Mushrooming Without Fear: The Beginner's Guide to Collecting Safe and Delicious Mushrooms

Novices eager to collect tasty wild mushrooms will find this unique guide invaluable. Unlike others, it focuses only on those types that are both safe to eat and delicious. Most important, it presents the eight rules of mushroom gathering in a straightforward fashion—including "Never, never take a mushroom with gills" and "If a mushroom smells rotten, it is rotten." Among the many mushrooms covered are the cep; the red-cracked, larch, bay, and birch boletes; hen of the woods, chanterelle, trumpet chanterelle, hedgehog fungus, common puffball, horn of plenty, and cauliflower mushroom. Each is identified with several color photographs and identification checklist, and there's also information on mushroom season, handling, storage, and cooking, complete with recipes.

Eight rules of mushroom gathering, color photographs, identification checklist, recipes, advice on handling, and more.

Alexander Schwab grew up in Switzerland and gained a master's degree in philosophy and history at Aberdeen University. He now lives in the beautiful Emmental region of Switzerland and fills the gaps between fishing trips by working as a management consultant. His hobbies include mushrooming, cooking, exploring the countryside, and reading poetry. He is the author of Mushrooming without Fear, Dear Jim: Reflections on the Beauty of Angling, and Hook, Line, and Thinker.