Foraging inspirations. Mushrooms, pt. 1 -- the lookalikes
It's delicious, with almost no lethal lookalikes, and easy to find. Just pay attention to: the cap, the gills/pores/needles, the scales, the spore print, the bulb, the skirt, the stalk and you'll be fine. Oh! and the environment -- the environment is important too. Oh! and the time of the year -- that's important as well. But otherwise you're all good.
What's this for and why?
This article is the first of a series of the foraging notes to serve as a source of inspiration for the future. It is also meant to be a starting point for everyone interested in taking real life details to spice up their worldbuilding and writing. If it manages to make you curious enough to take a picture of an unknown mushroom growing in the wilderness or maybe in the city center and then look it up in a book or the internet, then it has outdone its initial purpose.
While I hoard more and more nerdy knowledge, stories and photos, I tend to push most of it to the back of my mind. It's a set of very specialized skills that rarely comes to use in the real life... As means to help myself and in the same time share some experience everything (hopefully!) will be organized to make it easier to find when a need for inspiration appears.
Enjoy!
The lookalikes
Mushrooms can have a huge number of lookalikes and this comes in part from their unique biology. Even nowadays some similar species have been relocated to their own families, due to genetic diffrences/similarities. Sometimes it's impossible to tell two species apart without a microscope; the physical characteristics are not enough. In most cases, the hard part in foraging translates to attention to detail. The mistakes happen because people are quite often... lazy. Laziness makes people look for shortcuts and clump things together, e.g.,
As people struggle to simplify complex and lose as much "unnecessary" details as possible, it makes it much easier for storybuilders to add drama. As creators of the world we have the freedom to know all the details. The characters, however, will often lack knowledge or experience in some fields and suffer the consequences. Mushrooms do not have to make their appearance within a foraging scene, but the foraging happens at some point, even on the backstage. The scene where the similarity to a lookalike matter can happen in a restaurant (a cook made a mistake or the supplier didn't verify their stock well enough), a market, a local shop. It can happen in the wild and in a big city. But what message can be sent by using lookalikes?
Lookalikes can be used in a story in a straightforward manner:
Some examples of edible mushrooms and their lookalikes
Porcini and bitter porcini
In the midst of the vast family of Boletae sp. there are the super tasty porcini, but... there are also some mischevious lookalikes, which are terribly bitter. One of those, and quite common is the Bitter bolete. It's technically not poisonous, but super, super bitter and having one has ruined hundreds of dishes. Many bitter species in the Boletae sp. family also stain dark blue when injured. This one does not, making the mistakes easier to make. Can you spot the differences?
Chantarelle: true or false?
One of the best known and foraged mushrooms is the chantarelle. It's tasty, can be eaten raw with no stomach problems, but sometimes it's being mistaken for a false chantarelle. The colours are similar enough, as are the gills. The false one is rubbery, though, the transition between gils and the stem is more pronounced and the pigmentation is much less uniform. Can you spot the differences?
Field mushroom or a yellow-stainer
Field/meadow mushrooms are cousins of your average button mushrooms, tough in nature they tend to grow larger and have more flavour to them. On rare occassions one can stumble upon a toxic lookalike, which stains yellow and has a chemical odor. Feels like a lot to disregard, but mistakes happen, especially when people don't know there are more species similar to the ones foraged in the market (there more than 10). Can you spot the differences?
Saffron milkcap or woolly mikcap
Saffron milkcap is one of the delicacies among autumn mushrooms and is one of the safer mushrooms to forage (at least in Europe) I haven't heard of a toxic lookalike milkcap with an orange-coloured milk. If one focuses on the cap-however, it's often mistaken with the woolly milkcap. Interestingly, woolly milkcap is conditionally edible. When soaked overnight, to get rid of the spicy milk, it's prepared in the Central and Eastern Europe in a pickled or fermented form. The woolly milkcap is creamy on the flip side, has a woollylike edge, tastes very spicy, nothing like the sweet Saffron milkcap. Can you spot the differences?
Black truffle and pigskin poison puffball
Truffles are generally thought to grow underground, but in reality they can also be found partially sticking out of it. At simes people mistake the pigskinn poison puffballs for truffles (and try to consume them). The interior may look similar, but the skin and odor are very different. But if it was found above ground maybe it was cleansed by the rain? There's some room for error. The odor? Maybe it's suppose to smell funky? Many people have never ate truffles and would love to try. Can you spot the differences?
Morels and false morels
Both are spring mushrooms that can be found in woods. They have slightly different habitats, but if one is hungry or eager to try this delicacy what's to stop them, right? Interestingly they're both conditionally edible. Morels need to heat-treated (a few minutes on a pan is enough), false morels need to be dried or cooked (they contain a compound called gyromitra which is broken down by drying or released into the air during boiling, so fumes are toxic as well). Morels tend to look more like elongated, squished honeycombs, while Gyromitra are folded, kinda similar to the brain. Can you spot the differences?
Honey fungus and the Funeral bells
Honey fungus is one of the most widely foraged tree-growing mushroom in Europe. It's relatively easy to recognize, grows only in autumn when it's cold, but every now and then people will mistake Funeral bells for them, a species which can be lethal when consumed. The latter grows on conifers, smells floury and is usually alone (rarely in very small groups). Honey fungus grows in clusters and it's best to collect them as a single cluster. The stalk is different as well -- it's bulky in Honey fungus and fragile and thin in Funeral bells. The latter has a different skirt as well. Can you spot the differences?
