The Foragers' Thread

[glasgowcyclist]

There are too many that look 'almost but not quite' like the picture.

And too many of their descriptions say,”... not to be confused with the similar, but deadly, xyz mushroom.”

 

[mudsticks]

And too many of their descriptions say,”... not to be confused with the similar, but deadly, xyz mushroom.”

Yup,

I like mushrooms.

But I like being alive, even more.

It's not a scenario, where throwing caution to the wind, can be guaranteed to end well

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Yup,

I like mushrooms.

But I like being alive, even more.

It's not a scenario, where throwing caution to the wind, can be guaranteed to end well

Indeed.

On the same day I took those photos, we saw a woman with a small basket collecting mushrooms with her young son, who’d have been about 5 or 6. The bit that shocked us was she was using a couple of A4 sheets of paper with descriptions and photos in black and white to identify the mushrooms. They weren’t even good quality images but more like those you’d get if you photocopied a photocopy of a photocopy. 😳

 

[annedonnelly]

I have three-cornered leek in my garden. It was rather well behaved for a while, but now thinks it owns the place & is spreading all over. In retaliation I'm eating it. Usually sauted with normal cultivated leeks.

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

Yup,

I like mushrooms.

But I like being alive, even more.

It's not a scenario, where throwing caution to the wind, can be guaranteed to end well

I was going to try to recount this tale that I saw on a Ray Mears program once, but I've found the clip instead... It's put me off foraging for mushrooms anyway!

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmmk3RCz6SI

 

[uphillstruggler]

I tend to stick to wild garlic, great as a starter in soups etc and as @mudsticks says, pesto for pizza/pasta etc

Nettle soup was good too

I did a fungi Saturday morning course with the parks trust in MK, can’t remember which ones were edible, magic or poisonous so keep well away.

Any images of stuff you forage would be good

 

[gbb]

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/anybody-know-about-shrooms.206034/post-4437927
Posted a few years ago, as kids we'd see loads of field mushrooms, wonderfully tasty and fleshy , also puffball which at the time I had no idea were edible.
As above, tried it, not pleasant, not terrible.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I came across one of the mushrooms which look like a white football. There were three of them and I brought one home as I knew it was edible (it can't really be mistaken for anything else). I was eating it for ages and got sick of it to be honest.

 

[Randomnerd]

Please steer clear of foraging mushrooms unless you are with someone very knowledgeable.
I look after a few woodlands for estates, and foraging is becoming problematic in some spots. Trampling after free food often disturbs groundnesting birds and other flora and fauna. There’s plenty of hedgerow and verge plants, and open meadow herbs, but even then care must be taken.
A favourite tonic for me is made from honey and cleavers. An excellent cordial as a cleansing drink.
Wild garlic in small amounts is lovely, and survives foraging.
This outfit Link are pretty clued up and run excellent courses. Good advice on access too.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I used to forrage specific mushrooms but I was young and carefree then. Now I'm getting older and carefree I forrage in farm shops and M&S.

Pre-foraged sections are definately the way ahead IMO....

 

[slowmotion]

When I was young, we used to eat the pink berries on yew trees but were always careful to avoid eating the pips in the middle. I later read that this was not a good idea at all but it never did us any harm. Do any parishioners know what the truth is?
BTW, they were absolutely delicious.

EDIT: It looks like the schoolboys were right.......but sailing a bit close to the wind.

Toxicity[edit]

The structure of Taxine B, the cardiotoxic chemical in the yew plant
The entire yew bush, except the aril (the red flesh of the berry covering the seed), is poisonous. It is toxic due to a group of chemicals called taxine alkaloids. Their cardiotoxicity is well known and act via calcium and sodium channel antagonism, causing an increase in cytoplasmic calcium currents of the myocardial cells. The seeds contain the highest concentrations of these alkaloids.[25][26] If any leaves or seeds of the plant are ingested, urgent medical advice is recommended as well as observation for at least 6 hours after the point of ingestion.[27][28] The most cardiotoxic taxine is Taxine B followed by Taxine A – Taxine B also happens to be the most common alkaloid in the Taxus species.[2

 

[Salty seadog]

Pre-foraged sections are definately the way ahead IMO....

Saves on shoe leather. 👍

 

[uphillstruggler]

One thing I do remember is that the proven largest living thing on earth is a fungi, it was over 2 square miles

 

[Ian H]

I have a well-thumbed copy of Richard Mabey's Food for Free, amongst other plant books.
When I lived near beech woods I would search for ceps. If I gathered enough I would slice them, and string them on cotton to dry. They and puffballs are difficult to get wrong. You have to gather puffballs before they mature and go hollow with the spores inside. Shaggy caps/lawyers' wigs are also easy to recognise, but they deliquesce quickly once picked, so you need to be near a cooker. Field mushrooms are pretty safe if you pick them in fields, not near woods, but they do have near-doppelgangers which are poisonous.
Meanwhile, there's wild garlic up in the churchyard that's ready for picking...

Two or three years ago, walking with a friend near Pencelli, we realised that the edge of the field was lined with excellent wild cherries. It took a long time to traverse that field.

Should you be tempted to grow your own wild garlic or horseradish, beware: they are both highly invasive.

 

[theclaud]

When I was young, we used to eat the pink berries on yew trees but were always careful to avoid eating the pips in the middle. I later read that this was not a good idea at all but it never did us any harm. Do any parishioners know what the truth is?
BTW, they were absolutely delicious.

EDIT: It looks like the schoolboys were right.......but sailing a bit close to the wind.

Toxicity[edit]
View attachment 583242
The structure of Taxine B, the cardiotoxic chemical in the yew plant
The entire yew bush, except the aril (the red flesh of the berry covering the seed), is poisonous. It is toxic due to a group of chemicals called taxine alkaloids. Their cardiotoxicity is well known and act via calcium and sodium channel antagonism, causing an increase in cytoplasmic calcium currents of the myocardial cells. The seeds contain the highest concentrations of these alkaloids.[25][26] If any leaves or seeds of the plant are ingested, urgent medical advice is recommended as well as observation for at least 6 hours after the point of ingestion.[27][28] The most cardiotoxic taxine is Taxine B followed by Taxine A – Taxine B also happens to be the most common alkaloid in the Taxus species.[2

I eat them, but one at a time. As far as I can tell there is no way of removing the seed without turning the berry to mush (yes I know it's not technically a berry but who cares?). They have a lovely flavour with a hint of lychee. Marlow from Wild Foods sticks seven or eight in his mouth at a time and counts the pips out. I guess if there's a discrepancy you induce vomiting and/or ring an ambulance. That's a bit too rock n roll for me.