Page 3 | To not go mushroom foraging with my teenage son

silverbubbles · 04/10/2021 14:47

What a fabulous thing to do together!! You must encourage him.

Get stuck in and find a course for him.

HotPenguin · 04/10/2021 14:48

A friend of a friend made a mistake with mushrooms, had terrible diarrhea and then became temporarily paralysed, had to be carried by paramedics off the toilet. Luckily made a full recovery.

HoldingTheDoor · 04/10/2021 14:50

Apparently if you do know it's practically impossible to get it wrong. An Eastern Eyropean friend who grew up where foraging mushrooms us something "everyone" does says its would be like getting oranges and applel mixed up, so if he's done his research...

Judging by the articles on people being poisoned in Ukraine, France, Russia, Poland etc it seems that poisoning is still common, regardless of how popular mushroom picking is there.

CatsArePeople · 04/10/2021 14:50

It was extremely common to do in Russia where ai grew up and no one died

People regularly die or get gravely ill. There is even dark humour about picking certain mushrooms if mother-in-law is coming for dinner.

DeJaDont · 04/10/2021 14:51

Op, have a look at isle of white mushrooms. They do lots to grow your own. Lions mane is an easy one to start with, or oysters. I'm an amateur mycologist and love mushrooms. There is also a great documentary on Netflix. But I wouldn't be collecting them from the wild unless I had an excuse with me as they can easily be misidentified.

Wazzzzzzzup · 04/10/2021 14:52

If the proper food shortages happen, at least us Easter europeans (and others) know where food is and locals don't touch it😁
Like milk in first lockdown. All polish shops by me had it, no supermarket did😁
#immigrantblessings

FreeBritnee · 04/10/2021 14:53

@Wazzzzzzzup

If the proper food shortages happen, at least us Easter europeans (and others) know where food is and locals don't touch it😁 Like milk in first lockdown. All polish shops by me had it, no supermarket did😁 #immigrantblessings

Ah but youve told us now

Wazzzzzzzup · 04/10/2021 14:54

Ah but youve told us now grin

Doesn't sound like anyone is up to it even after I told 😁
Plus you gotta know the right spots😁

Lotusmonster · 04/10/2021 14:55

I pick mushrooms. I’ve been on a course and I limit my picking to about three very distinct groups with no look alikes. These are boletus (bay bolet and cepe/porcini), oyster and st George’s (a spring time shroom)
I resist picking any other species and even with this limited selection take time to slice (looking for discolouration) and check odour. If in doubt I leave it ….it’s a luxury not a necessity. I learned from an old lady who used to run courses in the new forest. Roger Philips has the definitive guide.
What I’m trying to politely say is by all means get into this exciting hobby…but don’t dabble. Get proper instruction!

Gastonia · 04/10/2021 14:56

Incidentally, you can get mushroom kits, which isn't quite the same thing, but fun.

Elphame · 04/10/2021 14:57

I'd do it.

Once you get home have him go through the ID books with you and he'll soon realise that it isn't quite as easy as he thinks it will be!

He is correct that there are some pretty distinctive edible ones but they don't always look quite as obvious as they do online! I'd also get him to join a few FB mushroom ID groups especially the "Poisons Help; Emergency Identification For Mushrooms & Plants" one. He'll pick up lots of tips on how to ID correctly as well as a few salutory lessons on how easy it is to get it wrong and the consequences.

Floomingfootball · 04/10/2021 14:57

@HotPenguin was he foraging for magic mushrooms by any chance? Even the most seasoned forager wouldn’t want to chance a guess at the difference between the ‘magic’ type and those that are point blank poisonous.

Rannva · 04/10/2021 14:58

Two members of my family can forage, having done a number of courses and study and have years of experience, but even they avoid certain types as the differences between edible and "you will die of kidney failure" are too minimal to be worth the risk.

No, your son is wrong. It is not common and lots of parents do not do it. He needs to discern Instagram from real life.

He can go and take a course, or do it together, which will hopefully teach him the risks. The tutors will be very, very clear about the risks of death and severe, life-altering injury if you get it wrong.

TheUnbearable · 04/10/2021 14:58

Have picked blackberries, sloes, elderberries and elderflowers, wild garlic and stinging nettle tops plus dandelion leaves in my lifetime. My Mother used to pick rosehips and make syrup plus we used to go cockling a lot.

