How to Determine If a Mushroom Is Edible?

You must make a positive identification on a mushroom before eating it.

According to the Wilderness Survival website, the only way to determine if a mushroom is edible is via positive identification. There is no universal test that you can conduct to see if the mushroom is poisonous. Instead, you have to take the mushroom home, carefully note of all its distinguishing features down to the most minute and identify it with confidence. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation: "Because a few wild mushrooms are deadly and many more are mildly poisonous, mushroom hunting is not a hobby for the careless or uninformed."

Things You'll Need

• Comprehensive mushroom guidebook
• Knife
• Wax paper
• Basket
• Notepad and pen
• White paper

Instructions

1. Familiarize yourself with the variety of mushrooms that grow in your area. Become acquainted with their cap size, smell, weight and texture. Use your comprehensive mushroom study guide.

2. Cut the mushrooms at the bottom of the stem, wrapping each separately in wax paper. Place them in your basket.

3. Make notes all defining characteristics of each mushroom and its environment. Compare your notes with the definitive text in your study guide.

4. Conduct a gill print when you arrive home. Place each mushroom upside down on a sheet of white paper and leave it there for a couple hours. The gills in the cap will release spores in a particular pattern that will create a distinctive print on a sheet of paper.

5. Compare the gill print each mushroom makes to the gill prints posted in your mushroom guide.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're not 100 percent certain about a mushroom's identity, do not eat it.

• Edible and inedible mushrooms often grown in the same areas.

References

• Wilderness Survival: Edible Plants
• Missouri Department Conservation: Mushrooms
• Garden Guides: Edible Mushrooms