Health

Don’t eat the mushrooms

by YankeeJim | September 26, 2011 at 04:46 am

107 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment

Poison

There is a story today about a couple that picked mushrooms from the yard and put them into their stir fry. They got sick and nearly died. How many times do people have to be told not to try this unless you are a trained expert in fungi?

Don’t eat the death caps. That is what they were called. Would you go to your yard and eat a death cap on purpose?

Here is a mushroom that screams “do not eat.”

“Dog Stinkhorn aka Mutinus caninus

May 7th, 2006 · 48 Comments

According to Simon & Schuster’s guide to Mushrooms, the Dog Stinkhorn arises from a white or pale yellow “egg” and is covered by a fetid slime. Mmmmm. Not surprisingly the edibility is listed as “of no interest”. Elsewhere I read that the slime attracts flies which pick up the mushroom’s spores and deposit them elsewhere helping to spread this one around. I found two in my side bed, one next to a small rhubarb and one near the highbush cranberry. These are about the size of your pinky in length and diameter but some text says they can get several times that size. Strange critter indeed.”

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Paul Tnerolf (not verified)

at 16:09 on October 10th, 2011

Hmm although they seem apparently unpleasant, they are actually VERY edible and actually sought after by a few. The edibility includes drying of the stalk, or the peeling of the "egg" then fried in butter. The taste is apparently similar to a radish. these mushrooms are very easy to spot, "or smell" and are not at all dangerous. many other varietys include a red one, or white one, but all have the telltale smelly slime on the cap. their latin name Mutinus caninus, or Mutinus elegans, the name refers the the suggestive shape of the stalk.