wild ones to be exact. We've gone from bone dry July to so wet
september that I've got wild mushrooms growing throughout my lawn.
Different sizes, different colours.
I'm not about to start taste testing, but I do wonder if there is any
reliable way to find edible ones.
Gil
Gil White wrote:
Gil
I know vey little about the species of mushroom you would find on your
American lawn, my experience only covers England, New Zealand and, to a
limited extent East Africa.
However it is possible to say that the majority will be harmless, but
not particularly nice to eat, a few may be a gourmets delight and a
very few may be poisonous. The tricky part is that the majority of
poisonous mushrooms are really nasty and it only takes a small amount to
kill you.
This does not mean you should never eat anything but cultivated
mushrooms. It just means you need to be really sure of identifying the
ones you do try. In fact the deadly ones are mostly related and have
particular common features which help to identify them.
I suggest in the first place you find a good illustrated book about
them. When you are pretty sure what you have got, if you think some may
be edible it would be worth taking specimens to some local advisory
service such as a University mycology department or a Museum and finding
someone who is really familiar with what is edible and what is not.
Another possibility is that one of your friends, relatives or neighbours
may be in to eating wild mushrooms and can advise you.
Anyway have fun with your lawn, some mushrooms, even the tiny ones, can
be quite beautiful. Two of our local, not edible, ones I particularly
admire. One grows on our own lawn in Autumn and the colour is a mixture
of black and gold and the other one we have found in the bush and it is
the most startling shade of bright blue. (so bright that when one of our
sons first spotted one he though someone had dropped a piece of
plastic).
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
"Old" is 10 years older than I am.
