6 ms·

Hunting Mushrooms, and What Makes Some Glow in the Dark

55 points by DrScump 9y ago

Alex3917 9y ago
> Unless you want your ’shrooms to turn into slime, bring wax paper or a paper bag, never plastic. It doesn't really matter if you're only out in the woods for a couple hours, rather than being out for days at a time harvesting commercially or whatever. The reusable bags made by Baggu are pretty good because they hold 40 lbs, are breathable, and you can just throw them in the washing machine. The only downside is that they're $10 each unless you buy them wholesale. As the article says, the best way to learn is to join your local club and go on the weekly walks. And if you want to buy a book, don't buy a field guide. Instead buy a picture book that covers a handful of your local species, e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-without-Fear-Beginners-Collecting/dp/1602391602 https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-without-Fear-Beginners-Co... https://www.amazon.com/100-Edible-Mushrooms-Michael-Kuo/dp/0472031260/ https://www.amazon.com/100-Edible-Mushrooms-Michael-Kuo/dp/0... https://www.amazon.com/Fascinating-Fungi-England-Lawrence-Millman/dp/1936571013 https://www.amazon.com/Fascinating-Fungi-England-Lawrence-Mi... It's pretty easy to learn, if you start going on walks in the spring and go every other weekend throughout the year, then you'll know most of the edibles mushrooms throughout the year. Plus the poisonous ones, the other notable ones, and maybe even some of the psychoactive ones.
- flarg 9y ago
  What about mesh bags? Last time I went mushroom hunting in the wilds of a French wood, repleat with boar hides and beer bottle infested mini camp sites, my guide used mesh bags because he said that allowed spores to escape. The locals though stuck to supermarket plastic bags.
  - Alex3917 9y ago
    That’s true, it’s not clear to what extent spores are the limiting factor though.
dannylandau 9y ago
Been mushroom hunting for over 30 years. And you can definitely use plastic bags, just don't leave them in the car for long and when you get home, put them in a basket in refrigerator. Nothing wrong with plastic bags when going mushroom hunting.
- lumberingjack 9y ago
  plastic bags don't allow the spore to fall out on the ground as you carry them, get a mesh mushroom hunting bag so future generations can keep enjoying mushrooms. I make a route in some places I hunt and years later I find mushrooms all along my route, I like to think I propagated them.
  - repiret 9y ago
    Do you have a citation for that? An individual mushroom produces millions of spores, but in a stable population, on average only one spore produces another mature mushroom. I'd be very surprised if mushroom populations are limited by the dispersal of spores.
    - lumberingjack 9y ago
      Nope read it in a book once and then talked about it with my grandpa. When he was a kid he would collect morels then put them in a potato bag and swing it around in the horse/cow pasture. He said he had great success and the morels would pop up on cow patties and near streams in the pasture for years after that when none had been there before.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
    - Inception 9y ago
      This isn't quite accurate. A spore needs to unite with another spore of the opposite sex to create mycelium [0]. Environmental conditions dictate when the mycelium will develop a mushroom body to start the reproduction cycle over again. I can't speak to whether or not plastic bags completely prevents spores from falling to the ground, but I agree with lumberingjack's sentiment about using a mesh bag to increase the odds of successful propagation. Mushrooms continue to drop spores even after they are picked. Taking spore prints of harvested mushrooms is one way enthusiasts create strains of their own. [0] - https://radicalmycology.com/educational-tools/mushrooms-101/the-fungal-lifecycle/ https://radicalmycology.com/educational-tools/mushrooms-101/...
vesinisa 9y ago
Mushroom foraging is quite popular where I live. Free, organic, protein-rich nutrition in abundance from the local forest. But it's a delicate hobby: knowing between the species is a matter of life & death. For example, destroying angel is a common, fatally hepatoxic all-white cap. So the rule is you never pick any white mushrooms at all; chance of misidentification is just not worth the risk. But for example chanterelle is very delicious and there are really no toxic mushrooms that look even remotely like it. So anyone can forage for the chanterelle. It is heavenly in risottos and pastas.
- yostrovs 9y ago
  Jack-o'-lanterns can look similar to chanterelles
  - wil421 9y ago
    Came here to say this. Had a massive and I mean massive amount of mushrooms in my yard. Turned out the they were Jack-o-lanterns despite what my coworker thought.
  - vesinisa 9y ago
    Well, my point exactly. That poisonous false chanterelle seems to be non existent in North Europe, so chanterelle is considered safe to pick for amateurs here. But I would never dare pick mushrooms abroad without a local guide.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Mushrooms provide very little macro nutrients: https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Mushrooms%2C_raw%2C_Chanterelle_nutritional_value.html https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Mushrooms%2C_raw%2C_Chanterel... ~9 grams of macros per 100 grams of mushroom. Just a little better than leafy greens.
  - vesinisa 9y ago
    You are looking at the nutritional values before boiling down. 90% of fresh chanterelles is just water. After normal processing (boiling most of the water away), the nutritional ratio of proteins vs carbs is actually superior to eg. chick pea: https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/34535 https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/34535 https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/31218 https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/31218
pidybi 9y ago
don't eat if you not sure what kind of mushroom it is
alkonaut 9y ago
When in the US or elsewhere where landowners can decide who can do what on a piece of land, how do you know where you can go picking berries or mushrooms? Do you check a map for some indication that a certain piece of land is "public" rather than privately owned? (Some countries have a right of access to any land meaning anyone is allowed to walk/pick berries/mushrooms etc on any land regardless of who owns it).
- cujo 9y ago
  Very little map checking. People generally know where public land is, as it is typically some sort of park or rec area. Otherwise, land is mostly considered private and you stay off unless you have approval of the owner.
- wil421 9y ago
  Wildlife Management Areas are a great place to start. State and federal parks too. I’m syre there are plenty of walking trails if you are near a major city. Private landowners are pretty good about marking boundaries where public meets private.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    Trespassing laws often require notification, so they are pretty good about posting notification. They aren't really doing anyone a favor. (Michigan requires notification, with the exception of land clearly being used for agriculture, which does not require notification) But yeah, there is lots of public land.
    - wil421 9y ago
      I recently saw a video on YouTube and I think it was Michigan. It was about lakes and hunting rules if your property or public property touches the lake. They were saying you have about 5-10 feet to hunt around any lake even if it’s not the side you own or public land touches. I’m not sure it’s like this in Georgia. Interesting though.

