Books
Mushrooming Without Fear has hopefully inspired further interest in mushrooms. Here is a list of interesting books with a conventional approach. Title: Easy Edible Mushroom
Guide Comment: This is my favourite conventional mushroom book. The combination of photo an illustration is a great help for safe identification. General explanations and comments are great and I couldn't agree more that "Most mushrooms have an affinity with butter...". The two flaws I found are that some of the photos are on the poor side and that the first item of the safety code goes like this:"First learn to recognize the poisonous species, and be absolutely sure of your identification." That is not sound advice and asking the impossible: there are thousands of poisonous mushrooms. It must be the other way round: be positive in the identification of the edible mushrooms as shown in Mushrooming Without Fear. Having said that I find this book excellent. Title: How to Identify Edible
Mushrooms Comment: A lovely all illustrated mushroom book. The ideal work for cross-reference in case of doubt. The illustrations are first class and the tips useful although I wouldn't recommend to eat any wild mushroom raw (cultivated ones yes). Title: The Practical Mushroom
Encyclopedia Comment: This is preaching to the converted. Anybody who likes mushrooms will buy this book for the aesthetic pleasure alone. Phantastic photographs, great graphic design and sound on all counts what more can you ask for? The only drawback it has is that you don't take a beautiful and heavy book like it on a foray. The same goes for another book using the same material, by the same author and publisher entitled mushroom picker's foolproof field guide. It is a mini version of the encyclopedia but it's not a field guide. It's too big for that. Nevertheless an excellent book. Title: Complete Mushroom
Book Comment: Atmospheric, highly appealing and again a book which any mushroom enthusiast will want to own. This is not so much a book for identifying mushrooms but a book about a culinary culture. The photos and the graphic design create a special atmosphere. The maestro's predilection for olive oil is easy to understand but with all due respect I have my doubts about some of the recipes. Great inspiration though. |
