Mushrooming with Confidence: A Guide to Collecting Edible and Tasty Mushrooms
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About this ebook
Improving on the usual overwhelming and exhaustive wild plant guidebook, Mushrooming with Confidence is a slim, handy manual that focuses on the tastiest and most common mushrooms, so that you can easily spot those that are not only safe to eat, but also a delight to cook and share!
Here mushrooms are divided into four identification categories so that anyone will be able to recognize what he or she is looking at quickly and correctly. Thirty of the most common and delicious types are explained in detail, from the common field mushroom to the pretty purple amethyst deceiver and the prolific and tasty charcoal burner. Each mushroom includes a “Positive ID Checklist” that the reader can go through to be absolutely certain they have the right species, and more than 300 color photographs make it a snap to know exactly what kind of mushroom you’ve found . . . and whether you really want to pick it!
With lists of the best tools for mushrooming, the best techniques for getting a mushroom out of the ground in one piece, and even how to remove worms, Mushrooming with Confidence will extinguish any fear or doubt that might stop you from hunting down your own delicious mushrooms. This will prove a fun and essential guide for novice and experienced pickers alike!
Alexander Schwab
Alexander Schwab grew up in Switzerland and was awarded a Masters Degree in philosophy and history at Aberdeen University. His main interests are all aspects of fishing, hunting and mushrooming. He now lives in New Zealand and when not mushrooming, fishing or hunting, he is thinking or writing about them.
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Reviews for Mushrooming with Confidence
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Book preview
Mushrooming with Confidence - Alexander Schwab
Mushrooming with Confidence
Alexander Schwab
Alexander Schwab grew up in Switzerland and was awarded a master’s degree in philosophy and history at Aberdeen University. His main interests are all aspects of fishing, hunting, and mushrooming. He lives in the beautiful Emmental region of Switzerland and when not fishing, hunting, or mushrooming he is thinking or writing about them.
Mushrooming with Confidence
A Guide to Collecting
Edible and Tasty Mushrooms
Alexander Schwab
Consultant: Roy Mantle
Skyhorse Publishing
Text and Photographs Copyright © 2010, 2012 by Alexander Schwab First published by Merlin Unwin Books Ltd. (Ludlow UK) in 2011.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.
Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or info@skyhorsepublishing.com
Skyhorse® and Skyhorse Publishing® are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file. ISBN: 978-1-62087-195-9
eISBN: 978-1-62087-743-2
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this book. In no circumstances can the publisher or the author accept any liability for any loss, injury, or damage of any kind resulting from an error or omission in the information contained in this book. The same applies to the website www.mushrooming.co.uk and its contents and links.
Printed in China
Contents
How to Use This Guide.
The Mushrooming with Confidence Method
What does edible
mean?
Learn to leave a mushroom
Look-alike poisonous species
The tools of the trade
Worm-infested mushrooms
Cutting or pulling?
Raw mushrooms
What Is a Mushroom?
Gills, Ridges, Tubes, and Spines
Gills
Ridges
Gills and Ridges in Comparison
Tubes
Spines
Positively Identifying Mushrooms
Mushrooms with Gills
The Field Mushroom
The Wood Blewit
The Shaggy Mane
The Parasol
The Shaggy Parasol
The Oyster Mushroom
The Charcoal Burner
The Amethyst Deceiver
Mushrooms with Tubes
The King Bolete
The Red Cracked Bolete
The Larch Bolete
The Slippery Jack
The Bay Bolete
The Birch Bolete
Mushrooms with Ridges
The Chanterelle
The Trumpet Chanterelle
Mushrooms with Spines
The Hedgehog Fungus
Mavericks
The Morel
The Common Puffball
The Hen of the Woods
The Horn of Plenty
The Cauliflower Mushroom
Trees and Mushrooms
Handling, Storage, and Cooking
Index
How to Use This Guide
and the Essential Rules
Read the entire book twice in order to be sure you understand the approach.
Study the Gills, Ridges, Tubes, and Spines sections until you’re confident you can correctly distinguish these features; then you’re ready for a foray.
Double-check the mushrooms you have picked, back at home, by completing the positive identification checklist step by step, which is listed at the end of every species featured in this book. You must be able to check off every single box. If you can, you have the right species. If you can’t, you might not have, so don’t eat it.
Only eat mushrooms that you have clearly identified with all the positive ID marks.
If a mushroom smells rotten, it is rotten and if it feels soggy, it is soggy.
Never, never eat wild mushrooms raw.
The Mushrooming with
Confidence Method
What does edible
mean?
There are few pleasures as exclusive and satisfying as a feast of delicious wild mushrooms. Likewise,