this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

FYI you can actually safely lick all mushrooms that we know off. The bad ones will taste bitter if there's every a confusion between the species. Though if you're really unsure don't risk it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think there are surprisingly few poisonous ones out there, and fewer that could actually kill somebody.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

at least no one ever returning from a forest said a mushroom had killed him.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Yeah, I know, that's like the first thing they teach you at returning school

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (7 children)

You apparently have a shitty mushroom guide.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (8 children)

Idk if op meant to fearmonger, but mushrooms are hardly ever toxic and hardly ever fatal.

It is now thought that of the approximately 100,000 known fungi species found worldwide, about 100 of them are poisonous to humans.[14] However, by far the majority of mushroom poisonings are not fatal,[15] and the majority of fatal poisonings are attributable to the Amanita phalloides mushroom

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_poisoning

That said, definitely be safe and if you arent sure, dont eat it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That didn't sound right, my experience that depending on luck and season, somewhere between 50 and 90 % of big mushrooms I come across in a forest are poisonous or at least disgusting. I admit it's a very wild estimate and I'm very far from knowing all the mushroom I come across, but still, that seems like a big contradiction. So I followed your link to the primary article.

I suspected that they might only count potentially lethal mushrooms, but no, it indeed seems they count even those that only make you nauseous. The problem is in the other number. The 100 000 means all funghi, it includes for example all yeasts. Most funghi don't create mushrooms that anyone would consider picking. So the ratio you calculated below is WAY off.

I would also like to note that the number 100 seems to come from a very simple PubMed search. Basically, if nobody wrote a paper about someone being sick after eating a mushroom, they wouldn't find it. I don't think that would mean that many foraged mushrooms would be missed, but it is a limitation worth knowing about.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

My friend forages for porcini mushrooms out near Tahoe. I thankfully don't like mushrooms, so he's not offended when I decline, but idgaf how good he is at finding them, it only takes 1 fuckup and you're dead. He says there's no mushrooms that look like it and as long as you only look for that one, you'll be fine. Frankly imo mushrooms are nasty as hell even when you get the kind you know won't kill you at the store. I have no desire to risk my life to eat wild fungus.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Pick shaggy ink caps

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