Peter

weather finally turned to winter today.... 15 degrees this AM.... Darned if I could find any mushrooms!!!! Oh well.... I am drying my finds for future reference... By the way... the batch of chicken of the woods I think I have in the freezer I have questions on..... Is it rather bland and dry tasting? I am almost 73% positive it was chicken of the woods as it was a fairly large outcropping on a monday, and on tuesday am when I went to go get ti... the deer had eaten most of it...

Thanks for the tips. I know about the sneaky nature of toxins, but I do get some contradictory arguments in the books and websites I visit over just what species a mushroom really is, and some people swear one will be edible, while others declare it deadly... This is a confusing "hobby" that I would like to learn. I would not eat large amounts of anything, as I don't have a death wish, I just know that there are thousands of different mushrooms, and millions of different opinions! I will try to get down to the bogs later today for a few more photos. Meantime I will refrain from making a stir fry! Thanks again for all the info. I will look into the local clubs, although most are very far from where I live.

Also... They were not a clumped bunch of mushrooms, but rather spread apart at the edge of a mossy area next to a cranberry bog in plain sunlight. I will go tomorrow to take a few pictures of the site with the mushrooms in place and pull some by the "roots" for better ID... Thanks again for the response.

Thanks Davew. I didn't notice any latex or milky discharge from my new finds, and the stalks are thin and fairly resistant to tearing (they are tough0. I have already tried a small piece to see if i got sick quick///// tasted real nice, and I will wait another day to fry one up. From what I see there are a lot of "maybe's" in the shroom world.... I assume that many are indeed poisonous, but I hear and read conflicting accounts on others.... I have a weird but relevant question... If a species known for it's poison is eaten.... lets say the Jack O Lantern but only two or three mushrooms... would a fairly healthy human actually die? Or just be sick as a dog for a day or two??? I though we all had instinctive tastes and smells that gave us a heads up on toxic plants etc..? I walk about in the late fall and see so many things that visually I am wary of, and some that look yummy..... AM I being foolish to believe I have an imprint as to what heredity says I can eat??? I truly want (and will learn) what I can eat with sucess, but the info is really confusing... I mean even the pictorials are sometimes doubtful of edibility..... Hard or the newbie!!!

Hi All. Just stumbled upon this forum, and I am thrilled to see that one exists! OK. Long story, short version. I live in Eastern MA about 10 miles from the ocean. We have been having a wonderfully mid winter to date. I have found this season a fair amount of chicken of the woods etc... ANd this morning while walking along the cranberry bogs near my house I found this small group of mushrooms at the side of the bog. Growing in a moss base in plain sunlight. They smell woody, they are rather small in size, and have non uniform gills that stop sharply at the stem, which is rather thin as you can see from the photos. Sooooo...... Are they edible? and what are they? I have the Good Mushroom Bad mushroom field guide, and the edible wild mudhrooms of North America guide, but I cant find these.... So before I go and fry them up and end up 6 feet under I thought I might just, well, ask! Thanks in advance!!