Contents

Introduction 1How to Use This Book 4

Focus Points 4Table of Focus Points 5

The Mushrooms 6Terminology and Names 7

Identifying Wild Mushrooms 9Picking Mushrooms for Identification 11Working with Mushrooms at Home 12Learning from Experts 15

Collecting, Preparing, and Eating Wild Mushrooms 18In the Woods 18

Field Equipment for Hunting Edible Mushrooms 19Consider the Substrate 20

In the Kitchen 20Safety Precautions for Trying New Mushrooms 24

Preserving Wild Mushrooms 24

From the Store 27

1 The Button Mushroom and the Portobello: Agaricus bisporus 282 Porcini: Various Bolete Species 323 The Enoki: Cultivated Flammulina velutipes 344 Oyster Mushrooms: Pleurotus ostreatus and Others 365 The Shiitake: Lentinula edodes 38

Poisonous Look-Alikes 41

Amanita Species 43Galerina marginata and Similar Species 46Chlorophyllum molybdites 50Poisonous Mushrooms in the Lepiota Group 51Poisonous Boletes 53False Morels 55Poisonous Clitocybe Species 58

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Inocybe Species 60Cortinarius Species 62Entoloma Species 64Jack O’Lantern Mushrooms: Omphalotus Species 65Poisonous Russula Species 67Poisonous Agaricus Species 70Gymnopilus Species 72

Recommended for Beginners 75

6 The Old Man of the Woods: Strobilomyces floccopus 767 The Chicken of the Woods: Laetiporus Species 798 Black Morels: Morchella Species 849 Yellow Morels: Morchella Species 87

10 Giant Puffballs: Calvatia gigantea and Others 9111 The Devil’s Urn: Urnula craterium 9412 Boletus parasiticus 9613 The Black Trumpet: Craterellus cornucopioides 9914 Craterellus foetidus 10115 Hericium Species 10216 Hedgehog Mushrooms: Hydnum repandum and Hydnum umbilicatum 10417 Lactarius indigo 10618 The Cauliflower Mushroom: Sparassis Species 108

Experience Required 111

19 The Prince: Agaricus augustus 11220 The Meadow Mushroom: Agaricus campestris and Others 11421 Albatrellus Species 11722 The Jelly Ear: Auricularia auricula 11923 Boletellus russellii 12124 The King Bolete: Boletus edulis and Others 12325 Boletus griseus and Boletus ornatipes 12626 Boletus illudens 12827 Boletus pallidus 12928 Boletus subglabripes and Boletus hortonii 13129 Boletus zelleri 13330 Eastern Chanterelles: “Cantharellus cibarius” and Others 13531 Western Chanterelles: Cantharellus Species 13932 Cantharellus appalachiensis 14133 The Smooth Chanterelle: Cantharellus lateritius 142

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34 Pine Spikes: Chroogomphus Species 14435 Clavariadelphus Species 14636 The Shaggy Mane: Coprinus comatus 14837 Craterellus tubaeformis 15238 Fistulina hepatica 15439 Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma tsugae 15640 Gomphidius Species 15941 Gomphus clavatus 16142 The Hen of the Woods: Grifola frondosa 16343 Gyrodon merulioides 16644 Gyroporus castaneus 16745 Gyroporus cyanescens 16946 Ischnoderma resinosum 17147 Lactarius deliciosus 17348 Lactarius rubidus 17649 Lactarius thyinos 17850 Lactarius volemus 18051 Brown Leccinum Species 18252 White Leccinum Species: Leccinum holopus and Others 18453 Leccinum rugosiceps 18654 Puffballs: Lycoperdon Species and Others 18955 Half-Free Morels: Morchella Species 19256 The Train Wrecker: Neolentinus lepideus 19557 Stinkhorns: Phallus impudicus and Phallus hadriani 19758 The Gilled Bolete: Phylloporus rhodoxanthus 2004 in the Wild Oyster Mushrooms: Pleurotus ostreatus and Others 20259 Polyporus squamosus 20460 Polyporus umbellatus 20761 Russula flavida 20962 Russula virescens 21163 Stropharia rugosoannulata 21364 Suillus americanus 21565 Suillus cavipes 21766 Suillus granulatus 21867 The Slippery Jack: Suillus luteus 22168 Suillus pictus and Suillus lakei 22369 Suillus pungens 22570 Tylopilus alboater 22771 Tylopilus ballouii 22972 Xanthoconium affine 23073 Xanthoconium separans 23274 Xerula Species 234

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Difficult 237

75 The Horse Mushroom: Agaricus arvensis 2381 in the Wild Agaricus bisporus 23976 Agaricus Species (Unidentified) 24277 Honey Mushrooms: Armillaria Species 24478 Armillaria tabescens 24779 Boletus Species (Unidentified) 24980 Catathelasma Species 25181 The Shaggy Parasol: Chlorophyllum rhacodes 25382 The Blewit: Clitocybe nuda 25583 Clitopilus prunulus 25884 The Gypsy: Cortinarius caperatus 26085 Flammulina velutipes 26286 Hygrophorus russula 26587 The Lobster Mushroom: Hypomyces lactifluorum 26788 Laccaria ochropurpurea 26989 Lactarius deceptivus 27190 Lyophyllum decastes 27591 Macrolepiota americana 27892 The Parasol Mushroom: Macrolepiota procera 28193 Marasmius oreades 28394 The Deer Mushroom: Pluteus cervinus 28795 Pluteus petasatus 28996 Russula claroflava 29197 Russula variata and Russula cyanoxantha 29398 The Shrimp Russula: Russula xerampelina 29599 The Matsutake: Tricholoma magnivelare 297100 Tricholomopsis rutilans 301

