Hunting wild mushrooms

I like to responsibly forage for wild mushrooms. I do that by cautiously collecting only a handful of mushroom varieties that are 1) easy to identify, 2) not easily confused with similar harmful ones, 3) really delicious. If you are able to learn the difference between a head of cabbage and head of lettuce you can learn 10 basic wild mushrooms. A good place to start is this book for mushrooms in North America: Mushrooming without Fear: The Beginner’s Guide to Collecting Safe and Delicious Mushrooms. A second trick is to visit a decent mushroom stall at a farmers’ market and repeatedly buy wild mushrooms to cook. Working with them will give you a good “search image” when you are hunting for them. — KK