a different mushroom question

[Baggy]

Hi all

I do not want to clog up The "Death Caps and the rest: the really poisonous mushroom thread"

A quick question, bearing in mind the potentially lethal risks in foraging and eating mushrooms are there any nutritional benefit in mushrooms to justify the risk?

 

[Geoff Dann]

Hi all

I do not want to clog up The "Death Caps and the rest: the really poisonous mushroom thread"

A quick question, bearing in mind the potentially lethal risks in foraging and eating mushrooms are there any nutritional benefit in mushrooms to justify the risk?

Depends on the mushroom in question. In many cases the answer is "not much, but a perfectly acceptable contribution to a balanced diet." In some specific cases, there are specific benefits. For example Handkea utriformis (Mosaic Puffball) is the best known fungus at mopping up copper and zinc from soil, both of which are required nutrients for humans. However, this does not justify any risk-taking whatsoever! You are not risking anything at all by eating this mushroom, which can't be confused with anything poisonous apart from an earthball, which also happens to be black inside and very bitter, so not many people eat them.

 

[xylaria]

Wild mushrooms contain a wide variety of complex compounds some of these inhibit cancer cell growth by modulating natural necrosis factor compounds produced by the human body. The constituant compounds vary between differant fungi. We collected an enormous grifolsa frondosa [aka hen of the woods /maitake] this year and have made it in to tinctures. The various anti tumour and immune stimulating properties would take a large essay to cover.

Wild fungi or at least fungi that are grown in natural day light form a type of Vitamin D that is easyly assimulated by the body. It is a wierd fluke of nature that fungi turn up just when need to up our intake of vitD. Fungi if you are interested in survivalism can form a filling meal in themselves, with little need of tools just knowledge in your head. Anyone that has found a blewit patch will tell, you can often find more than you could eat. Populations that collect wild fungi are healthier and have less cancer, even the activity of collecting makes you healthy.

 

[Geoff Dann]

...even the activity of collecting makes you healthy.

Very true, especially in a difficult, boggy year like 2012. There was a piece on the news just yesterday about how many British adults don't even manage to take 90 minutes of decent exercise each week. Foraging for fungi is considerably more physically demanding than many people expect it to be. It's not just walking, but stepping over obstacles, bending down to get under low branches, wading through dying undergrowth, climbing hills, etc. And at this time of year just being outside in the sunshine for a couple of hours is enough to make the difference between happiness and depression. Is for me, anyway.

 

[xylaria]

The county recorder for carmarthenshire in his early eightes. He can out walk most 40 years olds. There is the welsh rust expert that comes to our forays as well, he is even older, the pair of them when really exicted about finds jump ditches most modern kids wouldnt manage. Considering it takes quite a lot of walks to get enough experiance at indentifing species to be able to consume them, mushroom hunting as an activity makes you healthy even before you get good enough eat any.

Wild mushrooms are an underrated food rescource. Dried boletes beef out a rabbit stew and balance the proteins better. A gaint puff ball or a grifola are several good meals from one specimun. I cant really explian the just how healthy they are, but if compare wild bilberries [aka winberries, blaeberries] with supermarket blueberries , your body knows when it is eating something that is really high in stuff that is good for you.

 

[red devil]

I've spent most of this year looking for and cataloguing varieties of fungi in my local park and all the patches of woodland in my area, and I have to say I've rarely enjoyed myself quite so much.
Getting out in the fresh air, climbing through hilly woodland, scampering down slippery slopes, blundering through brambles, stooping under fallen logs - I've had a ball, and in all sorts of weather from torrential rain to sweltering sunshine.
I've learnt a tremendous amount about fungi and their relationships with the plants and trees they are often found under or close to, much of it from the wonderful iSpot.org community, and I've filled a whole journal with my observations and finds - it's turned into an absorbing hobby and I get twitchy when I can't get out for a forage.
I don't collect mushrooms to eat because I'm not that fond of the taste - I hunt for them to learn about them and to identify them. I reckon I've discovered close to three dozen different varieties in and around my local park (it's a very large park) alone, from tiny, delicate fungi to whopping great brackets and funnels.
I stumbled upon one beech tree with close to 40 oyster mushrooms (very tasty, I'm told) stacked in tiers up to about 15 feet up the trunk and during the course of the past few weeks I've watched them change colour and, eventually, wither under the joint barrage of rain and frost.
Personally, I can't wait for next year and the emergence of a new year's crop of fungi so I can get out exploring again. I'm often accompanied by my Border terrier, Jess, who has learned to be patient when her pal scurries off under a bush or into a thicket for a forage - she just potters about sniffing and snuffling until I return, mushroom in hand!
I'd recommend two books to the new forager - the Collins guide to the mushrooms of Britain and Europe, and Roger Phillips' more detailed guide.
Happy hunting!
Steve