Recipes 303

Artichoke Shiitake Pizza 303Asparagus Garnish with Mushrooms 303Beef Stroganoff with Wild Mushrooms 303Bigos (Polish Stew) 304Candy Cap or Matsutake Waffles 304Chanterelles in Brandy Cream Sauce 305Chicken of the Woods with Lemon Cream 305Five-Spice Beef with Enokis 305Glazed Duck with Cranberry and Mushroom Stuffing 306

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Jaeger Sauce for Schnitzel or Steak 306Lamb with Mint and Mushrooms 306Marinated Mushrooms 306Matsutake-Persimmon Casserole 307Mushroom Quiche 307Mushroom Ravioli 307Pasta with Hedgehogs, Bacon, and Tomato 308Polish Pork Chops with Russulas 308Porcini Sauce for Pork Roast 309Portuguese Steak with Mushrooms 309Salted Mushroom Salad 309Shaggy Mane Soup 310Shrimp-Stuffed Morels 310Spinach Mushroom Ricotta Pie 310Stuffed Mushrooms 311

Suggested Readings 313Works Cited 313Mushroom Guides and Readings 313Tree Guides 315Cooking Mushrooms 315Web Sites 315

Photo Credits and Acknowledgments 317Glossary and Index 319

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Introduction

I love mushrooms. When I see one in the woods, I drop to the groundto admire it. When I see one from the car, I slam on the brakes. I canspend hours crawling around on hands and knees in my yard while myneighbors shake their heads. I touch them, sniff them, draw them, taketheir pictures, make them the stars of home movies, study them, putthem under my microscope, dry them, keep them in my living room,give presentations about them, write books about them—and some-times I eat them.

Most of the best meals I’ve eaten in my life included wild mush-rooms. A creamy sauce of chanterelles (p. 139) over toast in an Italianrestaurant in Durango, Colorado (see chef Vincent Ferraro’s recipe onp. 305); veal cutlets with porcini (p. 32) in the Italian Alps; raviolimade from scratch and stuffed with Boletus pallidus (p. 129; recipe onp. 307); a mess of sautéed yellow morels (p. 87) over steaks . . . my tastebuds think of these as the high points of my life.

But the truth is (and I want you to know this right away), I don’teat a lot of wild mushrooms. About once a month I cook up some freshor dried morels, chanterelles, or porcini, but that’s about it. For onething, wild mushrooms scare me. Even when I am 100 percent sure of a

Hericium erinaceus (edible; p. 102)

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mushroom’s identity and the species has been eaten safely by thousandsof people, my intellect has trouble communicating the certainty to therest of me. The two times I have suffered from relatively minor mush-room poisoning (“gastrointestinal distress” is a nice euphemism for thesymptoms), it was not pleasant. Once, I had correctly identified andeaten a mushroom (an orange-capped Leccinum; see p. 55) that, at thetime, was widely reported as a safe edible. The other time, I ate blue-berries that I had stupidly not washed after I had coated them with sporedust from poisonous puffballs (Scleroderma citrinum; see pp. 96–98) inthe woods, stomping on them again and again like a madman in orderto show a friend how they dispersed their spores.

So my goal with this book is only partly to give you the meansto collect and cook up edible wild mushrooms. The bigger goal is to getyou interested in mushrooms—edible or not. They are so fascinating, andso little is known about them! If you love the woods, as I do, think aboutthis: the forest would not be there without mushrooms. The trees andwoody plants require mushrooms for survival (see the Focus Point “My-corrhizal Mushrooms,” p. 108). Stumps and fallen logs would never rotaway (see “Wood-Rotting Parasites and Saprobes,” p. 82). Dead leavesand needles would pile up until the forest choked on its own debris (see“Litter-Decomposing Saprobes,” p. 257). Instead of tilting as a result ofthe activity of a gazillion generations of enterprising earthworms, thattower in Pisa would be engulfed by dead grass that never decomposed(see “Grass-Loving Saprobes,” p. 93). The fungi are integral to life onearth, and mushrooms deserve our respect and admiration!

Yeah, okay—not quite a Vince Lombardi halftime speech and def-initely not Prince Hal’s “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”the night before battle. Maybe you just want to find some edible mush-rooms and enjoy a good meal—you have, after all, purchased a bookcalled 100 Edible Mushrooms, not Mushrooms Will Save the Planet. So Ihave some good news for you and a little piece of bad news.

First, the good news. I have asked two mushroom experts who arealso experts on eating mushrooms to help me out. John David Moore haswritten most of the “In the Woods” and “In the Kitchen” entries in thebook, as well as some material in the section “Collecting, Preparing, andEating Wild Mushrooms.” John David introduced me to the world ofmushrooms, many years ago, and we have been collecting mushroomstogether ever since. This guy knows his mushrooms—and he can cooklike nobody’s business. Darvin DeShazer is scientific advisor for theSonoma County Mycological Association. He can identify just aboutany mushroom you put in front of him in about two seconds, and he isalso a wonderful cook; he has written the entries on picking and cook-

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ing western mushrooms. Shannon Stevens and Ken Gilberg of the Mis-souri Mycological Society have helped with some rarely eaten mush-rooms, as has my wife, Kate Klipp.

The further good news is that there are well over 100 edible mush-rooms included in these pages. Many of the individual entries actuallyrepresent two, three, a dozen, or even more species as they are currentlydefined by mycologists. Hundreds of Edible Mushrooms, however, wouldn’thave made for a catchy title.

The bad news is that while there are indeed hundreds of ediblemushrooms in North America there are not 100 good edible mushrooms.We were definitely scraping the bottoms of the edibility and palata-bility barrels to come up with 100 entries. If you want to eat the devil’surn (p. 94) or pickled stinkhorn eggs (p. 197), have at it, by all means.But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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