FAQ

Rule number 1 is: Never, never take a mushroom with gills. "But the field mushroom Alex...?"
The field mushroom is the most popular wild mushroom. It is also the most dangerous because practically all deadly cases of mushroom poisoning are due the fact that the field mushroom is confused with a deadly or seriously poisonous species. In Britain and elsewhere.

Likewise the parasol and the wood blewit have seriously poisonous look alikes. Mushrooming Without Fear means 100% safety and 100% pleasure - nothing less. If you want that 100% ignore mushrooms with gills. If you take any mushroom with gills you are mushrooming with confidence but not without fear.

Field mushroom

Wood blewitt

Parasol

Charcoal burner / Blue-yellow brittle gill

Olive oil is great. I love it and I couldn't live without it. Olive oil and mushrooms are as a rule not a good idea. The olive oil overpowers the mushroom taste. Some recipes include wild mushrooms and bacon. That probably is the ultimate culinary crime.

The cover girl is Elfrid, the publisher's daughter and I won't disclose phone number or address, so don't ask.

Some conventional mushroom identification books recommend not to take mushrooms with red tubes and list the dotted stemmed bolete as poisonous. The fact is that the dotted stemmed bolete is certainly not poisonous when cooked and rule number 8 in Mushrooming Without Fear says clearly "Never, never eat wild mushrooms raw." The dotted stemmed bolete is cooked 100% safe, easy to identify and of great culinary value. Follow the Mushrooming Without Fear to the letter and there will be no problem.

They are. From Norway down to Sicily you'll find the species featured in the book. In fact they are the same the world over wherever there are mushrooms. There are, for example, oaks on the bank notes in Cuba. So should you find sth. that looks like a cep and grows under an oak tree in Cuba it is a cep.