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What you are looking at is the, Amanita phalloides, aka, the Death Cap mushroom, commonly found in parks throughout California. You don't want to eat these... THEY WILL KILL YOU! Every single year it will be on the news... a story about folks venturing out to their favorite park in search of wild mushrooms, to prep and serve in some amazing culinary dish passed down from family member to family member. Probably something with turkey. Unfortunately, sometimes the chef gets it wrong, and they return from their pleasant day of park shopping, with a deadly mushroom. Like Maryanne did in Gilligan's Island. You know... the professor told her the bad mushrooms would result in a case of, Roomus igloomas. Not a real condition, but wild mushroom poisoning is very real and deadly.
The San Francisco Chronicle featured a story, from last summer, about the deadly fungus and issued warnings, but the harvesting continues. A lady in Australia is suspected of poisoning her in-laws with poisonous mushrooms, but she contends that she got them at two different local stores. She has not yet been arrested, but she is still under suspicion by the Australian authorities. But back to sunny California. Because of this year's El Nino conditions in California, the bloom should be even greater than last year. Just don't do it! Mushrooms aren't that expensive, if you want yummy and organic, let Whole Foods or Trader Joe's do the work for you. A liver transplant is not what you want to give your Uncle Bob for Christmas!
Personally, since my bout with Covid-19 (Omicron) in the winter of 2021, I can't eat mushrooms. They taste nothing like I remember them tasting. In fact, they have no scent, and taste like old garbage, so I will be fine, but I think about all those well meaning adults in the world, who don't know any better than to eat mushrooms out of a park. I mean... what else are they deciding to take home and eat? Oleander? Castor Beans? And it's not just we dense humans that have to worry, did you know that cats are highly allergic to common holiday plant, the poinsettia? Look friends... just be careful, and keep the phone number for the poison control center and emergency animal shelter handy. Okay?
San Francisco Chronicle
August 17th, 2023
