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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not go mushroom foraging with my teenage son

134 replies

Patchwork21 · 04/10/2021 13:55

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 🍄

OP posts:

Saladd0dger · 04/10/2021 15:15

It is magic mushroom season in the uk

Wazzzzzzzup · 04/10/2021 15:17

Wow.
I am from a country where basically everyone is mushroom picking yet I've never met personally a person who made themselves sick with them (of course I read news). I am surprised at how many people here know someone personally when it's so niche😱

HunkyPunk · 04/10/2021 15:17

@HotPenguin

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.

I’m so sorry, and it’s only acceptable because they made a full recovery, but the image this conjured up made me

This whole thread has made me smile. People (including me) are so desperate for their teens to do any family activity, (and + + if it’s something outdoors-y!) that they’re willing, nay eager, to risk life and limb to make it happen!

HoppingPavlova · 04/10/2021 15:18

Pick away but the eating is a big nope from me. I have dealt with mushroom poisonings from people who thought they knew what they were doing. Not all live! The kicker is there is a lull after the initial poisoning where it seems to pass but that’s just the body priming for the terminal phase. So it’s a hell no from me.

KittenKong · 04/10/2021 15:27

@Wazzzzzzzup

Wow. I am from a country where basically everyone is mushroom picking yet I've never met personally a person who made themselves sick with them (of course I read news). I am surprised at how many people here know someone personally when it's so niche😱

Maybe because it’s not a hobby you just pick up - if it’s traditions then you will probably be taken out by your granny (Darwinism on action) and shown where and what to pick, how to spot the wrong ones, etc.

There was a case a few years back when a ‘professional’ forager took out a client to show them how to pick mushrooms and they got poisoned.

Balonzette · 04/10/2021 15:29

People have got very sick and even died from mushroom foraging. It can be difficult to identify the dangerous types.

Notcontent · 04/10/2021 15:32

Yes, you do have to know what you are doing. My mother grew up picking mushrooms but she always avoided eating mushrooms foraged by other people as the risk is high if you don’t know what you are doing.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/04/second-afghan-evacuee-boy-dies-in-poland-after-eating-toxic-mushrooms

Itawapuddytat · 04/10/2021 15:36

I am Eastern European myself, I never eat foraged mushrooms. Ever. It is very common for people in my country to go mushroom foraging (and sell what they found too), and I love mushrooms. However, my parents are doctors and every year there are several people dying of mushroom intoxication, and quite a few people end up in hospital for a long time. We also had a tragedy in the family. A very long time ago, when I was very young, two distant cousins died (they were children), together with the wife of the host who served the family the mushrooms (they were at a cabin in the mountains, the host was local, had lived all his life there and foraged all his life in those woods). The host and the parents were in the hospital for a long time. As someone said earlier.... all mushrooms are edible - once.

I love mushrooms - but I never eat them unless they were bought from a shop.

Alicetheowl · 04/10/2021 15:38

I used to do this a while back until Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall popularised it and my part of London suddenly got 'mushroom scalped'.

There are a few species that are easily identified and safe. Chicken of the Woods; Elephants' Ears; Parasol Mushrooms; Beefsteak Fungus. And most cep types. The St Georges Mushroom as well, but break off a bit and leave it for a few seconds-if it goes yellow then it is the yellow stainer, which is poisonous but not deadly.

Make sure you take a pen knife and cut the mushroom off at the stem, rather than pulling the whole thing up. That means it is more likely to come up next year. And you are supposed to take a wicker basket for the mushrooms, as the spores will scatter as you pick, meaning a better harvest next year. This may make a teenage boy less keen on the project:

WellLarDeDar · 04/10/2021 15:38

I'd go out and play some sort of mushroom bingo game but I wouldn't be picking and eating wild mushrooms. He's probably read a wikipedia page online and thinks he's an expert. You can really easily mistakenly identify poisonous mushrooms and get really sick!

KittenKong · 04/10/2021 15:38

I once got horrible reaction after eating some of those weird looking funky mushrooms that they sell in supermarkets (thanks Tesco) for my ‘toadstool risotto’.

I woke up with my skin on fire, bright red, and with small blisters running all along where the seams of my PJs were. I ended up in a&e!

SylvanasWindrunner · 04/10/2021 15:44

After I read about Nicholas Evans a few years ago, I would never do this. It traumatised me! Plus I hate mushrooms anyway.

ReggaetonLente · 04/10/2021 15:49

DH is eastern European, his parents forage mushrooms but he doesn't have much interest. FIL is very sure of his identifying skills, but I notice MIL checks everything very very closely before she cooks it. DH and I don't eat what they forage and the DDs certainly don't.

