Mushrooms’ popularity is booming, but so are poisonings, experts warn | CNN
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Mowing the yard outside his home in Windham, Ohio, William D. Hickman discovered what he thought would make a delicious addition to his dinner. A beautiful handful of mushrooms had popped out of the shaggy green lawn.

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People have been foraging for mushrooms since the Stone Age, but mycologists across the country say they’ve seen an increased interest in the hobby and a significant increase in poisonings, too.

“Fungi are kind of a hot thing right now,” said Dr. Matthew Nelsen, a research scientist at the Negaunee Integrative Research Center at the Field Museum in Chicago who is also president of the Illinois Mycological Association, a group that describes itself as “fungal enthusiasts.”

Mushroom motifs now decorate all kinds of things: tea towels, toddlers’ sweaters, table lamps. But when interest extends beyond mushroom stuffies to the real stuff, people really need to be careful.

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Even experts can have a hard time telling the toxic from the edible just by sight, mycology instructor Rick Van de Poll said. He has to examine some of them under the microscope to be sure they’re safe.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    12·
    11 months ago

    Up here in the Northwest USA, mushroom hunting has been a passtime for folks for decades.

    It’s so popular out here that local mushroom companies have begun cultivating varieties that used to be only available to people who hunted in the woods for them.

    You don’t have to go into the woods anymore for shit like chanterelles. They’ve had that shit at Safeway for a few years now.