There are more than a few situations in life where look but do not touch seems a wise course. I feel that way about mushrooms.
We have a lot of very interesting looking mushrooms around this province. You can see them popping up pretty much any time from spring through until late fall. Lots of different ones with different shapes and colours. They really can be fascinating.
I’m fairly sure some of them are edible. I know people who enjoy some types of wild mushrooms. I am not one of those people. I don’t trust myself and my lack of knowledge, so I’ll just look at them and admire them, thanks.
Take chanterelle mushrooms. They are supposedly quite delicious. I’m pretty sure I have seen them in the wild. There are a couple of hemlock groves where I walk on a somewhat regular basis. I think I have seen them. I may also have seen false chanterelle mushrooms. In fact, I’m almost positive I have seen both. I’m also positive I do not have the ability to positively identify one from the other. So I’m not going to try them.
Over the weekend, I’m pretty sure I came across Shaggy Mane ink caps. Again, a supposedly edible mushroom. These are pretty cool because on top of just eating the mushroom, you can take them as they get a bit “overripe” and use the ink part, which is what the caps dissolve into, to create a vegetarian version of squid ink pasta. That would be cool.
But here’s the thing. If you notice the closed version of this mushroom, the outside looks sort of scaly. That’s the shaggy part of the shaggy mane. There is also a version of this mushroom… well, a different mushroom, really… that looks pretty much the same, except there are no scales.
Here’s the fun part. Neither one will kill you. One is very much edible. The other, the one without the scales, is also edible. Provided you have consumed no alcohol for a minimum of 48 hours on either side of eating them. If you have, they can make you sick.
Fun things these fungi.
Since I am not equipped to tell which of these are the true culinary treats and which would like to cause illness and possible death, I will stick to admiring their beauty and not giving them a taste test.
I may not be willing to eat them, but they are still quite nice to look at.
