drying amanita muscaria

cosmic_safari · 08:53 AM

Hi,

I recently picked some fly agaric from two different sites , I gave a few to my friend for storage from one site and I stored a few myself I got from another place, I kept them separate to avoid any contamination.

I kept mine in a dry dark area, but after viewing them after a day, the majority of the mushrooms I had had small maggots in there and fly eggs, so I threw them away. The same happened to the ones I gave to my friemd.

There was only one left which I kept on a tissue upside down for about a week. It had dried to a nice golden red colour, I moved the mushroom to my shed in the garden. I checked it a few days later and it had also turned into a mushy messy with a few maggots in there.

The only way I can get amanita muscaria that won't turn into a horrible maggotty mess, is to pick them before the cap opens up so the flys don't get a chance to lay their eggs in them. If the maggots are unavoidable, whats the best way to dry these. Should I maybe boil them in salted water or something to get rid of the maggots, then dry them. Or maybe scoop out the gills after I pick them, then dry them. Any suggestions?

Williamsii · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 31st October 2009, 02:35 PM

Dry them in an oven with the door open at 170-200F (75-90C). This converts ibonetic acid into muscimol. See here for more details: http://www.erowid.org/plants/amanita...fo_petri.shtml

Once they are dry, the maggots will not be able to continue eating the mushroom tissue. Also, the heat should kill them. It's just a little extra protein anyway, nothing to worry about. You should not limit yourself to only picking mushrooms with unopened caps.

CindorDGR · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 1st November 2009, 02:02 AM

If you pick unopened caps you can get them with a bit of soil and then "plant" them until they are fully opened.

cosmic_safari · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 1st November 2009, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CindorDGR

If you pick unopened caps you can get them with a bit of soil and then "plant" them until they are fully opened.

thanks both.

I don't think I could bring myself to eat mushrooms after maggots have been in there cooked or not.

They must produce some sort of waste product after eating the mushroom, can't be good for you.

In regards to replanting them if the cap is unopen, do they still need a birch tree for the symbiotic relationship, or could I just plant them in compost and put them in my greenhouse

DayLight · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 2nd November 2009, 07:19 AM

do not dry them in the oven!

i tried the oven w/ door open method after getting similar advice from someone on this site and ended up with soggy, wet, baked amanita. just put them in the sun to dry. the drying process alone is sufficient to convert ibotenic acid to muscimol.

cosmic_safari · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 2nd November 2009, 02:02 PM

Daylight, the oven method did you put the heat on about 170 Fahrenheit? I think its supposed to take about half an hour till they're crumble into powder.

The sun drying method sounds good, but we don't have much sun here in the winter.

celphaware · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 2nd November 2009, 04:13 PM

You have to remove the gills and place it gill side up. I tried drying them the other way (cap up) the first time too and there was a lot of liquid, I just turned them over, poured the liquid back on and it soaked in and dried up nice.

It will take longer than a half hour, especially if you use a cookie sheet or something. Directly on the rack seems like a much better idea though as long as they are well cleaned of the gills.

Good luck, and let us know if you have a good experience. I'm already looking forward to next years fruits, I'll pick way more this time tho.

Peace

catfishrivers · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 2nd November 2009, 05:36 PM

Wouldn't a cheap dehydrator from walmart work? I dehydrate several other edible mushrooms I find on my foraging hikes this way just fine...

CindorDGR · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 3rd November 2009, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmic_safari

thanks both.

I don't think I could bring myself to eat mushrooms after maggots have been in there cooked or not.

They must produce some sort of waste product after eating the mushroom, can't be good for you.

In regards to replanting them if the cap is unopen, do they still need a birch tree for the symbiotic relationship, or could I just plant them in compost and put them in my greenhouse

No need of any kind of roots for the symbiosis once the mushroom is in that stage.

Williamsii · **Re: drying amanita muscaria -** 3rd November 2009, 05:54 PM

Quote:

If you pick unopened caps you can get them with a bit of soil and then "plant" them until they are fully opened.

No offense CindorDGR but that sounds like complete rubbish. What is it specifically that helps a picked mushroom to continue to grow by putting it in soil? Why would a mushroom not continue to grow if you were not to place it in soil?

The mushroom would stop maturing after being picked and any new growth will be in the form of mycelial threads growing out of the mushroom. When you pick a mushroom, you remove it from its nutrient base, the mycelial network it was attached to. If you place that mushroom on a new nutrient medium it grows out hyphae and colonises that medium but does not continue to mature the mushroom.

Here is an example of this happening on agar: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/show...38570#11238570

Show me some pictures of a mushroom picked, then placed in soil and finally several of the same mushroom continuing to grow to prove me wrong.