Living with a Russian has many benefits. One of which is their love for picking mushrooms. A book that we have (on loan - Margaret I need to send that back to you) is Antonio Carluccio's The Quiet Hunt. A lovely book with great story to it - but perhaps not the best mushroom identification book - and according to my in-laws - not accurate. Antonio- an Italian living in England - grew up picking mushrooms much like P. and his parents. Many of the mushrooms in the book - my father-in-law gawked at the idea of picking - and one's that Antonio labeled as poisonous - everyone agreed that they grew up eating all the time. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
The first four photos are from "The Falls of Lana" in Vermont. A particullarly magical place. But a little too early in the mushroom picking season. That 3rd & 4th picture are poisonous. That 3rd photo is called destroying angel.
The last two photos are from today. Some big money there. We made mushroom barley soup the other day - so good. And I'm still here to tell the tale.
