Each year as the fungi season begins I dread reading the news that some unfortunate individual will succumb to the temptation to try a dangerous wild mushroom/toadstool and get very sick or worse die. I have been collecting fungi for over 20 years and each year instead of getting more and more adventurous I get more and more cautious. There is no certain way to identify edible fungi other than from a very experienced and knowledgable person.
Books are useful, but often a very highly powered microscope in the hands of a very experienced mycologist is the only way to identify fungi and even then, the most common verdict here in Australia is "not known to be edible". We live in a continent that has the most extraorinary variety of fungi but edibility is not known for most of our indigenous fungi. The above collage is a small sample of native boletes. They are not porcini/ceps but do belong to the same family of fungi that have do not have gills but a sponge under the caps. They are not slippery jacks so be very careful, the consequences of eating them are unknown. No matter how careful you are only a qualified expert can be your guide.
In Europe where there is a well established culture of collecting edible wild fungi and there are official channels to certify edibility. In France chemist shops have qualified staff to examine a foragers catch. In most European markets there is a stall where qualified experts certify and stamp a stall holders stock. Sadly no such service is available at local markets.
This sequence was taken at 10 second intervals.
There are choice,edible blue staining Boletes in Europe; but this is NOT one of them. True identification can take more than 25 steps including a highly magnified image of the minute spores.
For the serious collector click below but!!
PLEASE TAKE CARE
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