Posted on 02/07/2026 7:48:00 AM PST by BenLurkin
The California Department of Public Health is urging people to avoid mushroom foraging altogether this year because death cap mushrooms are easily confused with safe, edible varieties.
Since Nov. 18 there have been more than three dozen cases of death cap poisonings reported, including the four deaths and three liver transplants, according to the health department. Many who sought medical attention suffered from rapidly evolving acute liver injury and liver failure. Several patients required admission to an intensive care unit. They have ranged in age from 19 months to 67 years old.
The death cap is one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world and is part of a small group of mushrooms containing amatoxins, which are highly potent compounds causing 90% of fatal mushroom poisonings globally. They are in city parks and in forests, often under oak trees.
In a typical year there are between two and five death cap poisonings, said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director for the San Francisco Division of the California Poison Control System.
“The main thing this year is just the magnitude, the number of people ingesting this mushroom,” Smollin said. “Having almost 40 is very unusual.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
I think the risk is overblo- [clunk!]
Why did the supermodel date the mushroom?
Because he was a fungi.
Nicely done!!!! But perhaps it is best to just cap this story and end on a high note.
That’s Matsutake. They are highly prized and moderately plentiful. Sadly, I don’t have enough knowledge to pick them. I have a friend who believes she does, and I trust her pretty well, but I’d rather not eat them still.
They are about $50-$100 a pound by the time they hit Uwajimaya, the Japanese grocery in Seattle.
That’s another good eating morel. There are several presentations of legit morels that look similar and are good eating. Different colorations, shapes and sizes.
But I’m not giving anyone advice over the inner webs on what to eat or not eat.
If they hadn't died, it would have been false advertising.
Only wild things I eat are venison, pork and fish. Every thing else is at Brookshires or HEB.
That explains the plentiful pickers. The mushrooms were graded. #1,2 and 3 depending on how open the heads were. We would buy #3’s at roadside stands. Went great with sockeye.
it realy depends on knowing what you are doing. I am sure if I went picking mushrooms I would kill who ever eat them. but knoledge is power and years ago I knew a girl while going to school up in a laska that was able to gather mushrooms and other things in the forest to eat. She told me that where she grew up in the Alaska wilderness any food that was shipped in was expensive and that her fammily would only get the basics like flour rice and other hard staples they would try to eat whatever they could gather during spring and summer to bring down costs so she grew up learning what was safe to eat in the forest.
I know it is risky, but the death cap mushrooms are just so delicious-looking!
But you should see all the new colors I smelled ...
There is one similar looking mushroom, but like you say, it has gills.
I think a lot of the deaths result from Asian Immigrants who mistake it for a mushroom in their home land that edible.
Chanterelles. Found them growing in my backyard at my last house. Small some with grass, had a nice sharp almost spicy/fruity apricot smell. Choice!
Its probably fun tramping around in Boreal forests collecting mushrooms. (Is Oregon north enough for Boreal?)
Slide.... Per Brave Search, If you have the right trees it is possible to grow Chanterelles:
"Yes, chanterelles can be grown, but it is significantly more complex than cultivating non-mycorrhizal mushrooms like oysters or shiitake. Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) are obligate mycorrhizal fungi, meaning they form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of specific living trees—primarily spruce, pine, beech, oak, birch, or Douglas fir—and cannot grow independently.
I did read something about a Swede who was innoculating young Spruce Trees Chanterelles and managed to start Farming them. (On trees grown outside, not in a cave or building.)
This scene comes from The Beverly Hillbillies Season 6, Episodes 4 & 5, titled “Robin Hood of Griffith Park” and “Robin Hood and the Sheriff” (1967).
In this storyline, Jethro dresses as Robin Hood and moves to Griffith Park with Elly May and Cousin Bessie, where they encounter a group of hippies. When Jethro mentions that Granny is going to “smoke crawdads,” the hippies, led by a character named Buddy (played by Rob Reiner in some scenes), become excited, misunderstanding it as a drug reference.
Covers most of California’s so called logic.
I’ll stick with real food.
There are Bold mushroom hunters and there are Old mushroom hunters but there are not many Old and Bold ones!!
We have chanterelles in our yard. I don’t have the nerve to eat them though. Back in the day I was pretty good at identifying one particular type of shroom, but those days are way behind me.
Same here. Give me a steak and baked potato. I don’t care for any kind of mushrooms... their weird slimy texture just isn’t my thing, and their flavor is meh.
Heh, I am certainly not inclined to eat any of them I am not 100% certain is safe, or if I have not grown them myself!
“Eh. I think I will go down to the Piggly Wiggly and buy some mushrooms, if I want them that badly!”
That said, I am going to cook my homegrown mushrooms for dinner!!!
These caps are younger.
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