Tekiela Stan - Start Mushrooming

Dedication

To my father, who first inspired me to hunt wild mushrooms.

Cover and book design by Lora Westberg

Edited by Sandy Livoti

Photo credits by photographer and page number:

Cover photos: front cover by beats1/Shutterstock.com; back cover by Mikhail Abramov/Shutterstock.com

Keith A. Bradley:

Used under license from Shutterstock.com:

3d-sparrow:

The following Mushroom Observer (mushroomobserver.org) images are used in this book. Individual photographers are listed in the credits above:

111776, 209748, 323007, 552866, 642899, 659207, 669070, 826316, 858833

The Mushroom Observer images below are licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) license, which is available here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Ann F. Berger: (111776)

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Start Mushrooming: The Reliable Way to Forage

First Edition 1993

Second Edition 2019

Copyright 1993 and 2019 by Stan Tekiela

Published by Adventure Publications

An imprint of AdventureKEEN

330 Garfield Street South

Cambridge, Minnesota 55008

(800) 678-7006

www.adventurepublications.net

All rights reserved

Printed in U.S.A.

ISBN 978-1-59193-830-9 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-59393-831-6 (ebook)

Morel Quest

The madness overtakes you,
It creeps into your mind.

Its an all-consuming feeling,
A quest that happens all the time.

The quest begins in spring or summer,
Depending on where you live.

Search under last years foliage,
Your fingers as the sieve.

Look beneath the passing elms
Right after the life-giving rains.

Search high in the apple orchards,
Search low on riverbanks

For the elusive morel,
And then give thanks

Thanks to our loving earth.

Morel

Table of Contents

Oyster

Enjoying the Wild Mushrooms

Have you ever walked through a wooded area with mushrooms growing and reminisced about your grandparents gathering some for the table? Did you wonder how they got their knowledge of mushrooms? In just a few short decades, we seem to have lost the information that people passed down from generation to generation. With this book, I hope to reconnect you with the tradition of mushroom hunting and help you experience a fascinating part of the natural world. Once you delight in the discovery of a patch of morels or prepare a dish of oyster mushrooms for your family, youll want to keep that tradition going!

Over 25 years ago, as a new author and mushroom enthusiast, I wrote Start Mushrooming to introduce novices to six common, edible mushrooms. Today, I am happy to report that I still search the fields and woods for these tasty treats! In this new second edition, I added a seventh edible mushroom, the chanterelle, as a bonus. This orange beauty is not only highly sought for its delicate flavor, but it also often pops up in enough abundance to make it a meal.

Other current mushroom books often list scores of species, with hundreds of pages of illustrations, photos and descriptions to study for identification. This updated edition of Start Mushrooming remains a unique and much more practical guide. Here, before you start hunting, youll learn about a select group of seven easy-to-identify, edible mushrooms. These mushrooms have several distinct characteristics, and with careful study, they are unlikely to be confused with others.

Start Mushrooming helps keep your hunt easy and focused in simple and straightforward ways. The easy check-off guide, along with the photos, will help guide you on your hunt.

Mushroom hunting is a great way to get into the field, enjoy some fresh air and get some exercisebut its not just for those good things alone. I still firmly believe that the more we experience the outdoors and feel our connection to the natural world, the more well make better choices to care for it. My fascination for all things wild still burns bright, and I hope you will find the same is true for you in the wonderful world of mushrooms.

Enjoy the Wild Mushrooms!

Oyster

Get Ready to Hunt!

For several days now, you have felt the pull of the woods.

Last weeks rain and warm temperatures have set the stage.

Your hiking stick and basket wait patiently by the door.

It is almost time to go.

The years of hunting mushrooms with your father have paid off.

Its mushroom hunting season again, and you wouldnt miss it for the world!

Oyster

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

How to Identify Mushrooms

Shaggy mane

This book has two reliable features for mushroom identification. It focuses on seven edible mushrooms that are easy for a novice to identify, and it provides a check-off guide for each mushroom to help you learn to identify your find. In each check-off guide, six characteristics are given regarding the mushrooms season, habitat, appearance, cap, gills and stem. Use the check-off guide, together with the photos, to help you confirm that your mushroom is one of the seven.

While it may be tempting to go right to the check-off guide and head for the woods, its very important that you dont. Accurate background information is necessary and can be gained by using the book as it is laid out. Youll need this background to use the check-off guide.

Learn what a mushroom is, how it develops and the terminology for its parts.

Learn when, where and how to hunt. Learn the basics of collecting.

Before you leave the house, learn about poisonous mushrooms. The best defense is a good offense.

Become familiar with the check-off guide and how it works.

Read about each of the selected seven edible mushrooms. Study the text, the check-off guide and the photos. In subsequent seasons, after you have some experience with using all of the information provided, you may only need to refer to the seasonal quick-guide that follows the text.

Do all of the reading first. Then focus your hunt and bring this book with you. Once youve found your treasure, compare your specimens to the text and photos, and be sure to compare with photos in other books. Then go through the check-off guide. If you can assuredly answer yes to each of the six characteristics, its likely you have the right mushroom. But its your responsibility to confirm your find. If youre not certain that youve found the correct mushroom, dont eat it.