They call them "Death Caps" for a reason

[DavidBrown]

A sad tale of how ignorance of wild mushroom identification led to mushroom gravy that killed 4 people.

Death cap mushroom looks good, tastes good, and often kills - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee

 

[Brum]

Same thing happened over here, a woman picked some mushrooms from her garden to make soup. She ended up dead and her husband ended up in critical care.

Woman dies after eating mushroom: Christine Hale ate death cap toadstool from her garden in Bridgwater, Somerset - Mirror Online

 

[jbnbsn99]

And that's why I don't eat mushrooms of any kind (also I don't like their taste).

 

[callorhinus]

And that's why I don't eat mushrooms of any kind (also I don't like their taste).

There are very different situations in nations and countries. I've heard that people in Middle and West Europe almost do not eat mushrooms. Many people in Russia like mushrooms, and they know which mushrooms are not dangerous. There are many rules, simple and complicated, how to get and cook mushrooms. For instance, there are no dangerous mushrooms with spongeous sporiferous layer in our region. There are lot of very good such mushrooms, and the one of the most tasty - Boletus edulis - is among them.

And there are most universal rule: if you are not sure what is it, then do not take it.

I think that tragedies in Europe are due to the fact, that most common edible mushroom champignon (Agaricus bisporus) is very similar to death cup amanita (Amanita phalloides), which is one of the most dangerous mushrooms, and because of poor experience.

 

[Pootle]

Several years ago I was bought a book about wild foraging for food, which is interesting and I have used to some success. However I am too fearful to pick most species of mushroom. In fact apart from ‘Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphurous ) and Morels (Morchella sp), (the latter I have not yet found!). The biggest problem with mushrooms in my opinion is that they look so different at different stages of their lifecycle and it is this that puts me off identifying them, especially for consumption. What can look like a safe tasty edible field type of mushroom when young can look like a toxic species a few days later and it is that what really puts me off, as identifying pictures in books don’t always show what they look like from being a few days old to several days old. It is best left to the experts otherwise you could be faced with futile fungi foraging.