Edible Mushrooms?

[jpringle819]

Can anyone tell me if these are likely to be edible mushrooms? Saw them on the way to buy breakfast stuff this morning but a quick google scared me enough to not eat them.

[Shaw Tarse]

MC

[mybrainhurts]

Eat one.

If you die, they're not edible.

[SantaBarbara]

To use an old Research Lab saying. Suck it and see

[Evolved]

Rubbish. I was expecting to see some liberty caps and the OP off his box

Edited by Evolved on Sunday 6th August 21:22

[jpringle819]

Thanks for the help everyone :-) not eaten them yet, they seem very similar to a deadly poisonous one so will probably go in the bin

[mybrainhurts]

jpringle819 said:

Thanks for the help everyone :-) not eaten them yet, they seem very similar to a deadly poisonous one so will probably go in the bin

You will if you eat one....

[Jambo85]

Which deadly poisonous one did you think it was similar to? The truly deadly ones I'm aware of in this country have white gills - the death cap and the destroying angel. Yours have brown gills.

However there are loads of funghi that will make you extremely ill though even if they don't kill you

Suggest finding a good website or book and reading closely all the identifying features, and also learn to identify the dangerous lookalikes.

Yours could be perfectly edible field mushrooms but there are a couple of lookalikesthat can make you quite ill - yellow stainers for example.

I try to stick to ceps and chanterelles most of the time myself, much better eating and more difficult to wrongly identify!

[Mobile Chicane]

I need a better picture, but if there's yellow staining at the base of the stem and /or it smells 'inky', then bin.

[dudleybloke]

These taste good but you will need to eat 150-200 of them to get the taste

[DRFC1879]

I can't remember who said this but:

All mushrooms are edible. Some of them only once.

[jpringle819]

Jambo85 said:

Which deadly poisonous one did you think it was similar to? The truly deadly ones I'm aware of in this country have white gills - the death cap and the destroying angel. Yours have brown gills.

I found an app that basically said they could be the death cap although it can't have been very good as there was no mention of the white gills being a big factor.

Mobile Chicane said:

I need a better picture, but if there's yellow staining at the base of the stem and /or it smells 'inky', then bin.

The only smell was of mushroom and there didn't appear to be any yellow staining.

Someone at Wild Food UK suggested they were agaricus moelleri so I binned them

[Mobile Chicane]

DRFC1879 said:

I can't remember who said this but:

All mushrooms are edible. Some of them only once.

That would be Terry Pratchett.

[Mobile Chicane]

I'd suggest getting a good book and learning the characteristics of each 'family'. This is what I use:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Other-Britain-E...

It's long out of print but second-hand copies crop up on Amazon from time to time. Bag one if you can and ignore all other recommendations - this is the book to get.

[ApOrbital]

dudleybloke said:

These taste good but you will need to eat 150-200 of them to get the taste

[PotatoSalad]

jpringle819 said:

Thanks for the help everyone :-) not eaten them yet, they seem very similar to a deadly poisonous one so will probably go in the bin

I wouldn't touch these.

My father is an expert on mushrooms, I'm far from that so I only pick few species I'm absolutely certain about. As a general rule look for funghi with sponge-like tubes underneath the cap, there aren't any of those type in Britain that I'm aware of which could kill you. Few species might make your stomach upset but there's no chance of mistaking an edible one with a poisonous type. Those with the gills can be deadly and easy to mistake. My father often brings home the parasol mushrooms, their caps are absolutely delicious dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried whole, but there are a couple of similarly looking species that are poisonous so I wouldn't trust myself picking them.

As a beginner I'd find few types with tubes that are easy to identify - porcini and few from the bolete family (like bay bolete and slippery jacks) are very common, delicious and you really can't mistake them for anything dangerous.

Few tips - when possible cut the stems instead of pulling them, or at least twist them out, so you don't damage the deeper part of the mycelium or you won't find any in that spot next year. Once you get home cut them in half to make sure there are no nasty worms, you can tell by small dark holes inside the stem and cap.


Oh, and remember that everything in the country belongs to the queen, so theoretically you can get locked in a tower for stealing her funghi if you don't obtain a permission!

Some of my recent finds

Slippery jacks:



Porcini, some local animals helped themselves already but they're still perfectly good, made the best cream and mushroom sauce I've had in ages:




And few Chanterelles:




Happy foraging folks!

Edited by PotatoSalad on Wednesday 9th August 19:54