FARMINGTON — Foraging for wild edible plants is gaining in popularity and can add variety to the diet. It is vital to correctly identify wild mushrooms before eating them.

Growing conditions over the last month have been ideal for mushroom proliferation. Along a short walk to Cascade Brook Cascades mushrooms of different sizes, shapes and colors are growing just off the trail.

A return trip a week later with Cynthia Stancioff of Chesterville revealed ones not seen previously. Stancioff has given mushroom talks. Her main motivation is to find edible mushrooms.

“The vast majority aren’t edible. Most don’t taste good or are poisonous. Avoid little brown ones,” she said. “I’m constantly refreshing my memory. Mushroom hunting isn’t for people who aren’t detail oriented.”

Stancioff recommends using several detailed guide books as there can be variations among them.

“I can keep busy from May to the end of October looking for mushrooms,” she said.

Seanna Annis is an associate professor of mycology at the University of Maine. She has led fungal forays and taught undergraduate and graduate classes in mycology since 1999 at UMaine. She identifies fungi for the UMaine Cooperative Extension, the Poison Control Center and the public.

She says there is no magic trick to finding edibles or to identifying mushrooms.  You need to collect mushrooms and identify them and make sure you know exactly what you have. It takes study and practice.

“I am still learning new fungi all the time. I recommend if someone identifies something they think is an edible, that they check it with an expert BEFORE eating it,” Annis said.

She said there are a few good edibles and some are easy to identify once you know what you are doing. There are a lot of mushrooms which will cause vomiting and diarrhea which can be severe enough to require hospitalization. Some mushrooms have toxins that will kill liver and kidney cells, others cause respiratory problems or neurological problems.

 

Annis said some toxic mushrooms can kill without a kidney or liver transplant.  Many are so toxic, eating a single one is fatal.

“My recommendation is do not eat it unless you are absolutely sure.  I have identified some mushrooms over many years before I was sure enough of my identification to try eating them,” Annis said.

She said all edible wild mushrooms need to be thoroughly cooked.  They cannot be eaten raw, again they will cause gastric upset. She suggests eating a little bit initially to see if you like it and it agrees with you. Some people have reactions (typically gastric) to even edible mushrooms.

Annis said when identifying mushrooms, the specimen has to match the description exactly. If the specimen is too tall, not the right color or growing in the wrong place it is probably not the same thing. People who mistake look-a-like poisonous fungi for edibles, usually do so by not being exact enough in matching the description.