Mushroom season is upon us again in this part of the world. I'm am avid fan of foraging for mushrooms, but there are only a few types that I can so far identify for certain.
With some mushrooms able to make you seriously ill or outright kill you, then it is best to only collect and consume what you can positively identify.
This post is not going to be about how to identify edible mushrooms versus toadstools, rather a cautionary tale.
The first image is a mushroom in the classic sense, being a wild variety related to what you purchase in the supermarket. These I can identify.
But the following one when I found it, made me immediately suspicious although I could not specify why.
While it looked very similar to a field mushroom that had not opened yet, the one thing that stood out was the bright yellow I saw on damaged parts. I collected a specimen and took it home to do some research.
Almost immediately I came up with the answer.
It was a Yellow Stainer - poisonous.
So my intuition and research paid off.
If you have any doubts about what you think is wild food, leave it alone. Better to be safe than sorry or dead. However if it is something that really does interest you, I highly recommend studying the topic, attending classes or calling upon the guidance of somebody you know with a good deal of knowledge and importantly experience.
If you do seek out the knowledge and learning, the bounty that is to found wild is well worth it. A surprising amount of edible plants might be right under your nose and you never knew it. Learning such knowledge brings you into closer contact with your environment and its rhythms.