Hunting Wild Mushrooms/ The Meadow Mushrooms
For my area the fall is a great time of the year for foraging for wild mushrooms. The fall rain makes the mushrooms pop quickly and the cooler weather keeps the insect damage down to a minimum. One of my favorites to harvest in the fall is Agaricus campestral. After a couple days of rain along with some cooler temperatures this mushroom is fairly plentiful. You can find it growing in yards, ball fields and many other grassy areas all you really have to do is ride around in your car and look. They are good size and the taste is excellent. There are a couple of look a likes but once you know how to positively identify this mushroom you wont have a problem telling them apart. This mushroom is the same genius as the white mushroom you buy in the store.Cap-Rounded or cushioned shape 1 1/2 to 3 inches across. Becoming flat with age. The color is mainly white and takes on a brownish tint as it becomes older. Gills-In the button stage the gills are pink. As the mushroom ages they turn brown then to a dark brown to almost black at maturity. The gills are free and not attached to the stalk. The spoor color is dark brown.Stalk- 1 to 2 inches stuffed. Pretty much even from top to bottom.The spoor print on this mushroom is important. It has to be dark brown. If it is white you could be dealing with an Amanita which could make you very sick. Such as the destroying angle which is also white. But has a white spoor print. The good thing about this mushroom is, it is usually found in wooded areas.
The closet look a like I have found is Lepiota naucinus.
This is not a deadly mushroom but is not recommended for eating. It has been known to make some people sick.When this mushroom is young its gills are white not pink. The spoor print is white. In the Agaricus family itself watch for the yellow stainer. It pretty much looks like the edible one except if you scrape it with a knife it will turn yellow at the scrape. This one will make you sick.Remember if you are in doubt don’t eat it. If you are new at mushroom hunting consult an expert.
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hey thanks for the heads up, the look a like is pretty close… i wouldn’t be able to tell the difference if i saw one in person…
If anyone know, where are the best places to pick-up wild mushrooms, please let me know. I live in Detroit, Mi. Thank you.
Wow those look similar. So I guess you are pretty much an expert on mushrooms?
It is very important to know about the kind of mushrooms we are consuming, because there ere certain kinds of mushrooms that ae very pathogenic and may some times leads to the death of a person.
Thanks for the tip. When you are amateur then is always better to go hunting with some experience hunter, just to avoid any possible mistakes like this one.
it is not easy to find good mushrooms , you did good job
I liked your blog, I will return with more time, greetings
I like eating them.
Theres alot of mushrooms here in Australia, also quite a few poison one too!! but i also do enjoy wild mushroom pasta
Yea — I wouldn’t be too sure about eating wild mushrooms. I’ll stick with the grocery store! : D
Useful information. We live in a rural area and I’ve always wanted to try some of the fungi growing around the woods but was afraid. An experienced naturalist as a guide would also be of value.
Mike-
I remember picking wild mushrooms as a child and cooking and eating them. They were delicious! Unfortunately Im not brave enough to do it now. One suggestion is to buy the ‘grow your own mushroom’ boxes from the garden store, or to cut up and spread some store bought mushrooms into some nice moist compost soil. That way you’ll be able to pick fresh mushies and know they won’t make you sick. Great article!
wow, that was a big wild mushroom!, you did a great job, finding that mushroom is very hard.
But I also read that some mushrooms are poisonous as well. Will you please guide us how to identify such kind of mushrooms.
As I also see mushrooms growing in our garden … but however because of safety reason we never eat them.
Lovely info!
I’d like to add some more comments:
- never pick mushrooms near busy roads - they absorbs a lot of pollutions
- after very long dry weather newer collect mushrooms after first rain - they can be poison as well
Know everything about mushrooms you collecting, because sometimes wrong cooking can make them poison.
as additional to my previous comments. each summer I’ve collect up-to few hundred pounds of wild mushrooms - this usually enough for all winter.
I like eating them,but it is very important to know about the kind of mushrooms we are consuming
Oh oh reminds me of the day how I found 5 white mushrooms that I was pretty sure are like Button mushrooms you find in every store. I’m sooo lucky to have a husband who IDs fungi better then I do for they actually proved to be Amanita phalloides!
Nice post. I really liked this article and it will be very helpful for me and for others..Thanks for sharing!