The Cottage Smallholder

After moving to the countryside I immediately started to look for ways to live More frugally.
This included wild Mushroom picking. Here is my views. Now no doubt we are going to hear some counter statements which will basicaly be don't do it but couched in statements like my father said this and I know someone etc etc. If you think this way don't get involved in this blog (is that the right term)

1st The majority of things you here about wild mushroom picking is rubbish, utter rubbish. The normal idiotic statement is "All toadstools are poisonous" and all mushrooms aren't this is not just rubbish but dangerous rubbish.
2nd There is no scientific difference between a mushroom and a toadstool.
3rd The words are often used interchangeably. One book will have a variety as a toadstool another will call it a mushroom.
4th There are far more poisons mushrooms than poisonous toadstools although not proportionally. There are edible toadstools.

5th the categories are:-
Edible

Inedible (either taste horrible or is not cook able and sometimes counted as inedible at later stage of growth)

Suspicious (the sort of thing one village would say was poisonous while another would say it wasn't)

Poisonous (bad guts)

Very poisonous (very bad guts, possibly kill a young child, an elderly or already sick person)

Deadly poisons  (1 mushroom can kill 8 people) In the case of deadly fungi (the proper name) most deaths occur when a person does not go to hospital within 24 hours (about 50%) the remainder need a kidney and liver transplant. There are 3 deadly fungi Death Cap and destroying Angel. The 3rd is Inocybe papatouillardii (no common name) all the Inocybe though are poisonous to very poisonous. Also they all look very similar so you just avoid them end of story.

Note the majority of poisoning are caused by the yellow stainer (not deadly) which is mistaken for a field mushrooms (very similar) or the horse mushroom (not very similar). This epitomize just how silly people can be A/ it does not grow in the same habitat B/ It is very easy to identify it (yellow stain at the base when picked)

my rules
1/ Have 2 books. Firstly a Collins Gem. This is a pocket book with about 200 fungi in them. All the poisonous all the edible and a lot of poisonous/very poisonous. Plus a lot of the weird looking mushrooms. The second should be a large, A4 size for instance with lots pictures instead of drawings. You use this to do a final check when you get home. (Peter Jordan mushroom's pickers foolproof field guide for instance) These tend to have much smaller amount variety of fungi in them IE all the normal edibles, poisonous, deadly poisonous. About 90 fungi in total.
2/ personally I never make a meal with more than 1 variety of mushrooms in it. As it would be difficult to say which one poisoned you and more importantly was it deadly.
3/ Specialize. Keep your choice to maybe 10 edible mushrooms and get them from the same place all the time. The latter is also the best way to find them anyway. Over time you can increase the amount of types you go for but be in no rush to do so.
4/Record everything so you can find them again instead of walking round blind each year.
5/ Enjoy.