Macrolepiota procera and Chlorophyllum rhacodes
The left one is a delicacy, often growing on fields or not too shady woods in summer. It's consumed whole, breaded and sizzled on a skillet. The deadly lookalike grows in more shaded woody areas and shares a lot of similarities. The identification comes into details such as: is the ring around the stalk loose (good), zig-zag pattern is visible on the stalk (good), stains brownish red upon pressing (bad). The edibility of the latter one depends on the environment (it can concentrate heavy metals from the ground) and in clean areas can be, and is, consumed. It has, however, a deadly variety (Macrolepiota rhacodes var. bohemica) which is as toxic as the death cap. Can you spot the differences?
Lepista nuda and Cortinarius violaceus
There are some colourful mushrooms, which are edible and tasty, e.g., lepista nuda. However, one has to watch out for a deadly violet lookalike - Cortinatia sp. There are many violet Cortinaria but all have a distinct brownish ring on the stalk as well as, usually, earthy odor. Lepista nuda smells fruity and looks more like a violet button mushroom, although without the orangy stain remnance of a veil, once covering the gills. Can you spot the differences?
Inspirations
Suppose there is a scene, one would like to include mushrooms in to deliver a message. How could that be approached? Mushrooms can be used in several places to boost up the scene. I tend to categorize the use into one of the four ways: By choosing the message to be delivered through the scene one can then narrow down the species to be used. Granted, some choices are obvious:Example usecases
Here are some examples worked from the information we want to hint at.
"There are people posing as friends in character X's surrounding".
Example 1. Exposition in the background. The character does not interact with it.
Clara loved these little family walks. The summer was slowly ending and the forest floor slowly vanished under the rusty gold of autumn leaves. Her sister was taking the lead as usual, trying to spot every scrumptious find. They had this little competition for over a decade and she was determined to win. She watched as her sister walked right past the pair of mushrooms with a stubby brownish stalk, their caps fully covered by the leaves. This was her chance to win! She gave a joyful shriek and jumped forward. Laura winced and turned towards the finding but gave it only a short glance and shrugged. Clara studied the pair of mushrooms carefully. The first one had pores creamy pink and puffy, while the other was creamy white. She gave them both a taste. The former was terribly bitter but the other was mild and sweet. She couldn't tell them apart if it weren't for the difference in taste. She pulled them apart and put the good one to the basket, leaving the bitter one on the ground.
Example 2. Exposition in the background. The character interacts with it.
She loved these little family walks. The summer was slowly ending and the forest floor slowly vanished under the rusty gold of autumn leaves. Laura was taking the lead, trying to spot every scrumptious find. They had this little competition for over a decade. Clara watched as her sister headed towards the pair of mushrooms with a stubby brownish stalk, their caps fully covered by the leaves. Just a few more steps and the prize will be... Laura accidentally kicked them both, separating the caps from stalks. One cap had pores creamy pink and puffy, while to other was creamy white. For the first time she saw a bitter bolete so close to the true one. So similar she almost couldn't tell them apart solely from the looks... She pulled them apart and put the true one to the basket, and the bitter one on the ground.
Example 3. Exposition in the foreground. The character does not interact with it.
Laura was used to these little family walks. The summer was slowly ending and the forest floor slowly vanished under the rusty gold of autumn leaves. Clara was dilly-dallying behind, exclaiming like a little child whenever she spotted anything of interest. She loved to keep the score. It's been over a decade and nothing could change her younger sister's mind about it. Laura overturned a small bump in the leaves uncovering a pair of mushrooms on stubby brownish stalks but paid them no attention. Clara approached the find and twisted them from the ground. The first one had pores creamy pink and puffy, while the other was creamy white. She gave them both a nibble and grimmaced in distaste. The former was terribly bitter but the latter was mild and sweet. They couldn't be told apart if it weren't for the difference in flavour. She put the good one in the basket, leaving the bitter one on the ground.
Example 4. Exposition in the foreground. The character interacts with it.
She was used to these little family walks. The summer was slowly ending the the forest floor was slowly being covered with the rusty gold of autumn leaves. Clara was dilly-dallying behind, exclaiming like a little child whenever she spotted an interesting find. She loved to keep the score like they used to back in the old days. It's been over a decade and nothing could change her mind about it. She overturned a small bump in the leaves uncovering a pair of mushrooms on stubby brownish stalks, then twisted them and studied carefully. The first one had pores creamy pink and puffy, while to other was creamy white. For the first time she saw a bitter bolete so close to the true one. So similar she almost couldn't tell them apart solely from the looks... She pulled them apart and put the true one to the basket, and the bitter one on the ground.
MUSHROOMS. This is such a fun article. I love that it teaches you some things about fungi, and also how to use them in your worldbuilding and stories for symbolism. :D
Thank you! <3 The season has finally started here, so I'm slowly starting to find some interesting stuff. If everything comes well, I'll make a post or two about them, e.g., pheasant's back/dryad's saddle.