Mushrooming Without Fear: The Beginner's Guide to Collecting Safe and Delicious Mushrooms

by Alexander Schwab

Is it safe or not? What gourmands and nature lovers need to know to harvest your own. Advice, with photographs, from an expert!

Novices eager to collect tasty wild mushrooms will find this unique guide invaluable. Unlike others, it focuses only on those types that are both safe to eat and delicious. Most importantly, it presents the eight rules of mushroom gathering in a straightforward fashion, including, "Never, never take a mushroom with gills" and "If a mushroom smells rotten, it is rotten."

Among the mushrooms covered are the cep; the red-cracked, larch, bay, and birch boletes; hen of the woods, chanterelle, trumpet chanterelle, hedgehog fungus, common puffball, horn of plenty, and cauliflower mushroom.

Each is identified with several photographs and identification checklist, and there's also information on mushroom season, handling, storage, and cooking, complete with recipes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Reference, Food, Gardening, Science, How To

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2006

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I'm a big fungus fan but the only mushrooms I find that I'm brave enough to eat are morels. After reading Mushrooming Without Fear, that may change.

I've read a couple mushroom identification books and found them overwhelming. This one is not. It focuses exclusively on varieties that you can eat and are easy to identify. There are also common sense guidelines like "Don't take a mushroom with gills" and "If it smells rotten, it's rotten."

Beyond the identification sections, there are also mushroom preservation and storage tips, as well as how to cook various varieties presents.

My only gripe is that I wouldn't mind more edible varieties presented but I now feel more comfortable identifying chantrelles and hen of the woods. Four out of five stars.

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very handy little book.

It's a reference book, and very much a beginner's guide for anyone interested in mushrooming. Rather than going into the heavy duty task of identifying all the edible mushrooms in a given region, this book focuses upon a few choice mushrooms and how to definitively ID those. When it comes to mushrooming, that is not a bad approach.

The book says outright not to pick any gilled mushrooms, which isn't a bad idea when you consider how many gilled mushrooms are liable to kill you. Instead, it focuses primarily upon porous mushrooms and the 'mavericks' (chanterelles, puffballs, etc.) which are all choice edibles and very easy to definitively ID. At the end of each mushroom description is a color variation band to match the cap to along with a checklist to determine you've found just the right fruitbody.

This is a cool book for beginner's. Also of note, and utterly brilliant, is the small section in the back to help you ID 5 trees that will guarantee you find particular mushrooms. IDing trees is vitally important to finding certain mushrooms, considering the relationship many trees/mushrooms share.

Cool book, good find, great pick from the library if you're curious to start your own mushroaming adventure.

Good hunting, good eating.

[Michelle Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I basically copied this entire book into my mushroom notebook

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great photos and information for the beginner mushroom forager. This book focuses on the most common eatable North American wild mushrooms, and goes over the basic physical qualities to identify them. Very simplified and helpful if you're just looking for a starting point. I particularly appreciated the section at the end that discreetly hinted at how to identify magic mushrooms in the guise of a history lesson. Clever, Mr. Schwab. ;)

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming and practical, what a fabulous book! I’ll have to buy it for myself!
Written in the tone of a doting kindergarten teacher who loves you with all her heart and loves mushrooms and absolutely joys in sharing her love with you - while teaching you thoroughly and repeatedly to avoid your death.
Don’t eat mushrooms with gills, kiddos!
If you die from a wild mushroom after reading this book, sorry, but natural selection came for you!

[Nell Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew most of the information. However, with that being said I found the lovely big photos very helpful and I will remember Rules 1-6. This book is a good size, but will fit into my backpack so that I can have the helpful reminders and photos with me on my mushroom hunting journies. Safe hunting and remember the "Gills," "Tubes," "Spines" and "Ridges" section of the book as well as the other helpful identification comments.

[Katie O’Reilly]

I’m not going to lie, I’ve still got significant fear!

[Reading between the wines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful beginners guide to mushrooming.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy informative read. I’m never going foraging.

[Melanie Teegarden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mushrooming in North America can be scary. This book gave me the information I needed to be able to forage safely.

[Owlseyes]

Truly, "fear" is a decisive factor for a lay person when facing these "plants". The lack of knowledge brings indecision; myths distort judgement,...even there's a risk when picking up the wrong "one". I mean, today I got to the conclusion I had picked up one of the "deadliest" mushrooms; and it looked so nice and inoffensive.

"Being edible" made me search for those not harmful to human health.Next I'll present some which the experts think you can eat safely; then those not good and then the ones I collected, today.

Edible:









Not good:







Those I photographed:

Since there was such a profusion of spider's webs (never seen so many in my life) I added them too.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love how this book takes the mystery out of mushroom hunting. Included are fabulous clues, color charts at the top of each mushroom's information page, tons of color photos, seasons, tree identification chart, recipes, preserving instructions and more. This book is the best if both worlds: so simple I'm going to have my children reading it, but so thorough I feel very confident to go get mushrooms today. I hesitated to buy this but I'm so glad I did.

