About this title: To most Americans, mushrooms are the brown lumps in the soup one uses to make a tuna casserole, but to a select few, mushrooms are the abundant yet often well-hidden delicacies of the forests. In spite of their rather dismal reputation, most wild mushrooms are both edible and delicious, when prepared properly. From the morel to the chanterelle and the prolific and aptly named chicken of the woods, mushrooms can easily be harvested and enjoyed, if you know where to look and what to look for. Bill Russell's "Field Guide to the Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic" helps the ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PENNSYLVANIA ST UNIV PR
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780271028910ISBN:0271028912
Description: New. To most Americans, mushrooms are the brown lumps in the soup one uses to make a tuna casserole, but to a select few, mushrooms are the abundant yet often well-hidden delicacies of the forests. In spite of their rather dismal reputation, most wild mus... read more
"Field guides have fascinated me since I was really young, and mushroom field guides are particularly intriguing for a couple reasons that run counter to the concept of "authoritative guides". For one, mushroom names are flexible at best: not only do the latin (or "scientific")names change regularly as mycologists reclassify species and subspecies they sometimes barely understand, but the folk names vary from region to region and are nearly impossible to gather in one cover. On top of this, many authors, when pressed to write comprehensive mushroom guides (including Gary Lincoff, who wrote the indispensable Audubon book), often end up fabricating "common" names for mushrooms that don't otherwise have them yet!
Another tricky thing about mushrooms is the various observable stages of life that can cause them to look like other species, depending on when you happen upon them in their life cycle. If your looking for edibles, you have to have a handle on this and be paying attention to what the mushroom is growing on, as this can often be the difference between something you want and a lookalike that you don't. It starts to get tricky real quick...
All this to say that Russell's Pennsylvania specific book is amazing. Arranged by seasons (which is a great idea, really), full of first hand knowledge and written in a friendly style - and also tall and slim so you can cram it in your pocket. I saw this guy talk at a foray last year, where he extrapolated on all the mushrooms he had eaten that people told him not to. Not obviously poisonous varieties, just mushrooms that might not taste good (or might taste god-awful). Inspiring, although I'll let him do most of the experimenting for me..."
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