Beginner's Guide to Safely Foraging for Wild Mushrooms by Karen Stephenson

Beginner's Guide to Safely Foraging for Wild Mushrooms
by Karen Stephenson

ISBN-13: 9781685393878
Paperback: 134 pages
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Released: November 15, 2022

Source: a review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
There are thousands of mushroom species native to the woods, fields, and forests of North America, but how do you know which are safe to eat? This beginner’s guide will help you discover the diverse and fascinating world of mushrooms and where to find them, so you can enjoy nature’s bounty. Get down and dirty with this safe guide to mushroom foraging.


My Review:
Beginner's Guide to Safely Foraging for Wild Mushrooms is aimed at beginners to foraging wild mushrooms. The author generally picked mushrooms that don't have unsafe, similar-looking mushrooms. However, she did include identification information and pictures for the really poisonous ones, too, to help you avoid them. She started with some basic information about mushrooms and the different parts used for identification (with pictures, so you can see the differences). She also talked about foraging for mushrooms and how to collect, process, use or store them. She then had identification sections for 11 easy-to-spot, 4 medium difficulty, and 5 hard to spot wild mushrooms. The identification pages had a picture of the mushroom and information on the name, type, description, habitat, where to find it, when to harvest, look-alikes (and how to tell them apart), taste profile, keys to positive ID, spore print ID, and tips on foraging and storage. Overall, this seems like a good beginners guide.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.