Ten years back Stalker was keen to set eyes on the new guide for Irish mushrooms Forest Fungi of Ireland.
The guide’s authors helpfully munched on all the specimens therein, in order to be 100% sure of the fungus’s edibility. The lengths people will go to for research purposes!
The publication from Coford, the Forest Research Council, was aimed at those interested in mushroom collecting and cooking, and is as relevant today as it was a decade ago.
Anyone with more than a passing interest in the glorious fruit bodies that fill the forests, fields and hedgerows at this time of year will no doubt want to have a copy of this scholarly but practical ring-bound hardback tome. Forest Fungi in Ireland (€30), by Paul Dowding and Louis Smith (order from orla.cashen@agriculture.gov.ie).
If you are picking out in the wild, be careful – only ever eat if you are 100% sure of the mushroom. The consequences of misidentification can be fatal.
As the saying goes - there are old mushroom foragers, and there are bold mushroom foragers; but there are no old, bold mushroom foragers!
