a guide to mushroom foraging

Do you aspire to be the kind of person who forages for their food? Who can grab a bucket, head into the wild and return a few hours later with the makings of a hearty meal? Mushrooms are a crowd-pleaser for both meat-eaters and vegos alike, and they’re sprouting all around us, if you know where to look (and when to walk away).

First things first, it’s essential to embrace the mushroom hunter’s mantra: if in doubt, go without. While there are plenty of tasty morsels ready to be cooked in an omelette or boiled in a stew, not all fungi are edible, and in fact, some could land you in the emergency room. The basic rule is if you’re not 100 per cent sure of a mushroom’s ID, you should give it a miss rather than take a risk. After