Backyard Local: When It Pays to Consult an Expert First

Today, I did an exceedingly stupid thing. I ate a wild mushroom without consulting an expert first.

Before you gasp in horror, I'm (obviously) perfectly fine. I knew immediately, with the first nibble, that I had the wrong fungus in my mouth and washed it out before ingesting it. The mushroom turned out to be the rather well-named False Chanterelle. It had me totally fooled, although it did not have the characteristic apricot smell and was rather more orange than I'd expected. I found them growing on the side of the driveway into my work and gathered a few this morning to test. They really, really do look like chanterelles, but the giveaway (I found out later) is that the gills do not extend down the stems.

False chanterelles are not terribly poisonous. Some people even consider them edible, but they're known to cause gastrointestinal upset. The tiny nibble I took was spicy and peppery in flavor, rather than fruity as a chanterelle should be.

So the moral here is to be properly trained in the identification of wild mushrooms. I have contacted the Boston Mycological Club for more information on their classes and guided walks and will let you know when they get back to me. I'm also planning on attending a workshop or two on mushrooms at the Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference in August.