Mushroom Hunting for Beginners

Learn to enjoy all the benefits of mushroom foraging with this accessible and affordable adaptation of the best-selling guide Complete Mushroom Hunter.

Mushroom hunting is great in so many ways: it gets you outside, teaches you about science and the environment, connects you with like-minded friends, and allows you to enjoy mushrooms’ wide variety of uses in food, medicine, and beauty. Mushroom Hunting for Beginners offers the essential information you need to get started with this rewarding hobby.

In this beginner’s guide, Mushroom guru Gary Lincoff walks you through best practices for hunting and identifying wild mushrooms, mushroom safety, as well as some tips for preparing and using the mushrooms you collect.

The great photographs and intriguing stories included in Mushroom Hunting for Beginners will draw you in, and the practical, detailed information and tips will make you into a well-seasoned mycophile before you know it.

Edible mushrooms are everywhere, and once you learn how to look for them and identify them, you will be hooked on mushroom hunting, whether it’s in your local city park, a suburban cemetery, or rural woods.

This valuable reference includes:
 

• Practical information on getting equipped for mushroom forays
• An illustrated guide to the most common wild edible mushrooms and their poisonous look-alikes
• An illustrated guide to medicinal mushrooms
• Where to forage
• Mushroom identification skills 
• How to use your harvest, including a selection of mushroom-infused recipes for tasty food and medicinal and beauty products

If you are new to mushroom foraging, this book is the perfect place to start. If you are more experienced, this is a great go-to reference to refresh your knowledge and skill set each season. So grab this guide, your gear, and get hunting.

Gary Lincoff taught courses on mushroom and plant identification and use at the New York Botanical Garden and led wild mushroom and edible wild plant study trips and forays to 30 countries. Lincoff chaired the Telluride Mushroom Festival for 25 years (1980–2004), and continued to participate for many years as its principal speaker. He was the president of the North American Mycological Association from 1980 to 1986. His books include the The Complete Mushroom Hunter and National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. He lived in New York City.