Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's guide to wild edible mushrooms and fungi. As this recipe site has grown it has become necessary to split out and make more readily accessible various sub-sections of the site. The number of mushroom and fungi described on this site has not grown large enough that they warrant their own page, as well as being described amongst the other wild foods on the site. These pages are an attempt at bringing all links to the fungi described here into one place. To use this guide simply click on the image or the name of the fungus described below. This will take you through to a page describing the mushroom/fungus and which also provides links on this site to recipes describing the means of preparation of that mushroom or fungus.

Mushrooms and fungi refers to the third kingdom of multicellular life (mushrooms are not animals or plants). A fungus (pl.: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and moulds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms.

A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems.

This page focusses on edible fungal species. Enjoy...

Edible Seaweed

Amethyst Deceiver Laccaria amethystina	Aniseed Toadstool Clitocybe odora
Bay Bolete Mushroom Boletus badius	Beefsteak Fungus Fistulina hepatica
Brown Birch Bolete Leccinum scabrum	Brown Wood Mushroom Agaricus silvaticus
Cep Boletus edulis	Cauliflower Fungus Sparassis crispa
Chanterelle Cantharellus cibarius	Chicken of the Woods Laetiporus sulphureus
Coconut Milkcap Lactarius glyciosmus	Curry Milkcap Lactarius camphoratus
Deceiver, The Laccaria laccata	Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus
Fairy Ring Champignon Marasmius oreades	Field Blewit Clitocybe saeva
Field Mushroom Agaricus campestris	Giant Puffball Langermannia gigantea
Hedgehog Mushroom Hydnum repandum	Hen of the Woods Grifola frondosa
Honey Fungus Armillaria spp	Horn of Plenty Craterellus cornucopioides
Horse Mushroom Agaricus arvensis	Jelly/Tree Ear Fungus Auricularia auricula-judae
Larch Bolete Suillus grevillei	Meadow Waxcap Hygrocybe pratensis
The Miller Clitopilus prunulus	Morel Morchella esculenta
Oyster Mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus	Parasol Mushroom Macrolepiota procera
Saffron Milk Cap Macrolepiota procera	St George’s Mushroom Calocybe gambosa
Scarlet Elfcup Sarcoscypha austriaca	Shaggy Ink Cap Coprinus comatus
Summer Truffle Tuber aestivum	Wood Blewit Clitocybe nuda

Making Spore Prints

If you are picking your own mushrooms from the wild, then one of the key identifying features of a mushroom is what's called the 'spore print'. This is a way of capturing the spores (effectively the seeds) released by mushrooms so that you can see their colour.

Many authors suggest that you do this on black paper, but over the years I have found that it's best done on a clear sheet of clean glass. That way you can place white paper under the glass to make dark spore prints stand out well and you can put dark paper under the glass to make pale spore prints stand out clearly. Glass is also slightly statically charged which helps the spore prints stay in place.

In order to get a spore print you need a mature (well opened) specimen of the fungus or mushroom you are trying to identify. Buttons mushrooms, young mushrooms, and mushrooms with some kind of a covering or veil over their gills or pores are not likely to drop spores, and you will not get a spore print. When you get the mushroom or fungus home, remove the stem. If the mushroom is small, place the whole cap, with the gill or pore side downwards on top of your glass sheet. If your mushroom is large then use a sharp knife to slice off a reasonably-sized section of the cap and sit this on top of the glass. Cover the mushroom with a glass, mug or cup (this prevents any moving air and ensures that the spores released by the mushrooms drop straight down). Some mushrooms of fungi will yield a spore print within a few hours, but in general it is best to leave them aside over night for the spore prints to develop.

The following day, remove the mug or glass covering the fungus. Take hold of the fungus itself and try and pull it straight upwards so that you disturb the spore print as little as possible. Now you can use a bright light and an appropriately contrasted sheet of paper to reveal the colour of the spore print you have made (if wished, you can also photograph it). Done this way, the spore prints will tend to have the same pattern as the gills or pores of the fungi that produced them. You can now compare the colour of the spores with and appropriate filed guide or description of the mushroom. This technique ensures that, no matter the colour of the spore print you can always observe it.

For mushrooms belonging to the Ascomycetes (such as the the morels and false morels) it is a little more difficult to produce spore prints and these fungi have tiny spore jets that forcibly eject the spores into the atmosphere. As a result, you need to cut out a section of the cap and place this with the outer surface downwards onto your glass sheet. Cover with a mug or cup and leave over night. The following day, when you examine it, expect the spore print to be most pronounced around the mushroom section (though some will also be visible underneath).