Know Your Mushroom Vendors!
#2 2025 The Rowen Report
Dear Subscriber,
This is a sad post. I just read that three people in central Califonia were hospitalized after eathing cooked mushrooms purchased from a truck vendor. The mushrooms happened to be amanita phalloides, the deadliest on the planet, aptly called “Death cap”. It is a sinister poisoning, and there can be a “honeymoon” period for a few days after symptoms first appear. But within a few days after, the victim can go on to severe liver failure and death. I clearly remember a kindly senior Italian man in my 4th year of medical school who picked mushrooms and was in the hospital thankfully comfortable, but with death marked on him. He even tried the silver coin test and his mushrooms passed. He was dying of aminita poisoning. Cooking does not destroy the toxin, and the toxin is will tolerated by some animals, so watching them eat it is no assurance. That dying man had been picking wild mushrooms for years.
Death Cap amanita phalloides
Please note that the upper image mushrooms look like the commonly eaten button mushroom. If someone was brought to me for mushroom poisoning, I would likely suggest alpha lipoid acid, glutathione, phosphatidyl choline, milk thistle and ozone therapy, all efforts to try to save the liver. No guarantees with Death Cap poisoning.
This report was particularly unnerving to me. I love mushrooms. I’d love to be able to identify mushrooms out in the now very wet state parks where I hike. It is the wet season here in Northern California. I saw one patch 2 days ago and I was very tempted by them, but I’ve never eaten self-picked mushrooms save in Alaska were aI could easily identify the shaggy mane mushroom. They were terrific.
Shaggy mane – beloved to Alaskans. I would pick these in my yard. Had to be cooked and eaten quickly for best quality.
This post is a warning to be sure that any mushrooms you purchase are from vendors you know. I am very familiar with the mushrooms available at Whole Foods and other markets. Our farmer’s market has a vendor with the same products every week.
Mushrooms are powerhouses of immune system stimulating nutrients. But know that even the common “straw” button mushrooms have these wonderful properties as well. Please don’t play around with mushrooms. The live you save may be your own.
I prepare a lot of dishes with mushrooms. Ray straw mushrooms in my salads. Shiitake, portabella, trumpet, oyster, porcini, and many others for cooking. But, again, only from very reputable vendors.
To Your Excellent Health,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD
Yes, indeed. It is dangerous if you're not super paranoid. When I started hunting mushrooms in Northern California I first acquainted myself with all the amanitas. Some of the amanitas are highly edible, such as the Amanita Calyptoderma or Coccora. My forest was full of amanitas and especially those Coccora Italians love. I decided not to eat them, after trying them and deciding I could live without them. I went for the unmistakeable fungi such as hedgehogs, bolitas , chanterelles, oysters, shaggy manes, certain agaricus and a few others. Stayed away from all LBMs (little brown mushrooms) as there are so many and there's no telling what's what. I think the only reason people eat the deadly amanitas, which even look deadly, is because they look like an edible in their home country. I know this has happened to the Cambodians a few times.
There were a LOT of mushroom hunters in my neck of the woods and I never heard of any poisonings. Most inedible will make you sick but not dead. If you can get some training by a qualified mushroom pro, it's worth it. Very fun hobby but I almost drove myself insane trying to figure out all the shrooms.