Mushroom hunting

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A person foraging mushrooms

Mushroom hunting, mushrooming, mushroom picking, mushroom foraging, and similar terms describe the activity of gathering mushrooms in the wild. This is typically done for culinary purposes, although medicinal and psychotropic uses are also known. Expert analysis is required to distinguish between useful and poisonous species.

The practice is popular throughout most of Eurasia and Australia, as well as in temperate regions of North America.

Seasons

Mushrooms generally begin to fruit when it is both warm and moist in their region.

In the North American Pacific Northwest, species shortly occur from spring to summer, but are most common in autumn. In the Southwestern United States, mushrooms can be found during the winter rains and spring. In the Midwest and Northeast U.S., they can be found from late April until the frosts of autumn. In the Colorado Rockies, they are best collected in July and August. They can be found through winter on the Gulf Coast.

Location

Particular mushrooms are associated with certain conditions such as proximity to certain types of trees and habitat. Mycologist David Arora provides an exhaustive list.Template:Sfn

Identification

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Some morphological characteristics of mushrooms useful in aiding identification

Numerous field guides on mushrooms are available to help distinguish between safe, edible mushrooms (or medicinal or psychotropic fungi) and the many poisonous or inedible species. Morphological characteristics of the caps, gills, and stems of mushrooms are often essential for correct visual mushroom identification. Microscopy is sometimes needed to eliminate lookalikes.Template:Sfn

A common identification technique is the spore print, in which a mushroom is placed on a surface and spores are allowed to fall underneath. This technique is often used by mycologists and mushroom hunters to identify the genus or species of a specimen and differentiate between similar-looking taxa.Template:Sfn

Difficult-to-distinguish species

The term little brown mushroom (LBM) refers to any of a large number of small, dull-coloured agaric species, with few uniquely distinguishing macromorphological characteristics. As a result, LBMs typically range from difficult to impossible for mushroom hunters to identify. Experienced mushroom hunters may discern more subtle identifying traits that help narrow the mushroom down to a particular genus or group of species, but exact identification of LBMs often requires close examination of microscopic characteristics plus a certain degree of familiarity or specialization in that particular group.Template:Sfn

Additionally, boring ubiquitous mushroom (BUM) describes groups of difficult to identify larger agarics, many of which are in the genus Hebeloma.Template:Sfn Just another Russula (JAR) can refer to any species of Russula that is common or difficult to identify.Template:Sfn Yet another Mycena (YAM) describes any of the many Mycena species that are common, nondescript, or difficult to identify.Template:Sfn

Collection

Although some individual species do not preserve well, many do with proper care. David Arora recommends the use of a firm container such as a basket, with lighter specimens stored above heavier ones and species being separated using waxed paper (not plastic bags, which trap moisture and cause rot); as the negative gravitropism of fungi tends to orient the gills downward, taller mushrooms must be stored upright.Template:Sfn

Regional importance

Mushroom hunting is popular throughout most of Europe, Asia and Australia, as well as in temperate regions of Canada and the U.S.

• British enthusiasts enjoy an extended average picking season of 75 days compared to just 33 in the 1950s.
• In Japan, particular mushroom types are hunted, with particular importance given to delicacies such as the Matsutake mushroom.
• In Slavic countries and Baltic countries, mushroom picking is a common family activity. According to David Arora, "The Russians go absolutely bananas for fungus. Mushrooming is a commonplace tradition there, not the hallowed turf of the academic or connoisseur."Template:Sfn After a heavy rain during the mushroom season whole families often venture into the nearest forest, picking bucketfuls of mushrooms, which are cooked and eaten for dinner upon return (most often in omelettes with eggs or fried in butter) or alternatively dried or marinated for later consumption. In Southern Lithuania mushroom hunting is considered a "national sport". They even host a Mushroom Festival ("Grybų šventė") in Varėna including a mushroom hunting championship.
• In the U.S., mushroom picking is popular in the Appalachian area and on the west coast from San Francisco Bay northward, in northern California, Oregon and Washington, and in many other regions.

Radiation

Nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl disaster is an important issue concerning mushroom picking in Europe. Due to the wide spread of their mycelium, mushrooms tend to accumulate more radioactive caesium-137 than surrounding soil and other organisms. State agencies (e.g. Bellesrad in Belarus) monitor and analyze the degree of radionuclide accumulation in various wild species of plants and animals. In particular, Bellesrad claims that Svinushka (Paxillus ssp.), Maslenok (Suillus ssp.), Mohovik (Xerocomus ssp.), and Horkushka (Lactarius rufus) are the worst ones in this respect. The safest one is Opyonok Osyenniy (Armillaria mellea). This is an issue not only in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia: the fallout also reached western Europe, and until recently the German government discouraged people gathering certain mushrooms.

See also

• List of mushroom dishes
• Mushroom diet

Further reading

• 100 Edible Mushrooms: With Tested Recipes(2007) Template:ISBN
• All That the Rain Promises, and More (1991) Template:ISBN
• Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada (2009) Template:ISBN (1-55643-795-1)
• Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field-to-kitchen Guide (1992) Template:ISBN
• How to Identify Edible Mushrooms (2007) Template:ISBN
• Mushrooming Without Fear (2007) Template:ISBN
• Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi (1986) Template:ISBN
• Mushrooms of Northeastern North America (1997) Template:ISBN
• North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi (2006) Template:ISBN
• The Mushroom Rainbow: Only the most delicious or deadly mushrooms sorted by color (2011) Template:ISBN (0986940909)