The blueberries they pick though, I'm all for them.

EveningOverRooftops · 04/10/2021 15:49

A good bushcraft course will get you foraging AND cooking them.

We have such a business here and it’s good value.

Just explain to him very clearly that neither of you are eating anything without expert advice and arrange some expert advice!

TheFoundations · 04/10/2021 15:52

Could you get him to teach you how to identify them? If he shows you all his references, you might end up trusting him, or you'll be better equipped to tell him where he's going wrong. He might enjoy telling you all about how to do it, if he's really into it.

Has he done any spore prints yet? They're often quite crucial to make sure that you're not poisoning yourself... and they're quite beautiful too.

www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Mushroom-Spore-Print

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 04/10/2021 15:54

can you find an experienced local who might either come along or who would look at the mushrooms you bring back ?

heathspeedwell · 04/10/2021 15:59

It's fantastic that your son wants to get involved in a healthy hobby which you can do together outdoors. You can both learn at the same time and there are loads of resources to help you. There are a few Facebook groups that can help with identification - Mushroom Spotters UK is the biggest and friendliest - they will give you lots of expert advice.

A great book for beginners is the River Cottage Mushroom Handbook by John Wright. He has decades of experience in teaching courses and is a hugely entertaining writer. If you order it for your son it will give you both the confidence to know what you can pick safely. Most importantly it lists all the lookalikes that you need to avoid. It's such a good read that you will find it hard to put down and you'll soon be able to enjoy cooking your own foraged food. Wright focuses on a selection of the more common and unmistakable finds and helps you to gain the proper identification skills you need.

As long as you don't eat anything before you are 100% certain of your ID this is a brilliant hobby. However, please don't trust phone apps - they are not good enough yet. Also this is one instance where I would advise against buying second-hand books until you are more experienced as mycology has moved on a lot in the last decade and mushrooms that were once believed to be edible have since been found to have cumulative toxins.

Lanique · 04/10/2021 16:00

Ooo I'll go with him OP.

That said the only ones I dare eat are field and horse mushrooms, if I'm lucky enough to find them!

SaltySheepdog · 04/10/2021 16:03

Go to some sessions with a wildlife expert who has proper knowledge. Book yourself on a mushroom and nature course

Original poster

Patchwork21 · 04/10/2021 16:05

[quote TheFoundations]Could you get him to teach you how to identify them? If he shows you all his references, you might end up trusting him, or you'll be better equipped to tell him where he's going wrong. He might enjoy telling you all about how to do it, if he's really into it.

Has he done any spore prints yet? They're often quite crucial to make sure that you're not poisoning yourself... and they're quite beautiful too.

www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Mushroom-Spore-Print[/quote]
He was talking about spore printing. I'm up for that!! :-)

OP posts:

EmKayEm · 04/10/2021 16:06

The old adage is that all mushrooms are edible, just that some of them you only get to eat once...

You have to be a bit more experienced and have gone out a few times with someone that knows their stuff before you can be confident in eating your what you forage.

My grandad taught me and my brother, and it has come in very useful and enjoyable over the years.

limitedperiodonly · 04/10/2021 16:08

A friend offered to take us. He's Italian and has a restaurant and has done it since a child. We were interested because we're a bit foody.

But he became so cagey about his hunting grounds that we suspected he was going to blindfold us and put us in the boot of his car to make sure we couldn't find the place on our own.

It all sounded a bit cut throat and he wanted us to get up before dawn so we said: "No thanks, you're all right mate."

I've still got some dried porcini in the cupboard that I foraged from Sainsbury's last year.

Getabloominmoveon · 04/10/2021 16:10

I used to take my kids mushrooming with a Spanish friend who knew his mushrooms very well. You definitely need to be with someone with experience, not just with a book. We had some Eastern Europeans friends who'd been picking mushrooms since they were children - they also knew what they were doing and were able to point out subtle differences, what to avoid etc.
It's such fun once you feel safe. Take some bacon and a pan. cook them in the field. Yum!

TonTonMacoute · 04/10/2021 16:11

It's not only about knowing the mushrooms it's about knowing the terrain really well. Some of the poisonous ones look almost identical to the harmless ones, if you are experienced then you know exactly where the good ones and the bad ones grow, and can be sure what you are picking.

I think its brilliant that your DS is into wild foraging though OP, and would definitely want to encourage it, but only under expert supervision.

gospelsinger · 04/10/2021 16:15

If he's going to do it, you should research it yourself and go with him. It's better than him going alone and bringing them back and eating them anyway. Where they are found is a key part of identifying the edible ones. You will also be able to guage how confident he is in their identity. booking a course sounds like a good idea.

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