Mushroom question

[Secret Heart]

Hello again,

I'm not a big mushroom eater but I'm going to try a recipe from "Raw Food Real World" tomorrow and it calls for King Oyster mushrooms...
I have heard that mushrooms aren't the safest thing to consume raw. I'm sure this must be a fallacy. Please tell me I've heard wrong.
Also, second question. I see dehyrated mushrooms in the organic section at the grocery store. Why would they be selling them dehydrated? I'm just wondering if I could use them for something. They're found beside the seaweeds...
I must sound silly but I just wanted your general opinions on eating mushrooms raw/dehydrated...

Thanks!

Heather

[RowanC]

Hello again,

I'm not a big mushroom eater but I'm going to try a recipe from "Raw Food Real World" tomorrow and it calls for King Oyster mushrooms...
I have heard that mushrooms aren't the safest thing to consume raw. I'm sure this must be a fallacy. Please tell me I've heard wrong.
Also, second question. I see dehyrated mushrooms in the organic section at the grocery store. Why would they be selling them dehydrated? I'm just wondering if I could use them for something. They're found beside the seaweeds...


Hi Heather. It is not perfectly safe to assume that since mushrooms are sold dehydrated, they are safe to consume raw. Each person is different and each person reacts differently to wild mushrooms.

The cultured mushrooms like the criminis and portabellas are safe raw almost always. Chanterelles are ok for SOME people - they make others violently ill. They have a lovely apricot aftertaste when cooked. Raw, they are a bit spicy and burn the tongue of some. Morels absolutely should not be eaten raw under any circumstances, unless you have the stomach of a gladiator. They have something akin to rocket fuel in them and it is dangerous for many people.

There is a lot of good information online, but htere is a lot of MISinformation too. If you are wanting to eat wild mushrooms raw, I'd strongly suggest you contact your local mycological association and speak with an expert there first. They are always wonderfully helpful.

If you insist on eating raw wild mushrooms, use the "rule of thumb." That is, begin with a piece the size of the TIP of your thumb. Chew it well and wait an hour. If you have no symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, tingling, then eat a piece double that size and progress until you're eating a whole shroom.

But know this... here in Portland people die every year of liver and kidney failure because they mistake mushrooms like the Death Angel for field mushrooms which are safe. Last year we had a family of 8 who ate a pot of soup with poisonous mushrooms in it. There is NO CURE for mushroom poisoning of this type. The cure is a liver and kidney transplant. You may get through it with damage, or more likely, you die. It is just not worth the risk, in my opinion.

Stick to portabellas, criminis, the little white mushrooms in the market.
Stay away from the wild mushrooms, even those in the market.
Those are picked by "just anyone" who can afford the money for the license. There is no education required. People, including your grocer, just "assume" they are safe because they assume people are going to cook them, which is a whole other ballgame.

Oysters, by the way, are usually ok raw. But again, when they're wild, there are varieties which can make you sick if you eat them raw.

My partner eats Sulphur Shelf Mushrooms like they're going out of style. I eat them and feel like I've taken bad drugs, dizzy, nauseous, diarrhea, burning stomach. He can eat Lobster mushrooms raw, but they make me sick. Every person reacts differently.

I want to add that my partner and I are avid mushroomers, and we pick and eat mushrooms all year. However, we've been doing it for most of our 50 plus years and know what we're looking for and eating. If you want to find mushrooms yourself, join the Mycological Society or Association. They make regular field trips which are usually free, and you can learn a LOT firsthand.

[RowanC]

I need to make sure you understand that my explanation of the "rule of thumb" is for STORE PURCHASED wild mushrooms ONLY.

NEVER do this in the field!
One bite of the wrong mushroom can kill you or make you violently ill.

Sorry ...

[RowanC]

Here is a link to an interesting article on the Death Cap

http://members.aol.com/basidium/deathcap.html

One reason I like this article is because it shows photos of the Death Cap, which to an untrained person looks very much like the pretty little white mushrooms you buy in the grocery store.