Identifying edible mushrooms- A Moment of Science (2024)
There’s 10s of thousands of different species of mushroom in the world but only a handful of those are both edible & delicious! Portobello, oyster, chanterelle… all recognizable on a plate but can be difficult to discern from other similar, non-edible fungi in the wild.
While some species have unique trademarks that set them apart, “A lot of times mushrooms can be difficult to identify and have a host of different characteristics that need to be present in tandem to confirm identity,” says Brian Wheat, a local DHEC certified mushroom forager.
Wheat and other mushroom enthusiasts make careful note of gill shape, pore surface, and other telling characteristics to make sure their finds are edible. In addition, they use a number of tests proven to narrow down identity- like taking a spore print.
A mushroom’s spores can be white, brown, black, or even violet. “For some choice edible mushrooms you’re looking for whether the mushrooms spores are white versus any color other than white,” says Wheat. To test this he places the cap of a mushroom on some paper, then covering & leaving it alone for some time.
“Once you let it sit long enough you can remove the cup, and when you pick up the cap of the mushroom- you’ll find a pattern that is a direct imprint of the underside of that mushroom that has just been dumping spores all that time….”
A white spore print may be a good sign for some edible mushrooms, but it isn’t a one and done test for all mushrooms.
“Spore print may be one characteristic you’re looking at in addition to does it have attached gills? Does it have a white stalk when you cut it in half and does it have a white spore print? All of those things combined can tell you if it’s a specific species.’’
These tests are important to confidently identify each mushroom, as there are a number of look alikes out there in the wild that could make you sick! There’s a number of sayings out there for finding which ones are safe- but these generalizations, much like in life, can be incorrect!
“So that whole ‘Don’t touch the red ones,’ or ‘If it stains blue it’s no good,’ isn’t really a safe generalization.
Wheat has shared his passion for foraging with others in previous Wine and Food Festivals and has anAirBNB experiencewhere he guides guests on a tour through a protected section of Lowcountry forest on a quest to locate, identify and sample wild edibles.
Choose mushrooms with tan, brown, or white caps and stems rather than red. Edible mushrooms usually do not have scales on the cap or a ring around the stem.
The Picture Mushroom app is right for you! Simply take or upload a picture of a mushroom, and the Picture Mushroom app will tell you what it is in seconds. The app will offer you several similar species to choose from, and you can find the most exact one by comparing the images.
Characters differ depending of species group, but most wild harvested commercial mushrooms can be distinguished from look-alike species by macro-features of their body form, cap, spore-bearing surface, stipe, veils and odor. Important features include shape, size, color, topology, ornamentation and texture.
First, is there any red anywhere on the mushroom including the cap, stem or pores.If there is treat the mushroom as poisonous. Secondly cut the mushroom in half vertically, if the flesh immediately or rapidly stains blue, again treat it as poisonous.
The destroying angels are actually several species of all-white mushrooms in the genus Amanita. These incredibly toxic fungi are very similar in appearance to edible button mushrooms and the meadow mushrooms, and have been collected by mistake on numerous occassions.
Champignouf is an automated mushroom identifier software program, you just have to upload a picture to know what kind of mushroom it could be. It knows more than 1000 species, and will suggest you results depending on the photo. Is that a cep, a chanterelle, or something that could kill you?
Folk tradition has given rise to a number of testsk like a poisonous mushroom is supposed to darken a silver coin; cooking mushrooms with silver is supposed to eliminate the poison; and a mushroom is supposed to be safe if you can peel the cap — all of these are false.
A 2022 study by Australian poison researchers that analyzed three of these AI apps found that on average, they only correctly identified the wild mushrooms about 50% of the time. In some cases, the apps misidentified toxic mushrooms as edible mushrooms.
Agaricus bisporus, commonly known as white button mushrooms, are the most common and widely cultivated edible mushrooms worldwide. They are also known as table mushrooms, common mushrooms, or simply “mushrooms” in the context of culinary use.
Cut these large, round, white common mushrooms in half to identify them—if they're white and solid all the way through, they should be safe to cook and consume. White button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) look somewhat similar and are also edible.
Amatoxins, the class of toxins found in these mushrooms, are thermostable: they resist changes due to heat, so their toxic effects are not reduced by cooking. Amanita phalloides is the most poisonous of all known mushrooms.
Poisonous/harmful look-alikes: There are no poisonous look-alikes of this mushroom. The closest look-alike is Meripilus giganteus (a.k.a. Meripilus sumstine)i, the black-staining polypore, which also grows in a rosette pattern at the base of oaks, primarily with fan to spoon shaped caps or fronds.
Champignouf allows you to identify automatically the species of a mushroom from a picture. Take a photo or upload directly from your gallery, and get an answer instantly ! Also included is a list of the most common edible mushrooms. For now it recognises more than 900 types of mushrooms.
The standard “Foolproof Four” are Puffballs, Chicken of the Woods, Morels, and Chanterelles. Here are a few other kinds of beginner-friendly wild mushrooms that you can start with. Eventually, you'll grow into a knowledgeable fungi identifier.
Deathcaps at the button stage could also be mistaken for edible puffballs such as Lycoperdon perlatum, the Common Puffball, or Lycoperdon pyriforme, the Stump Puffball; however, if the fruitbody is cut in half longitudinally the volva of Amanita phalloides, the Deathcap, would immediately become apparent.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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