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big worm wrote:we was allways told never eat "wild" mushrooms they will kill ya. so its canned or fresh from the store i wish i knew the good ones from the bad ones

You can do it, just takes a little education and a little time.

Get a couple books from the library, used book store or online. Check out videos from the local library.
Most area's have a "mushroom club" of people who really get into hunting and identifying the really weird ones. Usually a mushroom club will have some kind of open-to-the-public meeting where they display the different kinds that they have found recently. I don't belong to a club but have attended their meetings a couple of times.

All books about mushroom huntings will have a section on the ones that are considered relatively safe to collect. The problems with mushrooms is that there are so many that look alike. LBM's, or little brown mushrooms, are sometimes notoriously difficult to positively identify. That's the problem with psylocibins, sometimes high school shroomers will collect galerina autumnalis, the lawnmower's mushroom, (or other galerina species) instead and end up in the hospital. There are probably about a dozen different kinds that, once you have someone point them out to you, and you get it right a couple of times, you won't screw up and collect the wrong kind. There are relatively few shrooms that will really screw you over, but enough that you don't want to take the chance.

The people who get mushroom poisoning are 2 classes: 1. people who have collected a certain kind for years based on folk knowledge, but didn't realize it had a toxic look-alike until the ended up in the hospital, or 2. The enthusiastic (like me) who get's over confident and thinks he can start eating everything he identifies.

Personally, I stick to about 12 kinds. I try to identify others just for hobby, but even then I won't eat it.

Always used to crush the stalks and throw away anything that didn't turn blue when we were kids.

I'm not purposely tryin to keep this thread alive, but I just want to make a point that there is no folk "rule" or set of rules when it comes to collecting wild mushrooms for food.
The flesh of some mushrooms will turn blue when exposed to air, but that's true for a number of different species.

I would also like to add that different species of wild mushrooms can have such a wide variety of tastes, nothin like standard store bought ones.
Just takes a little learning and starting out with people that are experienced - but textbook, not just folk lore.

shoot keep it alive...lol see? who really knows them little brown ones all look alike to me is it me or was anyone else scared off by parents... grandparents warnings? am i alone here? my older brother used to pick magic shrooms but, i never had the balls for fear of death...don't get me wrong...i just let them pickem but......them gals killed clint eastwood in that movie with shrooms. think about it i will never have the balls to pick wild ones and eat them