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to hunt for mushrooms even more now.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I wish it had been longer but I really enjoyed the authors writing. They were humorous, witty, and gave the facts needs to identify some common edible mushrooms.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really nice basic jumping off point to the world of edible mushrooms.

[Michelle Mallette · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my full review here.
The fact that I'm reviewing this book will reveal a little desire of mine - I want to pick wild mushrooms! This new title in the Grand Forks & District Public Library's collection emphasises eight rules for safe picking, and offers 12 tasty and easy to identify mushrooms to look for in our forests. Even though it's originally published in Britain, more than a dozen years ago, it is a useful guide for us in the Pacific Northwest, or anywhere in North America, actually. The bulk of the book is on the 12 mushrooms. Each entry includes a well-illustrated introduction and description, and a Positive ID Checklist that includes an image, information on size, appearance, habitat, and search tips, and a checklist of key ways to identify it – unless every single one is checked, leave it be. Do that and all is good. Well, I'm not exactly fearless but I am ready to start exploring.

[Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short guidebook for many common species, but it doesn't mention the morel, as far as I can see. Seems like an shame because the morel appears to be one of the most popular mushrooms to hunt. I guess the morel fits the cardinal rules of the book of 'never gills' (rule 1) and only ridges (rule 2), but the book leaves a gap for rule 3 (only clearly identified by all positive id marks). It doesn't include it in its list of common species either.

Maybe the author considers morel identification to risky or only appropriate for advanced hunters--he doesn't say a thing about them though. If you want to hunt morels, you will need another book, local expert, or on-line videos and resources to augment this.

[Wes Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I m new to mushroom hunting, I thought I would start from the beginning with this book. While it offers some great information and pictures, the "rules" of safe mushroom hunting are repeated to the point of becoming annoying throughout the book. I get it, they are important, but it seemed like that, and some of the extra material in the back, were just filler. Also, I was expecting more mushroom varieties. Still, Mushrooming Without Fear seems to be a good beginner's book on safe mushroom hunting.

[YvesL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional: This is THE book for beginners
Easy to read, crystal clear, beautiful pictures, and made with love for mushrooming. Finally a very reliable, intelligently made and charming book that can be used by anyone. And best of all, the passion of the author for mushrooming is contagious. The simple rules presented in the book will allow you to go in the forests and enjoy mushrooming immediately. At least, that's what happened to me, honestly. Thank you, Alexander.
Note: I have the 2022 edition.

[Kristina Seleshanko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems to be a great choice for beginning mushroom foragers like me. Very quick read, easy to understand, excellent photographs. The author focuses on teaching about the parts of mushrooms, then eliminates a bunch of potentially dangerous plants by having readers avoid all gilled mushrooms. Then he focuses on how to ID a handful of edible mushrooms. This book definitely takes the intimidation out of mushroom foraging!

[Joey Micheal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book quite a bit but i did notice a lot of paragraphs were repeated on different pages not in a way of reminding you of dangers but just general knowledge being repeated several times. Other than that I really enjoyed the book, all the mushrooms in the book are relatively common well known mushrooms most beginners want to learn about. very lovely book i do recommend it for any foraging friends.

[Johanna Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were barely any mushroom varieties in this book. They didn't even mention Chicken of the Woods or Morels but somehow puffballs made the cut. And Schwab says to never pick mushrooms with gills. What about the very easy to identify oyster? Also, he calls polypores "tubes." There were some good tips in here, but way too simplistic.

[Riley McCue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good introductory book about identifying mushrooms in the wild. It breaks down the different structural components of the mushroom, and what to identify in each, while also detailing a limited number of common mushrooms in the northern hemisphere. Not thorough my any means, but a well-described introduction.

[Hawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for the beginner who wants to forage mushrooms safely. It has lots of high quality photographs of details and clear explanations. It is very simplified in a good way and clear. Helpful guide!

[Angeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have never before read about the "mushroomer's intuition", and this delightful guide illuminated the nature of "mushrooming" as an art form in itself. lovely, charming, and informative. i devoured the book in one sitting as i would a bowlful of yummy wild mushrooms. five stars.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Vissa människor har för sig att de kan plocka halvruttna, degiga, illaluktande svampar som på ett magiskt sätt blir bättre på vägen hem. "

Tydlig, sött och bra. Inte intensiv, men fin bok för nybörjare!

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely useful for beginners, a perfect easy reference for common edible mushrooms.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually, as beginner foraging books go, this is a pretty good one. Reiterating the (pretty basic but utterly necessary) Rules is not just helpful but so important. The photos are good. It highlights the handful of species that most foragers would happily take home, even giving hints on how to preserve your bounty.

It is very basic. I appreciated the intro re: tools, avoiding plastic bags, a picture of a basket (the most useful way to collect). There’s a small chapter at the end that specifies looking for ceps when you find fly agarics, which is the kind of thing a lot of us are looking for. But then again, that’s also the kind of thing you learn over time.

My suggestion is to join an expert for several outings. Read as much as you can and watch you tube videos of experts. And Rule #1: “never take a mushroom with gills”!!

[Bear Paw]

good starter book

[Heather Routh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so approachable and actually fun to read. I thought I was going to just thumb through it but I could put it down!