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Eating Wild Mushrooms

Eating Wild Mushrooms
These are some ripe Pleurotus I photographed for this article.

Pleurotus is a genus of gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, P. ostreatus. Species of Pleurotus may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are some of the most commonly cultivated edible mushroom in the world.

EAT, PEOPLE CHOOSE TO STARVE.

The first thing you need to know is, when walking through the woods you are walking through a sea of food. Some of it is of little or no nutritional value to you, some is toxic to you, and some is good for you, it just may be disgusting. Anything you see, you can eat. It just may make you sick if it is the wrong thing, or be of no value to you. When you eat a food of little nutritional value, your body consumes calories just to digest it, and you starve faster than you would if you did not eat. Remember the forest is full of food so sit down and eat your bowl of maggots. If that disgusts you, now you know why people choose to starve, they won’t eat their maggots.

YOU CAN EAT ANY MUSHROOM, ONCE.

That does not mean you will live to eat it a second time. A person can eat a mushroom one-day with no ill effect and it will kill them the next time they eat it. The list of polypore and edible mushrooms you can eat would fill an encyclopedia set, and the list of polypore and mushrooms that will kill you or make you sick is just as large. A good field book on picking common wild polypore and edible mushrooms is your best bet to avoid problems with eating mushrooms from the wild. Some mushrooms are good to eat, some will make you sick, some will get you stoned, and some have medicinal value.
 
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Step 1Calvatia Gigantea or Giant puffball

Calvatia Gigantea or Giant puffball
Calvatia gigantea, commonly known as the Giant puffball, is a puffball mushroom commonly found in meadows, fields, and deciduous forests worldwide usually in late summer and autumn.

All members of the true puffball family are considered edible when immature, but can cause digestive upset if the spores have begun to form, as indicated by the color of the flesh being not pure white (first yellow, then brown). Immature gilled species still contained within their universal veil can be look alikes for puffballs.

The meat of giant puffballs tastes very similar to tofu or melted cheese when cooked. To prepare, remove any brown portions and tough skin, which sometimes peels off easily. Do not soak in anything. Puffballs may be sauteed, broiled, or breaded and fried; they do not dehydrate well, but may be cooked and then frozen.
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22 comments
Oct 5, 2011. 4:28 AMmrmath says:
I know you touched on it, and I hate to be a nag, but please, people, unless you know EXACTLY what you're eating, DON'T EAT ANYTHING WILD! Eating wild mushrooms can be fun, and tasty. Eating wild mushrooms can be DEADLY.
Oct 23, 2011. 2:23 PMflamesami says:
Oh, what are those plants? I can't think of any, animals, yes, plenty, but I'm drawing a blank with plants that need humans
Oct 25, 2011. 1:37 PMflamesami says:
Well that is definitely extremely interesting, I had absolutely no idea whatsoever about that, thanks for enlightening me, and for answering so quickly
Oct 13, 2011. 2:03 PMpunkhead58 says:
Warning: Do not eat mushrooms found in cow feces...or at least eat them responsibly. But, definitely do not make them into an omelette and serve them to your family. 
Oct 14, 2011. 1:27 PMpunkhead58 says:
Actually, I was sarcastically referring to Psilocybin / Magic mushrooms.
Oct 14, 2011. 7:15 PMpunkhead58 says:
Well, I think that like any fungus, they can grow on any sustainable food source, in the right conditions. But I believe they are mostly found in bullshit. (Pun not intended)
Oct 15, 2011. 11:13 AMpunkhead58 says:
Well, I was speaking generally, but yeah. By the way, did you mean "species"?
Oct 12, 2011. 6:20 AMmastermakoko says:
nice instructables on mushrooms,

Wish they had some more wild mushrooms down here in Indonesia,all we have is the button mushroom,and thats on the supermarket shelves
Oct 5, 2011. 10:34 AMrimar2000 says:
Great work!

I don't like mushrooms, but maybe it is because I never ate them well prepared. Your instructable leads me to try newly.
Oct 4, 2011. 10:38 PMmikeasaurus says:
Great photos and documentation, you seem like a fungi.
Oct 5, 2011. 2:59 AMhiflyer says:
I saw what you did there.....
Oct 6, 2011. 12:00 PMlemonie says:

He understood the pun: fungi / fun-guy.

L

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Author:Josehf Murchison(Josehf Lloyd Murchison)
I am a photographer, a tinker, an electronics technology engineer, and author; I write short stories and poetry for the love of writing. I started writing poetry in high school over thirty years ago w...
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