#waves at mutuals hey sorry for the long post twice reblogged

[shikitsuka]

The problem with *widely* is you need a foraging book for your specific area. Plants and mushrooms vary by place. But just... Make sure the book is an actual legitimate book compiled by someone who has extensive knowledge. Check that the person is real. That is a thing we need to do now, sigh..

Google the book, check reviews if there are any.

It might be a good idea to check if there's any used books for sale- if it's old cross reference with an online source (again, check check check) because we still discover that some mushrooms we ate in the past actually are not good long term ex. are carcinogenic.

Sorry for the very not straight forward answer, my foraging is just as not straight forward 😆. Here's what I did before I started gathering shaggy inkcaps: joined a mushroom id group on facebook (private. Not public) to passively soak up knowledge bc I am just curious in general. Saw a few mushrooms appearing over and over again, then saw them in the forest. Found them in my book. ID them according to book. Found more info online on mushroom sites. Checked again. Took photos, asked the mushroom group. 0 other ids. Ate one fried and waited. Success, now I gather them

This took time but I did not have issues with finding those sources but that might be harder if the culture you're in doesn't forage much. All the stuff I searched I searched in polish to get the local information

Maybe someone will recommend you a specific book, though knowing where in the world you are will be needed for that. Hope that my rambling was helpful at least a little bit 😅

Tldr: don't rush, have several sources independent of each other that seem legitimate (check them if possible), always eat a test amount of anything you forage for the first time

Just so everyone is aware:

An international group of qualified mushroom identifiers who do worldwide identification in emergency cases have identified the Shroomers App as a potentially very dangerous system that could kill you if you try to use it to identify edible mushrooms. They use AI to generate almost all of their content, including their identification profiles on their app as well as their books and other materials. Not only is this unethical from a content creation standpoint, it is also extremely dangerous.

DO NOT USE APPS FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES BEYOND SIMPLE CURIOSITY. A MISTAKE WHEN IDENTIFYING AN EDIBLE COULD COST YOU YOUR LIFE. DO NOT EAT ANY FORAGED MUSHROOM YOU CANNOT IDENTIFY YOURSELF BY SIGHT OR HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED IN PERSON BY SOMEONE WHO CAN.

ONLY BUY BOOKS FROM REPUTABLE SOURCES AND AT THIS POINT THAT MEANS ASKING EXPERIENCED PEOPLE WHAT BOOKS THEY USE.

Mushrooms are fun, amazing organisms. Enjoy safely.