# Would you eat morels from these trees?



## MAttt (Dec 15, 2004)

http://leslieland.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/morel_habitat_roadside_elms.jpg


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

MAttt said:


> *Would you eat morels from these trees?*


Absolutely NOT!!! I'd pick them, cook them, and eat them from a plate... :evil:

Sorry, I could not resist that  

Seriously...If they looked and smelled good and this isn't in the dead zone of the Chernobyl nuclear accident site, I do not see a problem with it...


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## SKUNK (Jan 6, 2001)

No Way.....Send em to me and I'll dispose of them properly for you!!


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## bigair (Apr 16, 2004)

I would eat them in a train. I would them in a plane. I would eat them in a box. I would eat them with a fox. I would not, could not eat them in those trees.


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

If the trees were further away from the road, then yes. However, it's too close to the road and there is a risk of contamination. Eating mushrooms picked close to a road is not a good idea.


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## knockoff64 (Oct 14, 2001)

petronius said:


> If the trees were further away from the road, then yes. However, it's too close to the road and there is a risk of contamination. Eating mushrooms picked close to a road is not a good idea.


A little too close for me too.

If I happened along them by accident, I would probably eat them myself, but I wouldn't feed them to anyone else. Not likely I'd bother looking at that spot for fungus.

A couple of my perennial spots are only 2-3 times that far from a main road. They produce a few dozen every year.


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## Shiney (Jan 18, 2011)

I just be happy to find some...lets see haven't eaten them since 2001!


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## outdoor junkie (Sep 16, 2003)

I think I have. I pick alot of my shrooms on the roadside. Great way to find them.


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Picking along a road side is a great way to find them, but few mushroomers will eat them. Paul Stamets and others have done studies on the ability of mushrooms to absorb heavy metals and toxic waste. They have used them to clean toxic soil. The worst places places to pick mushrooms are along road sides, railroad tracks, ditches and industrial sites. Roads are bad because of contaminates from auto exhaust, particularly lead from leaded gas from years ago.


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## outdoor junkie (Sep 16, 2003)

petronius said:


> Picking along a road side is a great way to find them, but few mushroomers will eat them. Paul Stamets and others have done studies on the ability of mushrooms to absorb heavy metals and toxic waste. They have used them to clean toxic soil. The worst places places to pick mushrooms are along road sides, railroad tracks, ditches and industrial sites. Roads are bad because of contaminates from auto exhaust, particularly lead from leaded gas from years ago.


Wow, I never knew that. Thanks for sharing.


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## MAttt (Dec 15, 2004)

petronius said:


> Picking along a road side is a great way to find them, but few mushroomers will eat them. Paul Stamets and others have done studies on the ability of mushrooms to absorb heavy metals and toxic waste. They have used them to clean toxic soil. The worst places places to pick mushrooms are along road sides, railroad tracks, ditches and industrial sites. Roads are bad because of contaminates from auto exhaust, particularly lead from leaded gas from years ago.


I agree petronis...these are not only next to a paved road but
possibly a farm field that has just be sprayed.

Rule number 6 of the 10 commandments is

*6. Don't pick mushrooms from contaminated habitats.* These included polluted areas, chemically treated lawns, ornamental trees, and places close to highways, landfills, toxic waste sites, crop fields, power lines, railroads, buildings, industrial areas, or firebreaks. Contaminants may accumulate in wild mushrooms. ​ 


Read more at Michigan-Sportsman.com: Ten Commandments of Mushroom Hunting - The Michigan Sportsman Forums http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=293994#ixzz1BXskqfCv

*Now someone else suggested giving ones like these*
*to the inlaws...hmmm:evilsmile*


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Mattt is right. The last thing we want is anyone to get sick or die.
From The Mycophagist's Ten Commandments Excerpted from Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America 
1. Never eat a mushroom unless it is positively identified as edible. Mistakes can result in toxic reactions ranging from mild gastric upset to death. If in doubt, throw it out! 

2. Eat only fresh mushrooms that are free from infestation by insects or larvae. Mushrooms can spoil, and eating any spoiled food can cause food poisoning or other adverse reactions. 

3. Thoroughly cook all mushrooms unless they are specifically known to be edible raw. Some mushrooms contain toxins or gastrointestinal irritants that must be destroyed by cooking. 

4. Eat mushrooms only in moderate quantities. Mushrooms are not easily digested; overeating them is an easy way to get sick. 

5. When trying a mushroom for the first time, eat only a small portion, and don't try any other new kinds for forty-eight hours. As with many kinds of food, some people are sensitive or allergic to mushrooms commonly eaten by other people. Individuals with known food allergies or sensitivities should be extra careful when trying mushrooms new to them, especially those species known to present problems for some individuals. 

6. Don't pick mushrooms from contaminated habitats. These included polluted areas, chemically treated lawns, ornamental trees, and places close to highways, landfills, toxic waste sites, crop fields, power lines, railroads, buildings, industrial areas, or firebreaks. Contaminants may accumulate in wild mushrooms. 

7. Never assume that a wild mushroom you find overseas is the same edible species you know from North America or vice versa. Too many serious cases of mushroom poisoning occur because vacationers and immigrants unwittingly gather dangerous look-alike species not found in their native lands. 

