Gary Lincoff - The Complete Mushroom Hunter: Illustrated Guide to Foraging, Harvesting, and Enjoying Wild Mushrooms

2017 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.

Text 2010, 2017Gary Lincoff

Revised edition published in 2017.

First published in the United States of America in 2017 by

Quarry Books, an imprint of

The Quarto Group

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Digital edition: 978-1-63159-411-3
Softcover edition: 978-1-63159-301-7

Previously found under the following Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lincoff, Gary.

The complete mushroom hunter : an illustrated guide to finding, harvesting, and enjoying wild mushrooms / Gary Lincoff.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-615-3

ISBN-10: 1-59253-615-8

1. MushroomsIdentification. I. Title.

QK617.L5245 2010

579.6'163dc22

Cover Design: Sporto

Design: bradhamdesign.com

Layout: Sporto

An Illustrated Guide to Foraging, Harvesting, and Enjoying Wild Mushrooms

Including New Sections on Growing Your Own Edibles and Off-Season Collecting

GARY LINCOFF

Features Photography of David Work, Dianna Smith, Nancy Ward, and Michael Wood

N ot long ago, it was possible to believe that the only edible mushroom came in a can. The common cultivated mushroom was something that was, essentially, a condiment. It could be put on pizza, served in a sauce over steak, or added with bacon bits to a spinach salad. It was a novelty food, a side dish, something for occasional use, but of no nutritional value (or so it was believed). It held no interest at all as an entre, and was most frequently seen on dinner tables in that ubiquitous can of cream of mushroom soup.

As for medicinal mushrooms, there was penicillin: end of story. Mushrooms, even today, are still not widely accepted as useful medicinals. Although worldwide mushrooms are held in high regard, they still suffer from an undeserved image problem.

More than 1,000 kinds of wild mushrooms are sold as edible mushrooms around the world. Some markets in Italy offer more than 200 different fresh wild mushrooms. More than 100 kinds of mushrooms are now being cultivated. More than 400 kinds are medicinal and are being used by people in almost every country.

The average mushroom consumption in Japan is said to be about 3 ounces (85 g) per person per day. At a per capita consumption of mushrooms in the United States of 4 pounds (1.8 kg) per year, thats what the average Japanese person consumes in just three weeks, eating primarily cultivated mushrooms. People picking wild mushrooms can consume more than 4 pounds (1.8 kg) a week during the season.

Russula xerampelina

Why Should I Gather My Own Mushrooms?

Many people who buy their own groceries need to see, feel, and smell the produce before they buy it.