Mushroom Hunting (Collins Need to Know?)

This one-stop practical guide will show you how to identify, pick and cook edible mushrooms. To make your progress easier, it comes in a handy format with colour photos and expert advice throughout. From identifying and picking edible mushrooms to growing your own mushrooms, from recipes for seasonal dishes to important information on poisonous species, this book provides all the helpful information you need to relish the exhilarating experience of collecting wild mushrooms. An introduction to what fungi is and where you can find mushrooms (as well as issues of access and trespass, bye-laws etc), it also covers all the equipment you might need and how to dry, pickle and preserve your mushrooms. Over 75 of the best edible species with warnings about poisonous lookalikes are detailed, along with advice on where you will find them and when, and recipes for seasonal dishes. Finally, the book covers growing your own mushrooms (and the kits available), the food value and medicinal uses of fungi, hallucinogenic mushrooms (and the law), and fungi in folklore.

After gaining his doctorate by growing grass on coal tips, Patrick Harding enjoyed over 25 years as a university lecturer. He now runs numerous courses and works with the BBC on programmes about herbal medicine, wild flowers, mushrooms, and trees. Patrick is the author of 'Gem Mushrooms' and 'How to ID Edible Mushrooms', and has had years of experience, lecturing and leading groups on fungal forays. He was recently filmed with Richard and Judy for a BBC 2 series.