Mushroom Safety. Is this method OK?!
That area had a lot of used commercial mushroom mulch dumped on it, but I still don't trust them.
The lady who asked (appeared to 1st gen Russian or Ukrainian) said oh, its easy. Put the mushrooms on cold water, drop in a peeled onion. If things turn blue its a bad shroom, otherwise its safe.
Is the a mushroomologist out there who could validate ?
Thanks
Answers: Recently someone asked if they could the mushrooms growing in part of my yard. I told them they could have them, they are on their own, and they could die a nasty death.
That area had a lot of used commercial mushroom mulch dumped on it, but I still don't trust them.
The lady who asked (appeared to 1st gen Russian or Ukrainian) said oh, its easy. Put the mushrooms on cold water, drop in a peeled onion. If things turn blue its a bad shroom, otherwise its safe.
Is the a mushroomologist out there who could validate ?
Thanks
This is actually an incorrect variation of an actual test that can be performed, based on basic chemistry and chemical reactions.
You take the mushrooms and put them in a pot of cold water with a whole peeled onion bulb. You bring the water to a boil, which causes a chemical reaction between the natural chemicals in the onion and the poison in the mushrooms. This causes the onion bulb to turn a light violet color (if even one of the mushrooms are poisoned).
However, even though I trust the chemistry behind this, I would not trust my health to such a "home test".
Is it possible to tell if a wild mushroom is poisonous?
You can't tell for sure if a mushroom is poisonous by looking at it, unless you are an expert at identifying mushrooms. There are no tests to help you tell a poisonous mushroom from a nonpoisonous mushroom.
NOT. Mushrooms are too varied as a species to trust one such test. Better to let "Mikey eat them. He won't like them.
There are plenty of good books for identifying mushrooms. Go to Amazon.com. Mycologist I think is the proper term for a mushroom expert.
i never heard that before im with you on not eating them shrooms i buy mushrooms from the store only maybe i will try to grow some in my garden next spring along with the tomatoes peppers and squash