps, just have to get out there and check for them. I found them all "blown" and huge, about a foot or more across. I hope I can get them "good" this year.

 

[Imp]

I love puffballs, but they have to be picked and eaten while they are still pure white inside. If there's a tinge of yellow or brown, they are no longer food. Many cases of "mushroom poisoning" are actually cases of food poisoning, when people eat mushrooms that are past their prime.

dancingbear is right about this.

Here's where knowing your shrooms is very important. A baby amanita ocreata (destroying angel) looks very similar to a young puffball. Before eating puffballs it is helpful to slice it open. If it looks like there is a shroom growing inside (think shroom egg) DO NOT EAT! By the time you start feeling sick, you have already absorbed the fatal toxins.

Imp​

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Thanks, Imp, I had forgotten about the baby amanitas! Yeah, you gotta learn the 'shrooms before you try eating them, absolutely. An amanita will clearly show the shape of the unopened cap and stem, a puffball will be solid white, no "ghost shapes" or anything. I believe this also applies to Amanita phalloides, commonly known as the death cap. Maybe others as well. In any case, never eat a 'shroom you aren't certain of.

Get some good field guides, the one I mentioned earlier is my fave, and the Audubon mushroom guide is good, too. You might even check and see if there's a mycology club in your area, where you can get together with experienced 'shroom hunters, compare notes, maybe go on some hunts in groups. Learn to make spore prints. Here's a link to some info about that. http://www.mushroomexpert.com/spore_print.html

 

[lilshadow]

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Those are some nice looking morel's. I ate my first morel's this year, and now I am hooked. Can't wait for next season.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I'm too scared to eat shrooms... heard too many stories of shroom "gurus" dying because of accidental misidentification...

 

[Imp]

Quote:
You are right in a way. There are lots of shrooms that look alike. Or grow differently in different locations. But there are really only a few that will kill you, Lots that will make you wish to die though.

There are also certain classifications that are very easy to ID. Boletes, Chantrelles, Oysters and Morels

Imp-When I first started picking mushroom my mom used to cut out articles of people getting poisoned and mail them to me,