Maine Lakefront Property Owners Advised To Practice Caution When Foraging For Mushrooms

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Maine Lakefront Property Owners Advised To Practice Caution When Foraging For Mushrooms

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Experience Nature on Rangeley Lake, Maine

Many Maine lakefront property owners know that our woodlands, gardens, vegetable beds and lawns are a veritable fungi goldmine. It’s been estimated that there are between 2,000-2,500 varieties in the state. Mushrooms, which love the cover of shade and the right amount of moisture, pop up between May and October. The actual body of the fungus or mycelium is the threadlike, non-fruiting network that lives and eats invisibly inside decaying logs. What we see when conditions are right, is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of the fungus.


The diversity of fungi is amazing–they come in thousands of types, forms, colors and shapes. Colors range from red, orange and yellow to white, brown and purple, with variations in between. Some grow like shelves on decaying tree trunks, while others have long protrusions and may look like sea coral. There are those with gills and others with pores beneath their parasol caps.
The question is, do you know your Death Cap from your Puffball? There is a huge amount to learn about fungi. The thousands of species range from medicinal or downright delectable to poisonous. While it’s fun to familiarize yourself with the myths and folklore, it’s even more important to know which varieties to pick and which to avoid.
Though the fascinating fungi can add unusual textures, flavors and colors to your cooking, we highly recommend you leave picking them to the specialists. If you want to learn more about wild mushrooms, it’s best to go on an organized foray with trained mycologists.
Collecting mushrooms is part of the culture in Europe and Southeast Asia, where the skill is passed on from one generation to the next. Sadly, our US culture has become disconnected from the passing on of such knowledge.
Eating wild mushrooms can be a dangerous business if you don’t know what you’re doing. Even some edible mushrooms can cause allergic reactions and upset stomachs, so only try a small piece of a cooked mushroom.
Some edible mushrooms look exactly like their poisonous cousins. Typically, if you consume poisonous mushrooms, you’ll experience food poisoning-type symptoms, e.g. severe abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea. You may recover for a brief period, but often the recovery will be followed by a relapse due to severe kidney and liver failure–and sometimes death. There is no treatment.
Safe Foraging Tips:
Amateurs should not forage. Take a class from a trained mycologist rather than depending on books and pictures to ID.
Learn from a mycologist to identify mushrooms indicated for beginners–the morel, the giant puffball, the shaggy mane and chicken of the woods.
Double-check with a mycologist to make sure you have made a correct ID.
Mushrooms should be fresh and mature–so you can positively identify them.
Worms, slugs and other bugs also like mushrooms, so look for them.
Avoid foraging near roads, where salt and other forms of pollution may be present.
To learn more about lakefront properties for sale on Rangeley Lake, click on the green box above.
To learn more about the Rangeley Lakes Region of Maine, check out the blog links below.
Rangeley Lake, Rangeley, Maine: Lakefront Getaways Feature Natural Entertainment
Porter Lake, New Vineyard, Maine: Get Outside and Play
Aziscohos Lake, Rangeley Lakes Region of Maine: Heed the Call of the Wild

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