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Published on 03/02/1998 All articles from this issue

'Mushroom man' offers important advice on separating the delicious from the deadly

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By Carol Tiegs

Town Crier Staff Writer

One thing you can say for rain - it makes the mushrooms grow. And that means delicious dining for afficionados of the fruit of the fungus.

"It's not hard to get enough knowledge to be safe" when it comes to gathering and eating wild mushrooms, said Wade Leschyn of the Mycological Society of San Francisco.

Leschyn led a mushroom hike recently at Hidden Villa Wilderness Preserve in Los Altos Hills, teaching mushroom collecting and identification.

"You don't need to know all the mushrooms," Leschyn said. "There are too many. The trick is to categorize them. The poisonous mushrooms are fairly easy to categorize."

Hidden Villa spokeswoman Diane Holcomb said Leschyn's hikes at the preserve, held twice a year, are "very popular."

"The mushroom hikes always sell out," Holcomb said. "Since the mushroom scare, everyone wants to find out what's edible."

It is important to understand that there are degrees of poisoning when it comes to mushrooms, Leschyn said.

For example, while the Amanita family contains both poisonous and nonpoisonous varieties, the poisonous types are deadly.

"By avoiding (the Amanita) family you can be relatively safe," he said.

The Agaricus family is a large one that includes poisonous varieties as well as the mushrooms typically found in food stores.

But the poisons of Agaricus family mushrooms are not deadly, Leschyn said, "just unpleasant."

Leschyn emphasizes learning the various mushroom families.

"Typically people are only familiar with store-bought mushrooms," he said. "As you learn the characteristics you can make more exact distinctions."

Characteristics such as shape and color can change with the weather, Leschyn said. That's why it's important to learn more permanent characteristics such as the appearance of gills or pores on the underside of the mushroom cap, or rings on the stem.

Chanterelles are one of the most common, popular edibles in this area, Leschyn said. "They grow around oak trees and are fairly easy to identify," he said.

Boletus edulis is "a most desirable species, rare and highly esteemed," he said. It is a fall mushroom, found along the coast.

The Russula family has some good edibles, Leschyn said. "Americans typically don't eat as many because they are harder to identify, but they are one of the most frequently seen."

While Europeans have developed common names for mushroom varieties, Leschyn said it is only recently that mushrooms have become part of the American language.

"Book publishers are trying to force the use of common names (for mushrooms)," he said, "but the names are not standardized. The scientific names allow for accuracy."

When it comes to eating mushrooms, Leschyn recommends always starting with a little bit. "As with any food, there can be allergies," he said.

For more information on the Mycological Society of San Francisco contact Leschyn at 364-1494, or Norm Andresen at (510) 278-8998.