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Written by MS Smith!
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Sunday, 21 December 1997 |
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Page 1 of 5 (Revision to original 1997 article.)
Harvesting Amanita muscaria
Depending on your climate Amanita muscaria will fruit from late Summer until Fall. In my own area of the upper Ohio River Valley the mushrooms will stop fruiting concurrent with the falling of the leaves. It is a beautiful sight to come upon a site of these mushrooms, ranging in size from 2 inches to nearly a foot in diameter, and anywhere from a deep yellow or orange to a soft yellow or orange. Many will be dark orange at the apex surrounded by a halo of yellow. Some of the most recent ones I've gathered are of a pure gold, while others are the pure white A. muscaria v. alba. The stems can also be variable, from thin to thick, with basal rings or without, with small bases or bulbous. Though many mycologist give very detailed descriptions I have spoken with some individuals that say the species has quite variable features, even among the red variety. A very good book to read up on Amanita recognition and identification is David Arora's Mushrooms Demystified.
My own method of searching out this mysterious mushroom is by driving through the suburbs after a day of good rains or nice misty nights and passing slowly through the neighborhood peering under simply what I call pine trees. Here in our area we have numerous old pines scattered around homes but very few that grow in the wild. Many of the limbs grow all the way down to the ground, therefore it may be necessary to look under them, especially if they are in a dense clump. I can imagine someone looking into their backyard and seeing me climb out from under a clump of their trees with a handful, or sometimes a box full, of mushrooms. But don't think it's that hard, I've also seen many that have grown nearly 5 yards from the nearest tree. Since these mushrooms grow almost always in residential neighborhoods I can often be found stopping at the side of the road rather quickly. I sometimes feel that I should have a sticker that says “this vehicle comes to sudden stops.” Of course I put my blinkers on and jump out for the gathering, many a driver and homeowner peering on as I wave to them with a handful of Amanita's. Usually this can be done rather quickly and you can be on your way to the next patch, but sometimes, especially if a lot of mushrooms are present, or if they are in a sensitive area of the yard, you might want to ask the residents for permission. Occasionally I will go to the door and ask if I can collect their bounty. This gets many strange comments, including how they are toadstools and poisonous, or inquiries asking what I plan on doing with them. I have a number of different reasons for gathering them that are dependent on my first impression of the individuals. I most commonly say they are going to be sold to a friend who uses them for arts and craft, sometimes I will say they can be eaten, but that they have to be prepared a certain way or else they will be poisonous, and once I even claimed I was a biology student at the local university collecting them for study.
When doing these runs into other peoples' yards I would recommend that one dress as non-threatening as possible. If you do happen to have a run in with a resident be as friendly as possible and think fast about what to tell them. And if you get engaged in conversation about the mushrooms ask them what they know about them, you may be able to find out about their own cultural understanding of the Amanita.
Eventually you will find that the mushrooms will continue growing under a certain stand of trees for the season and you can return there once or twice a week. Interestingly I have found many Amanita growing in one spot one season, but upon my return the next they have not returned. Therefore I recommend that you allow the mushrooms to sporinate before harvesting and that you also leave a few to follow their normal cycle of birth and return to the earth. One year I collected so many from the local golf course that the next year was almost devoid of them. You should have seen me walking around with a bag collecting mushrooms as golfers, who often mistook the unopened caps for their golf balls, looked on in wonderment.
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