Mastodawn

It's mushroom season in the southern hemisphere, and I'm rediscovering just how much *worse* foraging resources are compared to even a few years ago.

There's a terrifying number of LLM-written mushrooming books and guides out there, and they just straight make stuff up.

Fungi are a particular risk to foragers, because humans straight up don't have the ability to taste some of the most deadly toxins. The fungi that cause the most poisonings are the ones that taste good.

As always, do not eat any fungi unless you are absolutely sure what it is, and just as importantly absolutely sure what it is not. Learning to identify dangerous species is even more important than being able to identify edible ones. There are just too many look-alikes.

Stay safe. Be extra cautious of books and guides written in this decade. Happy mushrooming!

#foraging #foragingAustralia #mushrooms #mushrooming

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Sören Meyer-Eppler 14h ago

@pjf the city of Zürich has an amazing service to solve this problem: you go forage to your heart's content and then bring the bounty to an expert who'll sort out the unsafe ones for free.

https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/de/gesundheit/gesundheitsschutz/pilzkontrolle.html

Pilzkontrolle

Sie sind unsicher, ob Ihre gesammelten Pilze geniessbar sind? Lassen Sie Ihre Pilzernte zu Ihrer eigenen Sicherheit und der Ihrer Familie und Freunde kostenlos kontrollieren.

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Paul Fenwick

@BuschnicK : omg that's awesome!!

I was wondering how they'd do a proper ID if the mushroom has been cut through the stipe, but I see they ask for the entire fruiting body (including the base) be brought in, which allows for a much more thorough ID.