Simple UK mushroom guide

Specifically for cycle touring subjects & questions
crazydave789
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by crazydave789 »

mnichols wrote:Is the risk to reward ratio worth it?

Get it right - save 40p
Get it wrong - become ill, possibly very ill, small probability of death

I like the though of foraging and eating wild food, but not sure the risk, reward ratio is right for me


do it right and its a lot more than 40p as we aren't talking button mushrooms. there are obvious rights and obvious wrongs the skill is the inbetweens.

http://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guides/

here we go start with these.

http://www.wildfooduk.com/articles/wild ... beginners/
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Gattonero
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Gattonero »

Last time I was out with the Mtb I saw those big mushrooms. As I'm no expert at all, the only ones I know is a couple of varieties that grow in south Italy, I've not even touched them.
Better safe than sorry!

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Blag
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Blag »

Me and the Mrs went on a funghi walk last year at Kedleston Hall, my reason was to learn about edible funghi I could forage. I came away scared to pick anything. Very hard to distinguish I thought,
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Sweep
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Sweep »

Mm, i think i have maybe gone off the idea :(

Where your family comes from gatto you can of course take foraged mushrooms to a public service where they will identify them for you. Not too practical on tour though.

Dangerous things mushrooms. I have read that in italy several folk a year perish climbing down/up to places in search of them.
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Vorpal
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Vorpal »

There are a few types of mushrooms that are completely safe & do not have any poisonous analogues. Morels, puffballs, and chantarelles are all safe and easy to identify. Something called 'chicken of the woods' grows in the USA (I don't know if it grows elsewhere) and is also easy to identify.

With puffballs, you just need to:
-be sure not to take ones with other mushrooms growing around it
-don't eat ones with knobs, spines, or a hard outside
-cut it open and make sure it is completely white; if it has a mushroom shape inside, it is deadly poisonous

Other stuff, I would recommend taking a course and/or finding a professional who can identify them for you before eating.
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captain offensive
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by captain offensive »

For anyone in the South East I can highly reccomend Nick's mushroom hunts!
http://www.theoldgreenhouse.co.uk/mushroom-hunts/
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Sweep
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Sweep »

captain offensive wrote:For anyone in the South East I can highly reccomend Nick's mushroom hunts!
http://www.theoldgreenhouse.co.uk/mushroom-hunts/

Thanks, but £85 for the day.

A different target market possibly, for folks who go on cycle tours of 20 miles a day between restaurants lunch and dinner?
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captain offensive
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by captain offensive »

Sweep wrote:Thanks, but £85 for the day.

A different target market possibly, for folks who go on cycle tours of 20 miles a day between restaurants lunch and dinner?


Was given it as a christmas present a couple of years back so didn't pay it was worth it. A whole day out exploring and learning stuff and then a three course meal with drinks. Each to their own though
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Cyril Haearn »

People are as diverse as fungi and just as hard to evaluate
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ndmbike
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by ndmbike »

If you can find someone who can tell you which mushrooms to eat you'll be very happy...
That's because he'll be a "fun guy" to be with! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Sweep
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Sweep »

Took a look at the mini food for free guide mentioned above in a bookshop.

Has a fair section on mushrooms and the author seemed pretty confident that you wouldn't kill yourself as long as you checked each find against the pics, description of the environment in which it would be found and season etc.

So may give it a go - lots of my thrown together camping cooking consists of cous cous or rice, sometimes pasta, with assorted lighty fried stuff thrown in /atop, and some mushrooms would go rather nicely into the mix.
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Heltor Chasca
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Heltor Chasca »

The ‘Easy Guides’ are good books. Hand drawn/painted so better than photos and the book shows easily confused species in the same page as the edible ‘shroom.

I’ve only gone wrong once by using too much butter which upset my constitution no end.

£85 for a day with an expert sounds right and is invaluable.
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Sweep
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by Sweep »

The death toll I referred to above.

Without having taken a bite/tentative smell:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rooms.html

I have when cycling in Sardinia once or twice seen folk emerging from a ravine clutching an impressively large specimen.

So they survived the retrieval.

Hopefully they checked their find with a good book or the local expert before eating.
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rjb
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by rjb »

Google suggests these are brown birch bolettes growing under a silver birch tree in my garden. Should I eat one ? :?
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psmiffy
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Re: Simple UK mushroom guide

Post by psmiffy »

If you cycle through large areas of woodland in Europe in late summer/Autumn there are often crowds of people out with their baskets fungi collecting

Death toll in France I believe is around 30/annum - safer than cycling?
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