8. Be conservative about feeding wild mushrooms to children, the elderly, and the infirm. Avoid edible species known to cause adverse reactions in some people, and don't let children, the elderly, or persons in poor health try an unfamiliar kind of wild mushroom until you and other friends or relatives have identified and eaten it without any adverse reactions. Limit portion sizes for children, the elderly, and the sick because they're generally more susceptible to toxins than other people are. 

9. When trying a mushroom for the first time, save a few intact, uncooked specimens in the refrigerator for forty-eight hours. If someone develops an illness within two days after trying an unfamiliar mushroom, the physician may want expert identification to rule out the mushroom as the culprit. 

10. Examine every specimen in every collection of mushrooms to avoid inadvertent mixing of different species. Even experienced mushroom hunters can err if they become careless and fill their baskets too hurriedly.

You can eat any mushroom you want,,,, ONCE!!!!!


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Not meant as a pot stirring comment but rather a logical observation.....

How many of you eat venison? Deer will eat along a roadside because of the salt, so I have read. We all see it.
Also, I am also quite sure they eat from or very near fields and orchards that have been freshly treated. And plenty of cow pastures are that close to roads, and all cows raised for milk or steaks end up at the packing plants eventually.

Just some _food_ for thought.....


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

I was just going to say something along those lines, Oldgrandman. For that matter, we all shop at grocery stores, right? As shown by the recent e-coli events in spinach, lettuce, hamburger, god knows what we're being fed these days, especially with more and more of our food coming from third world countries.

How many of you have ever picked along utility right of ways?? The ones that get sprayed with defoliants every so often...not to mention all the chatter about what being around electical lines might be doing to us. 

Backyards which have been treated for years with fertilizers and herbicides...?

Farm fields which are also treated several times a year with fertilizers and herbicides?

I wouldn't worry about morels along most roadsides up here, since the most dangerous thing used by road commissions up here is calcium chloride, and darned little of that these days....or railroad tracks, since most of those are abandoned...


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## MAttt (Dec 15, 2004)

Those rules come from one of the top mycoligists in the country
and are just basic rules any shroomer should live by.
People have gotten very sick from picking from those
areas and that is why the rules exist.

I have a friend that picked some from a lawn once and both
himself and his girlfriend ended up in the ER that night.
Found out latter that the lawn had just been treated 
in the last week. 

As far as the original picture, I worry more about what
has been sprayed recently along the road or in that farm field 
more than anything else.

I don't think comparing animals to mushrooms is a
good comparison as mushrooms are known to concentrate
contaminates rather quickly.

If an area is sprayed within the time close to a shroom
popping, it will suck up the chemicals as it would any
moistue and could give someone a real bad day.

It's similar to the poisonus and sometimes deadly
beefsteak mushrooms imo that some have
been eating for a lifetime and the toxins can
eventually build up to a deadly level.
In the old days, simply, no one ever knew.

Bottom line to me is they are only just mushrooms and there
is much more and better information out there nowadays
to keep us all safe.

*[ame="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS322US323&q=Mushroom+safety+rules"]Mushroom safety rules - Google Search[/ame]*


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## KC R&M (Jan 12, 2011)

I would like to say no!


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

MAttt said:


> Those rules come from one of the top mycoligists in the country
> and are just basic rules any shroomer should live by.
> People have gotten very sick from picking from those
> areas and that is why the rules exist.


I do understand the point you make MAttt. Down here along Industrial Drive I wouldn't consider it. But up on County Road 123 or Rural Route 10 I am sure there would be little issue. ( NOTE: these are fictional roads, do not bother getting the maps out  )

As Linda G. states there are a lot of issues with our food chain. I would also add this past summer after eating at a chinese restaurant (who hasn't heard a story like this before) I was hospitalized a few days. They could not definitely connect that as the source but it will be a really cold day in the tropics before I consume that crap again! 
If we listened to every "expert" I am not sure there would be much left we could eat "safely" anymore.....

Mushroom roulette? Maybe. But going to the grocery store or farmers market is not much different.
This is a good discussion to have BTW...


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Believe it or not, our food supply is safe as long as rules and safe practices are followed such as washing fruit and vegetables. Most plants that we eat do not readily absorb heavy metals and toxins but they could be present on their surface. However, how many farms are located in former brown fields or industrial sites? You have to use common sense. Do you eat the belly fat of lake trout or salmon or catfish from polluted waters? Wild mushrooms can absorb whatever metals or poisons are in the soil. It's best to pick them away from tainted areas, but you can do whatever you want. I personally don't take the chance.


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## MAttt (Dec 15, 2004)

Sorry to hear about the chinese rest. incident OGM...
and I agree this is a good convesation to have.
And hearing different points of views is always a good thing.

Here's a good read on arsenic in Morels from old apple
orchards.

*http://www.fungimag.com/winter-08-articles/Rev_Medicinal.pdf*


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

MAttt said:


> Sorry to hear about the chinese rest. incident OGM...
> and I agree this is a good convesation to have.
> And hearing different points of views is always a good thing.
> 
> ...


MaTTT, you ruined it for me. I was going to bring up Arsenic and Old Lace".
You've heard the old joke. I killed him because he wouldn't eat the mushrooms.


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