55 points by DrScump 9y ago

> Unless you want your ’shrooms to turn into slime, bring wax paper or a paper bag, never plastic. It doesn't really matter if you're only out in the woods for a couple hours, rather than being out for days at a time harvesting commercially or whatever. The reusable bags made by Baggu are pretty good because they hold 40 lbs, are breathable, and you can just throw them in the washing machine. The only downside is that they're $10 each unless you buy them wholesale. As the article says, the best way to learn is to join your local club and go on the weekly walks. And if you want to buy a book, don't buy a field guide. Instead buy a picture book that covers a handful of your local species, e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-without-Fear-Beginners-Collecting/dp/1602391602 https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-without-Fear-Beginners-Co... https://www.amazon.com/100-Edible-Mushrooms-Michael-Kuo/dp/0472031260/ https://www.amazon.com/100-Edible-Mushrooms-Michael-Kuo/dp/0... https://www.amazon.com/Fascinating-Fungi-England-Lawrence-Millman/dp/1936571013 https://www.amazon.com/Fascinating-Fungi-England-Lawrence-Mi... It's pretty easy to learn, if you start going on walks in the spring and go every other weekend throughout the year, then you'll know most of the edibles mushrooms throughout the year. Plus the poisonous ones, the other notable ones, and maybe even some of the psychoactive ones.

flarg 9y ago
What about mesh bags? Last time I went mushroom hunting in the wilds of a French wood, repleat with boar hides and beer bottle infested mini camp sites, my guide used mesh bags because he said that allowed spores to escape. The locals though stuck to supermarket plastic bags.
- Alex3917 9y ago
  That’s true, it’s not clear to what extent spores are the limiting factor though.

dannylandau 9y ago

Been mushroom hunting for over 30 years. And you can definitely use plastic bags, just don't leave them in the car for long and when you get home, put them in a basket in refrigerator. Nothing wrong with plastic bags when going mushroom hunting.

