Mushroom Hunting Books Reviews

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Mushrooms of the Rocky Mountain Region: Timber Press Field Guide
5 Stars

This is one of two excellent mushroom guide books for the Rocky Mountain Region and in my case, Colorado. The only other field guide that comes close is the book titled "The Essential Guide to Rocky Mountain Mushrooms by Habitat )", which is also authored by Vera S. Evenson from the Denver Botanical Gardens. In my opinion the two are complimentary guides and the best i have found for our region.

*This books main strength lies in the fact that it is arranged *By Mushroom Family*. For those of us who are new to mushroom hunting this is a really good guide and helps me know how mushroom family types are similar and different and which ones are edible and which ones are not. Excellent guide, can't recommend a better book, except for maybe the other one i mentioned above already.



The Essential Guide to Rocky Mountain Mushrooms by Habitat
5 Stars

This is the other of two excellent mushroom guide books for the Rocky Mountain Region and in my case, Colorado. The only other field guide that comes close is the book titled "Mushrooms of the Rocky Mountain Region: Timber Press Field Guide", which is also authored by Vera S. Evenson from the Denver Botanical Gardens. In my opinion the two are complimentary guides and the best i have found for our region.

*This books main strength lies in the fact that it is arranged *BY HABITAT*. For those of us who are new to mushroom hunting this is the best one for me as i can pick habitat areas to forage in for the mushrooms i am looking for. Excellent guide, can't recommend a better book, except for maybe the other one i mentioned above already.



Mushroom Basket: A Gourmet Introduction to the Best Common Mushrooms of the Southern Rocky Mountains
3 stars

This book is pretty simple, with mostly hand drawn illustrations, this book is alright with a good mention of look alikes. This book has the bonus of having a good amount of mushroom cooking recipes in the back of the book. The main advantage of this book is price, i think i got mine for about $4 used.



A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America (Peterson Field Guides)
2 stars

This book is the standard mushroom book you will find a Barnes & Noble Bookstores across the united states. It is structured somewhat like an encyclopedia. While it has a decent amount of info it seems mostly aimed at mushrooms in the Eastern United States and therefore is of little use to me here in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. However i would describe it as a "better than nothing" book and provides enough info to probably keep yourself from getting poisoned. It's an okay mushroom guide, but there are definitely better ones out there. Like i said, more like an encyclopedia reference for mushrooms.

[steev]

The real key to mushroom books is locality; if you have good reference books focused on your location, you're good to go; too large a focus: too loose a focus. As a general rule in any area, there may be 6 easily recognized that will kill you and six easily recognized that are excellent; everything else may be iffy for taste or potential for ill effects (temporary). This is not to say one should be afraid of them, just prepared for possible GI upset or sense/balance issues.

Mushrooms are very proteinacious, so very nutritious, but potentially problematic, as people can react to some of their proteins.

It's especially useful to look for "fungus fairs" in your area, where you may see specimens of many local species and have opportunity to speak to local "experts".

Please note that there are poisonous mushrooms that resemble useful ones from other parts of the world and even "safe" species can exhibit different characteristics, in different places. Every Fall, in Cali, we have instances of people, often South-East Asians, being poisoned by Amanitas which apparently resemble a species they can eat in Asia; they mostly say the mushrooms were delicious, but their livers are being destroyed.

I don't want to discourage anyone from mushroom-hunting; I'm just saying "know before you go"; it's a beautiful thing, to walk out in nature and find gourmet food.

"There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters." Be careful and be well.