For fans of fungi or the just plain curious, the Freeport Conservation Trust is hosting noted mycologist Greg Marley at 7.p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Freeport Community Center. He will present a talk and slideshow entitled “Foraging for Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms: Grand Adventures and Possible Pitfalls”
Marley is the founder and the force behind Mushrooms for Health, a company providing mushroom education and products made with Maine medicinal mushrooms. For the past 20 years he has spread his passion for mushrooms to hundreds through walks, talks and classes held across New England. He is also a volunteer mushroom identification consultant to Poison Control Centers across New England, providing expertise in mushroom poisoning cases.
When not mushrooming, Marley, who lives in Rockland, is a clinical social worker, giving training and technical support directed toward suicide prevention through the Maine Youth Suicide Prevention Program. He took some time recently to talk about all about mushrooms for the Tri-Town Weekly.
Q: What sparked your interest in mushrooms?
A: My interest in mushrooms dates to the early 1970s and the first time I ever spent time in an Eastern forest. I grew up in the deserts of New Mexico and in the summer of my 16th year, I was amazed and enchanted by the colors, mysterious appearance and the incredible variety of the mushrooms. I bought my first guide to mushrooms in 1973 and have been hooked since then. Pretty early on, my interest in collecting mushrooms for food began and still drives much of my interest.
Q: What are a few edible mushrooms native to Maine?
A: Maine is home to some of the most highly prized edible mushrooms in the world. Chanterelles are probably the most commonly collected and eaten wild mushroom in Maine and they are a common forest mushroom in the summer and early fall, and one of the best. They are absolutely perfect in an omelet. Another popular mushroom wherever large oak and ash trees are common is the Hen of the Woods. It is a large cluster of gray to brown overlapping caps that can become 1-2 feet across and weigh more than 20 pounds. These are very tasty and also an excellent medicinal mushroom being studied for anti-cancer potential.
Q: What are the deadly ones?
A: Maine has about six or so common mushrooms that have toxins that could cause death. The worst of them is the Destroying Angel, a pure white Amanita that is common in late summer and fall. Another is the False Morel, a fascinating mushroom that a few people still eat, but, if prepared wrong, has caused severe poisoning and even death. Kind of like the Fugu Fish (a lethally poisonous pufferfish popular in Japan). Why bother even thinking about eating one like that.
Q: Define an edible mushroom? Is the taste unique or does it vary from mushroom to mushroom?
A: Trying to easily capture the taste of edible mushrooms is like trying to define the flavor of ice cream. Sure it is all cold, sweet and creamy, but from there, the sky is the limit. Though some wild mushrooms are similar to others, there is a delightful range of smells, textures, flavors and intensities. To an extent, it is like comparing a winter supermarket tomato with the variety of different tomatoes we can grow in our garden and pick and eat fresh. Sure, they are all tomatoes, but what a wonderful variety.
Q: What should the beginner mushroomer be looking for?
A: There is so much to learn about mushrooms that I still look upon myself as a beginner in some ways. I will be learning new things about our mushrooms for the rest of my life. That’s one of the draws for me. A person just starting out should concentrate on learning the basics and focus on the “foolproof few” mushrooms that are common, easily identified and without bad ones that resemble them.
Q: What is your favorite mushroom?
A: One of my consistent favorites is the Black Trumpet. The smell is like rich, shaved chocolate and the flavor is rich, deep and intense. Some years they are very common and others not so much.
Q: What are a few health benefits from mushrooms people might not be aware of?
A: Many of the best-studied medicinal mushrooms stimulate the activity of our immune system. In that manner they help to protect us from opportunistic infections and also help to prevent and address malignant cells like cancers. Other benefits come from anti-inflammatory activity.
Q: Are there areas of the state where edible mushrooms are prevalent?
A: The wonderful thing about Maine is that the whole state is great for mushrooms. Some grow best in suburban and rural areas that are developed for homes and recreation. Others grow naturally in forests and thrive wherever there is an undisturbed growth of trees. In general, we do not need to travel very far to find mushrooms in Maine.
Q: In your volunteer capacity for the Poison Control Center, have you ever had to respond to an actual emergency?
A: I have responded to a number of calls involving sick people who ate the wrong mushroom, but the majority of calls involve young children found with a mushroom, or worse, part of a mushroom. Very few of these kids ever get sick, but in all cases, it is really important to know what mushroom is involved and what the potentials for poisoning. Across America, on average, two to three people die each year from toxic mushrooms, though far more get sick. There is an increase in poisonings as foraging for wild mushrooms becomes more popular.
Q: What are some common misperceptions of mushrooms?
A: Boy, where do I start? Because we live in a culture that generally fears wild mushrooms, one of the most common misperceptions is that the majority of mushrooms are not poisonous and of the 10 percent that are, few are capable of causing more than moderate distress. People fear touching mushrooms and believe handling them can poison them. This is also not true – you must eat the mushroom to be sickened. On the other extreme, some people assume that an edible mushroom is fine to eat raw. In general, all wild mushrooms should be cooked before eating, both to make them more digestible and because some very good edibles are toxic if rated raw or not well cooked. The popular morels are an example of this.
Q: Have you ever been poisoned?
A: Yes, once. In 1986 I became sick after eating a bolete mushroom known as the Lilac Brown Bolete. After my experience, I have taken to calling it the Violent Brown Bolete. It was my first time eating this mushroom and I identified it with the aid of three mushroom guides, all recommended it as edible. After getting quite violently sick to my stomach, I continued to collect and follow this mushroom, though never eating it again. I learned about other people experiencing similar problems in Maine. We now recognize that this mushroom is widely and successfully eaten in the Southeast U.S., but that at least two-dozen poisonings have been reported in New England and Southern Canada. It could be a slightly different mushroom here. More recent field guides caution against eating the mushroom.
Some people believed I would stop eating wild mushrooms after my misadventure, but I wonder how many of us have been sickened after eating in some cafe or take-away eatery? Do we stop eating out? No, but we likely stop going to the place where we got the bad food. And I no longer eat the Violent Brown Bolete. That is the only time in 35 years of mushrooming that I have been sickened, and I eat well over 100 mushroom meals each year.
‘Maine is home to some of the most highly prized edible mushrooms in the world,” says Greg Marley, a mushroom expert who will give a talk on the topic Thursday at the Freeport Community Center. Send questions/comments to the editors.
