There are many types of truffles around the world: growing anywhere from 3cm to 5 cm in diameter and ranging from brown to black, grey to white, or even reddish in color, but they all share a similarity.

Truffles grow underground, making them hard to find and generally grow near the base of a hardwood tree such as oak and pine trees, if the right tree is not present, then the truffle will not be either.  Finding truffles is also a labor intensive task and usually require a trained animal to sniff out, making truffles the most expensive food for the quantity you get.

Among truffles, the most well known are White Truffles and Black Truffles (also known as the “White Diamond” and “Black Diamond” respectively in their locality), each coming in a winter or summer variant, with the winter varieties being more sought after.

Winter and summer white truffles are of the same variety of truffles, just harvested in different seasons.  Black truffles, however, are a different species in the winter and summer.  White truffles generally are known for a garlic like odor and also emit an earthy or musky aroma.  They are better left raw in dishes to utilize its aroma because it tends to fade rather quickly.  Black truffles have a more subtle aroma, but it lasts much longer and because of that, are better cooked to bring out the earthy, chocolate-like flavor it is said to have.

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photo credit: meaduva

As with all mushrooms, there is always a large variety of every kind and poisonous mushrooms are no exception. The range of effects from different types of poisonous mushrooms may be mild stomach pains lasting no longer than a day, to severe cramping, diarrhea, vomiting or even death within a week. If you hunt for wild mushrooms there is a possibility any one of them could be poisonous so before eating any, make sure you or an experienced mushroom hunter can positively identify the mushroom as being edible.  If you grow your own mushrooms you wont have to worry so much.

Although there are hundreds of poisonous mushrooms, some have caused more deaths than others because they grow in larger quantities, are much more common to come across, or are more commonly mistaken for other edible mushrooms because they are nearly identical in appearance and/or smell.

The three most dangerous types of poisonous mushrooms fall under the amanitas, false morels, and the little brown mushrooms or LBM’s category. These three categories account for the majority of mushroom poisoning in the US, with amanitas alone being responsible for nearly all mushroom related death.

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Other types of Japanese mushrooms include:

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  Button Mushrooms

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  Maitake Mushrooms

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  Matsutake Mushroom

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  Enoki mushrooms

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  Nametake Mushrooms

Use the mushroom grow buddy to learn how to grow mushrooms and eat edible gourmet Japanese mushrooms right away!

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There are many various types of lawn mushrooms which are edible, poisonous or dangerous.

Children and domestic animals are notorious for experiencing their surroundings orally.  They simply don’t know any better, and their natural instinct is to put things in their mouths and taste it!

Fortunately, most of the mushrooms we see on our lawns, in our planters, and around our ornamental shrubs are nonpoisonous. Still, in a case of known or presumed expsoure, it is important to identify the mushrooms, for only then can physicians properly diagnose and, if necessary, treat the patient.

Here are some photo of some of the most common types of lawn mushrooms as well as those found around the home.

chlorophyllum molybdites, common on lawns, causes acute gastrointestinal poisoning

conocybe lactea, common on lawns ,nonpoisonous

lepiota cepaestipes, common in mulch beds, causes short-term gastrointestinal symptoms

polyporus squamosus, common on trees and stumps, nonpoisonous

clathrus ruber, common on lawns, nonpoisonous

Note that picture-matching should only be used for a very tentative identification; accurate identification of a mushroom requires dilgent study of the specimen(s) and thorough comparison to published descriptions of suspected species.

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors