Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers

by Alison Pouliot, Tom May

Overview

Fungi are diverse, delicious and sometimes deadly. With interest in foraging for wild food on the rise, learning to accurately identify fungi reduces both poisoning risk to humans and harm to the environment. This extensively illustrated guide takes a "slow mushrooming" approach – providing the information to correctly identify a few edible species thoroughly, rather than many superficially.

Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers melds scientific and cultural knowledge with stunning photography to present a new way of looking at fungi. It models "ecological foraging" – an approach based on care, conservation and a deep understanding of ecosystem dynamics.

Sections on where, when, and how to find fungi guide the forager in the identification of 10 edible species. Diagnostic information on toxic fungi and lookalike species helps to differentiate the desirable from the deadly. Wild Mushrooming then takes us into the kitchen with cooking techniques and 29 recipes from a variety of cuisines that can be adapted for both foraged and cultivated fungi.

Developing the skills to find fungi requires slowness, not speed. This guide provides the necessary information for the safe collection of fungi, and is essential reading for fungus enthusiasts, ecologists, conservationists, medical professionals and anyone interested in the natural world.

Features:

• Provides basic guidance on how to find, collect, identify and prepare 10 edible wild fungus species
• Includes details on known poisonous fungi to avoid, as well as common lookalikes to edible species
• Discusses the diversity, ecological significance and conservation of Australian fungi
• Illustrated with captivating color photographs, including a variety of images for each species to assist with identification
• Includes 29 recipes that readers can follow using foraged or cultivated fungi
• Covers both native Australian fungi and species that have been introduced to Australia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781486311736
Publisher:	CSIRO Publishing
Publication date:	05/15/2021
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alison Pouliot is an ecologist and environmental photographer with a focus on fungi. She is active in Australian and international fungal conservation and her writing and images appear in both academic and popular literature. Alison’s fungus forays, which she conducts across both hemispheres, attract a range of people from foragers and philosophers to rangers and traditional owners. Her recent book The Allure of Fungi poses fundamental questions about human-fungus liaisons.

Tom May is a mycologist who has spent more than four decades getting to know Australian fungi. He has published widely on fungal taxonomy, ecology and conservation in scientific and popular literature, including checklists of Australian fungi and a key to genera of Australian mushrooms (FunKey). He is active in international mycological groups such as the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi and in community natural history organizations, founding Fungimap in 1995. He was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion in 2014.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements viii

Disclaimer ix

Chapter 1 The rise of wild mushrooming in Australia 1

A fungal awakening 1

Slow mushrooming 2

Fungus, sporophore, mushroom or toadstool? 3

Ecological foraging 4

Australian knowledge of edible fungi 5

Humans and fungi cross continents 6

Chapter 2 What fungi are 9

What are fungi made of? 9

How fungi feed 10

Mutually beneficial relationships 11

Chapter 3 Fungi in Australian biodiversity conservation 13

An Australian approach 13

Foraging in the UK and the USA - learning from elsewhere 14

Potential effects of foraging 15

Conservation considerations for Australian foragers 18

Chapter 4 Major groups of fungi 21

Morphogroups 21

Basidiomycota 22

Ascomycota 24

Major morphogroups of macrofungi 26

Chapter 5 Features of fungi 29

Morphological features - finding one's way around a mushroom 29

Colour 30

Texture 37

Smell and taste 37

Spore prints 41

Chemical tests 43

Chapter 6 Names and identification 45

Naming fungi 45

DNA 46

Citation of names 46

Field guides 47

Keys 47

Chapter 7 Finding fungi 49

The desire to forage 49

Managing risk and setting expectations 49

How to find fungi - what to look for and what to ask 51

When to find fungi 52

Where to find fungi - fungus habitats and distribution 53

Where can you forage? The legalities of collecting fungi 55

Collecting fungi 56

Chapter 8 Poisonous fungi 61

Causes of fungus poisoning 62

Fungus toxins, syndromes and symptoms 64

Building knowledge about toxic fungi in Australia 72

Overview of toxic and potentially toxic mushrooms 73

Responding to suspected mushroom poisoning 81

How to read a profile 82

Amanita phalloides 85

Amanita muscaria 91

Agaricus xanthoderma 97

Chlorophyllum brunneum 103

Chlorophyllum molybdites 109

Coprinopsis atrammtariz 115

Omphalotus nidiformis 121

Paxillus involutus group 127

Chapter 9 Edible fungi and their lookalikes 135

Profile selection 135

Lookalikes 136

Typical environments where profiled fungi are found 136

Lactarius deliciosus 139

Coprinus comatus 147

Lepista nuda 155

Macrolepiota clelandii 163

Marasmius oreades 171

Agaricus 179

Suillus 193

Hydnium crocidens group 201

Tremella fuciformis 207

Lycoperdon pratense 215

Emerging knowledge 222

Cultivated fungi 225

Chapter 10 Fungi in the kitchen and on the table 229

Storage and preparation 230

Preserving mushrooms - drying, freezing and pickling 233

Cooking mushrooms - frying, roasting and grilling 235

Nutritional value 237

Recipe selection 238

Recipes 241

Glossary 300

Further reading and resources 303

Index 306