I am all for creative sushi, but not when the creator doesn't fully understand the ingredients. A sushi restaurant in Montana served people sushi with raw and very undercooked morel (Morchella spp.) mushrooms on it. Over fifty people ended up sick with gastrointestinal upset, and two people actually died. Other restaurants that served the same batch of morels, fully cooked, had no such issues, and there was no evidence that there was any mishandling of the morels that could have caused a bacterial or other contamination. So it's pretty clear that the raw morels themselves were to blame.

Yes, there are a few wild mushroom species you can eat raw, and only in small amounts). No, Morchella are not among them. Morels have a toxin in them that's neutralized by cooking; Paul Stamets theorized that it's hydrazine, but no one has been able to isolate hydrazine in a morel yet so that's not a done deal. Whatever it is, there's enough of it that it tends to give people nasty gastrointestinal upset when they eat raw morels, even in small quantities. This is the first I've heard of people dying from it.

It's not the only time I've heard of people dying from consuming a commonly-considered-edible mushroom, though. There were two separate incidents--2004 and 2009--in which several people who ate angel wing mushrooms (Pleurocybella porrigens) died of encephalopathy. Now, it did turn out that most of the people sickened had pre-existing liver and/or kidney issues. And a 2011 study identified an unstable amino acid, now named Pleurocybellaziridine, as the possible fatal factor that was found in large quantities in angel wings. It could be that the culprits were flushes of these mushrooms with abnormally high amounts of Pleurocybellaziridine. But you can't tell how much of a given metabolite a given mushroom has just by looking at it, and so that raises enough of an alarm for me personally that as a forager I just put angel wings on the "do not eat" list.

Will I continue to eat morels? Yes. The toxicity associated with raw morels has been known for a long time, and there have been no recorded issues with thoroughly cooked morels (the angel wings were also cooked, meaning the toxin is not thermolabile.) And as mentioned before, almost any edible wild mushroom is going to give you gastrointestinal issues if you eat it raw. The mushrooms you get at the store are a weird outlier that can be safely eaten raw. And by the way, button mushrooms, criminis, and portobellos are all the same species--Agaricus bisporus--at different stages of development.

This is why I emphasize in my foraging classes that you should always cook your wild mushrooms thoroughly, and if you're trying a new species for the first time only eat a small amount and then wait a few days to make sure you don't have any reactions. As the saying goes, there are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.

sunny afternoon..

[Cyclocybe parasitica]

Turkey tail 》 Trametes versicolor

A beautiful flush of turkey tails! It's so cool to see how they grew around the pine needles.

Southeast Texas, 13 Nov. 2023

Went to a mushroom festival

Balsam Trail, Mount Mitchell, NC

This mountain is known for its height. At 6,684 feet tall, it is the tallest mountain and peak east of the Mississippi River, and the tallest peak in the Appalachian mountain range.

The old growth forest on this mountain is an extremely rare and special place. The Balsam Trail is one of my most favorite places in the world. It feels like you are transported into another world. It’s absolutely amazing.

Love this mushroom video. 🍄

Cortinarius sp.

Commonly called "webcaps".

Young cortinarius mushrooms have a veil-like structure called a cortina between their cap and stem, which usually vanishes as they mature. Worldwide, it's estimated over two thousand species of cortinarius exist.

July 24th, 2023

Randolph County, Illinois, USA

Olivia R. Myers

@oliviarosaline

My sister asked what was wrong with this moss and I honestly had no idea, but apparently it's insect egg slime mold!! It's so cool! Kind of a pleasing shape honestly

Wild Courtiers

Watercolor On Artboard

2022, 9"x 12"

Cortinarius violaceus, Violet Cort

Amethyst

what im pretty sure is mycena haematopus on a mossy log. very charming :3

papa bear..

moma bear..

baby bear..

Hericium erinaceus..some prefer different nicknames but it reminds me of a bears head at maturity..fruiting reliably on a fallen maple log..

Peach amanita [amanita persicina]

Ochre bracket 》 Trametes ochracea

This group is so pretty! Caught my eye as I made my rounds to check on the honey clusters.

Southeast Texas, 15 Nov. 2023