-
Hi Mitch, do NOT eat ANY that you find in forests unless you can positively identify them as safe - people have died - there is no cure and no successful treatment to save you from the toxins. The reactions are delayed but by the time you seek medical treatment the destruction of your liver and kidneys is irreversibly underway.
Google "Canberra deaths from forest mushrooms" if you want.
Again, if you consume some types (e.g.. "death cap") you die - quite final - there is no medical treatment that can save you.
The ones that are safe to eat and quite delicious are field mushrooms similar to what you get fresh at Coles. They grow on open grazing country.
There are some in the forests around here similar to the fabled hallucinogenic fly agaric but I wouldn't be advising anyone to touch it.
Get someone to show you field mushrooms - I can if convenient - Laurie
-
I went foraging with a friends family probably 20 years back at Chichester state forest, and it was a great day out. I was too young to know what I was actually doing though.
These days, I'm interested in learning, and doing it properly, not just going gung-ho into the forest and eating anything I find. I'm aware of the risks, but risks can be mitigated with knowledge, which needs to be learned.
On initial looks there appears to be thousands of species, different taxonomies, each with their deadly doubles (false positives) and more favourable species. What actually grows locally and what is safe is where first hand knowledge helps a lot.
Would love to get out there to give it a go laurie.
-
-
I found some morels near work. Didn't even know they grew in Australia. I recently went to Europe and saw them selling for E120/kg.
I know a lot of people who gather mushrooms in europe but not here.
-
I remember reading in a book about edible Australian fungi that there was one variety called "Hairy Jew's Ear"...
Not the most appetising of names.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_ear_fungus
-
Yep we normally loose a few people each year from mushrooms here in Canberra - die an agonising death and little can be done - death cap mushrooms grow near the European trees - so dont pick in forests.
