by Arnold Kuntz Ph. D. (Author)
Greetings, fellow mushroom lovers We know that many of you are well-versed in the art of preparing and cooking edible wild mushrooms. Those of you who are in this category can stop reading now, unless you feel that a refresher course in "the basics" is in order.When we say "the basics", that's exactly what we intend to address. We will assume nothing except that you can tell a mushroom from your elbow, and would like to be able to enjoy eating mushrooms that are not found in your local supermarket. All set, then? Let's start with the rules. -What? You weren't expecting rules? There are definitely rules involved when it comes to picking mushrooms, but there are just a few extra (but absolute) rules involved in preparing, cooking and eating them. (The accent here is in eating them.)Rule #1Rule #1: Before you consider eating a wild mushroom that you have picked yourself, you must be 100% certain of your identification. 99.9% isn't nearly good enough. If you're not absolutely certain, you may pick them, examine them, fondle them, or take a bath with them.... but don't even think about putting them on your dinner plate -regardless of what method of preparation or cooking you intend to use- unless you are 100% certain of your identification. A saying we like to use in the mycological community is that "There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are NO old, bold mushroom hunters "