Mushrooms are just not worth the risk. I would say get a kit and grow some, that does sound like a really good thing to do together.

noraclavicle · 04/10/2021 15:00

I used to go out with my Dad mushroom hunting and now he’s unable to I do it on his behalf. I use an app, books and Youtube videos by the likes of Wild Food UK to improve my knowledge, but generally stick to a couple of varieties like Parasols and Field Blewits that are hard to misidentify and are delicious..

It’s great that your son is taking an interest and I’m sure you’d both love a foraging course! My DS is only really interested in the magic variety, sadly.

Lovemusic33 · 04/10/2021 15:01

I am a forager OP and have done a few online courses to help me identify and prepare mushrooms safely though there are still some I am unsure about. Some are very easy to identify, I suspect he has done his research and has chosen to look for the ones that can’t be mistaken for anything dangerous? I’m slowly adding more to my list of safe mushrooms to pick.

There are a few Facebook groups that will help conform what he has picked if you are worried. Do not rely on a identifier app because those things are rubbish. At the moment things like chanterelles are easy to find and pretty safe to eat (there is a false chanterelle but it’s easy to tell the difference if you research online). Just remember that some mushrooms although not poisonous can still cause an allergic reaction so it’s best to try a small amount first (parasols, and chicken of the woods being 2 of them).

Teawaster · 04/10/2021 15:01

My DS used to do this with his Dad before he passed away . DH was extremely cautious about eating anything that absolutely could not be mistaken for something else . There are varieties out there which can kill you , or damage organs so severely that one portion can put you in need of an organ transplant . I would encourage the interest and I would go along as I did sometimes , but no way would I rely on a 14 year olds knowledge and at the time that DS was big into it, he knew every variety out there and how to tell the difference between them

noraclavicle · 04/10/2021 15:01

..oh and that horror story from Scotland happened because the guy didn’t consult his book before dishing out the deadlies!

Elphame · 04/10/2021 15:03

@poohaloo

I do this with my son but I don't eat them! Even though I'm sure I've found a patch of ceps and oyster mushrooms

I have an app on my phone which identifies mushrooms.

As teens we went magic mushroom picking 😬 I don't tell him about those 😂

Whatever you do don't rely on the apps to correctly identify if you are planning on eating them. I know you said you weren't but someone reading this thread might!

The apps are very unreliable as the difference between edible and toxic can be very subtle.

Lougle · 04/10/2021 15:05

I think I read that you should never pick mushrooms with gills in the wild?

Frostine · 04/10/2021 15:07

Go hunting with an identification book , but don't pick them.

Wazzzzzzzup · 04/10/2021 15:13

@Lougle

I think I read that you should never pick mushrooms with gills in the wild?

They are the ones you can confise with poisonous ones. But there are aome great edible ones with gills. There is one really poisonous boletus with fotting name, Satan. But that is identifiable as well.

ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 04/10/2021 15:14

OP I really don't want to spoil your fun but i'm old and I vividly remember a news story about 30 years ago before the internet was invented.

A couple met and married at university and persued their careers so that by the time they had a child they were considered to be amongst the worlds leading authorities on fungi. When their daughter was 10 years old they went out foraging for mushrooms one day and came home and cooked them. They served them up for dinner but the daughter didn't have any because she didn't like mushrooms. 30 minutes after starting to eat, both parents were dead at the dinner table. They had misidentified the mushrooms.

This is not a horror story to scare you, it happened, maybe someone else here remembers it. I mention it now because it was so awful it has stuck with me all these years.

Anyway, my basic advice is to only eat mushrooms from the shop.

Lovemusic33 · 04/10/2021 15:14

@Lougle

I think I read that you should never pick mushrooms with gills in the wild?

Most mushrooms have gills. “Mushrooms with white gills” maybe what you heard, not because all mushrooms with white gills are poisonous but because there’s a mushroom called ‘the death cap’ which is white all over including the gills, as the name suggests it can kill and can cause liver failure.

KittenKong · 04/10/2021 15:15

@Patchwork21

14ds has a fascination with mushrooms. He's researched and says he knows there are certain types that are 100 percent easy to identify as safe to eat. He wants me to go with him to pick some and them bring them home to eat. I said no, as I have no experience whatsoever with mushrooms. He says I'm irrational and lots of parents take their children mushroom picking 🍄

No don’t do it! A friend of my sister is married to a gardener and he knows his mushrooms... he got really sick once (he refused to forage for them ever again) with some foraged ones and people have died eating ones that have assumed are safe!