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EDIBLE FUNGI

Australians are, quite rightly, nervous about going out into the wild to collect their own mushrooms. According to Fungimap this is especially the case for those of British extraction, while Continental Europeans, the Chinese, and the Japanese, have a greater interest and far more confidence in their ability to forage for safe edible fungi. However, caution is still to be recommended.

It is quite probable that there are numbers of Australian fungi as good to eat as their European counterparts. According to R.V. Southcott, “the edibility of most Australian species of fungi is untested” (Southcott, 1996.) To be on the safe side do the following:

• Buy your fabulous mushrooms at the markets or from your green grocer.
• Use the delicious recipes from the Iron Deficient Chef or your fungi vendor.
• Only collect mushrooms if you are an experienced fungi collector or are in the company of same;
• Read widely on the subject – see links below for a start
• Don’t eat anything you are not absolutely certain is safe because you don’t want to become a victim of…

POISONOUS FUNGI

Quoting from Fungimap again, there are three kinds of poisonous fungi:

• Ones that will kill you
• Ones that will make you seriously ill
• Ones that will give you hallucinations

All you could ever wish to know on this subject – the poisonous fungi – can be seen here:
Edible and Poisonous Fungi by FungiMap
Fungi References on Australian National Botanic Gardens
Article about eating poisonous mushrooms
Information on the Deathcap mushrooms