What have done towards your prep?

[Greg]

I have just purchased Some mushroom spoor on dowels that will be used to grow shiitake and oyster fungus which can be dried and stored for long periods. Despite the myth that fungi are not nutritionally valuable they are fantastic sources of nutrients and some even possess medicinal qualities. Of course penicillin is the obvious one here. Bio-Pharma is the new wave in medicinal research. That is to say we are now re-learning what our ancestors knew but this time we are arming ourselves with facts.

St. Georges mushrooms will be out soon. I hope to find them this year.

Also a warning! It would be entirely irresponsible for me to encourage mushroom hunting for culinary purpose and not mention how deadly this activity can be. So here, let me give you a breakdown on what can happen if you if you take any risk at all. People die every year due to the consumption of misidentified mushrooms. This is what will happen if you consume alpha amanitin the poison found in the DEATHCAP and DESTROYING ANGEL. First you will become very ill, vomiting, cramps, fever etc. That will last about three or four days. You will then start to feel better for a day or two and think that you are over it. The next few days will be your last and you will spend them in agony passing blood until your liver and kidneys shutdown along with everything else. Catch it early, get total blood replacement, new kidneys and liver and you may survive.

Never ever take a chance. If in doubt leave it out.

I am at this hobby for many years now and I will still not consume some mushrooms that are good to eat because they have potentially deadly or just poisonous look-a-likes. Until I am shown by an expert - and I mean real expert- I will continue to leave them out. I am thinking of two in particular. One is The Blusher or Amanita Rubescans It is supposed to be easily confused with The Panther or Amanita Pantherina. Now, I really want to try this mushroom. I have never positively identified A. pantherina. A. rubescans is almost undoubtedly the mushroom that grows in profusion here in the piney woods. It should be easily identifiable by the pinkish reddish "blush" that occurs when the flesh is damaged. No brainer right? Well just because I said almost back there is good enough reason for me to leave it out. I am still alive! I would have to have a microscope with 400 times magnification to positively identify a spore.

The second mushroom that comes to mind is commonly known as the Fairy Ring Champignon which is easily confused with clitocybe rivulosa. A good mushroom book will give you the lookalikes to watch out for.

It is also important to note that some mushrooms can have adverse effects on some people and not others. I try mushrooms that have this warning attached and have thus far no ill effect. Always eat just a little of whatever it is the first time to see how you get on as all foragers do with a new foodstuff.

In addition to that some mushrooms should not be consumed with alcohol. In fact some say consumption of alcohol for up to twenty four hours later can cause ill effect.

One should consult several sources before thinking they have made positive identification. It is still difficult to positively identify a mushroom from any of the commonly carried "Field Guides" when you are out foraging. I use five books and the internet. There are only about twenty species I am confident enough to consume after more than 15 years of avidly picking every year. In a good year I might add one more species to the list. Also, I forage mushrooms almost exclusively in the woods as field mushrooms have nearly been wiped out by intensive agriculture methods so commonplace here in Ireland.

Just one more thing I am trying to encourage the use of scientific names so that there can be no confusion during such discussions. Common names are different everywhere. Even different language speaking people use scientific nomenclature.

Oh yeah! I still have the olive farm which is surrounded by forest and overlooks the Ebro delta and Mediterranean that I am willing to trade for a Wharram or steel hulled sailboat.