A common sentiment among non-foragers is that harvesting wild mushrooms for consumption is dangerous.
“I’ll stick to the mushrooms sold in grocery stores,” the non-foragers say. “They’re much safer.”
Turns out, that’s not always the case. Commercially sold mushroom products are often mislabeled. In some instances, the mislabeled products sicken consumers.
A brand new study exposed the widespread inaccuracies associated with commercially sold mushroom products. Here are 3 major findings from the study:
- Many commercially sold “wild” mushrooms are actually cultivated mushrooms.
- Of the mushrooms that are actually wild, many of them are not the same species that are listed on the labels.
- Some products contain species whose edibility is at best dubious, and at worst potentially toxic.
To shed additional light on the topic of fraudulent mushroom products, I filmed a brief video in which I dig a bit deeper into the study’s discoveries.
You can watch the brand new video here.
You’ll never see this fungus sold in products intended for consumption (unless the product is mislabeled, of course), but you will find it growing in coniferous forests this time of year. Have you seen anything like it? To learn more about this club-shaped species, check out the latest Instagram post!Click to view post
Thanks for reading and watching, and thanks for your continued support!
-Adam Haritan
Paths I Walk 