lumberingjack 9y ago
plastic bags don't allow the spore to fall out on the ground as you carry them, get a mesh mushroom hunting bag so future generations can keep enjoying mushrooms. I make a route in some places I hunt and years later I find mushrooms all along my route, I like to think I propagated them.
- repiret 9y ago
  Do you have a citation for that? An individual mushroom produces millions of spores, but in a stable population, on average only one spore produces another mature mushroom. I'd be very surprised if mushroom populations are limited by the dispersal of spores.
  - lumberingjack 9y ago
    Nope read it in a book once and then talked about it with my grandpa. When he was a kid he would collect morels then put them in a potato bag and swing it around in the horse/cow pasture. He said he had great success and the morels would pop up on cow patties and near streams in the pasture for years after that when none had been there before.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  - Inception 9y ago
    This isn't quite accurate. A spore needs to unite with another spore of the opposite sex to create mycelium [0]. Environmental conditions dictate when the mycelium will develop a mushroom body to start the reproduction cycle over again. I can't speak to whether or not plastic bags completely prevents spores from falling to the ground, but I agree with lumberingjack's sentiment about using a mesh bag to increase the odds of successful propagation. Mushrooms continue to drop spores even after they are picked. Taking spore prints of harvested mushrooms is one way enthusiasts create strains of their own. [0] - https://radicalmycology.com/educational-tools/mushrooms-101/the-fungal-lifecycle/ https://radicalmycology.com/educational-tools/mushrooms-101/...

vesinisa 9y ago

Mushroom foraging is quite popular where I live. Free, organic, protein-rich nutrition in abundance from the local forest. But it's a delicate hobby: knowing between the species is a matter of life & death. For example, destroying angel is a common, fatally hepatoxic all-white cap. So the rule is you never pick any white mushrooms at all; chance of misidentification is just not worth the risk. But for example chanterelle is very delicious and there are really no toxic mushrooms that look even remotely like it. So anyone can forage for the chanterelle. It is heavenly in risottos and pastas.

yostrovs 9y ago
Jack-o'-lanterns can look similar to chanterelles
- wil421 9y ago
  Came here to say this. Had a massive and I mean massive amount of mushrooms in my yard. Turned out the they were Jack-o-lanterns despite what my coworker thought.
- vesinisa 9y ago
  Well, my point exactly. That poisonous false chanterelle seems to be non existent in North Europe, so chanterelle is considered safe to pick for amateurs here. But I would never dare pick mushrooms abroad without a local guide.
maxerickson 9y ago
Mushrooms provide very little macro nutrients: https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Mushrooms%2C_raw%2C_Chanterelle_nutritional_value.html https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Mushrooms%2C_raw%2C_Chanterel... ~9 grams of macros per 100 grams of mushroom. Just a little better than leafy greens.
- vesinisa 9y ago
  You are looking at the nutritional values before boiling down. 90% of fresh chanterelles is just water. After normal processing (boiling most of the water away), the nutritional ratio of proteins vs carbs is actually superior to eg. chick pea: https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/34535 https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/34535 https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/31218 https://fineli.fi/fineli/en/elintarvikkeet/31218

pidybi 9y ago

don't eat if you not sure what kind of mushroom it is

alkonaut 9y ago

When in the US or elsewhere where landowners can decide who can do what on a piece of land, how do you know where you can go picking berries or mushrooms? Do you check a map for some indication that a certain piece of land is "public" rather than privately owned? (Some countries have a right of access to any land meaning anyone is allowed to walk/pick berries/mushrooms etc on any land regardless of who owns it).

cujo 9y ago
Very little map checking. People generally know where public land is, as it is typically some sort of park or rec area. Otherwise, land is mostly considered private and you stay off unless you have approval of the owner.
wil421 9y ago
Wildlife Management Areas are a great place to start. State and federal parks too. I’m syre there are plenty of walking trails if you are near a major city. Private landowners are pretty good about marking boundaries where public meets private.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Trespassing laws often require notification, so they are pretty good about posting notification. They aren't really doing anyone a favor. (Michigan requires notification, with the exception of land clearly being used for agriculture, which does not require notification) But yeah, there is lots of public land.
  - wil421 9y ago
    I recently saw a video on YouTube and I think it was Michigan. It was about lakes and hunting rules if your property or public property touches the lake. They were saying you have about 5-10 feet to hunt around any lake even if it’s not the side you own or public land touches. I’m not sure it’s like this in Georgia. Interesting though.