On the Edibility of Aminita muscaria, Fly Agaric
Dr. Sinclair Philip, Sooke Harbour House, Sooke, British Columbia
I
t is unfortunate that an image of
Amanita muscaria was used to illus-
trate the article, 'Deaths Of 550,000
Confirm Which Mushrooms Are
Okay To Eat,'even if this article was writ-
ten in jest.
Historically, the edibility of this mush-
room, properly detoxified, is well estab-
lished in several parts of the world. Da-
vid Arora and William Rubel have written
an excellent article on how mushroom
field guides, particularly in the English
speaking world, have not kept up with
advances in scholarship and have not
properly reflected the prevailing historic
and cultural consensus on mushroom
edibility in:
A Study of Cultural Bias in Field Guide
Determinations of Mushroom Edibility
Using the Iconic Mushroom, Amanita
muscaria, as an Example. Economic
Botany; Devoted to Past, Present and
Future Uses of Plants by People, Vol-
ume 62, Number 3, November 2008.
Pages 223-243
Amanita muscaria, or the Fly Agaric,
is probably one of the easiest mush-
rooms in the world to identify. Its use as
a food plant is well documented histori-
cally in France, Lithuania, Russia, Italy,
Japan, and the United States and, in
spite of this, it is increasingly character-
ized by field guides as inedible.
Arora and Rubel thoroughly and sci-
entifically document its toxins as water
soluble and that these toxins can be re-
moved by cleaning them, cutting them
into pieces about a centimeter thick and
six or seven centimeters long (small
pieces), and by parboiling them in a
large pot of salted water (boiling) for 15
minutes, after which the water should
be discarded. This simple process re-
moves toxic muscimol and the ibotenic
acid. Then, after detoxification, Aman-
ita muscaria can be cooked in a variety
of ways.
Detoxified, I have eaten it fried and
also cooked over an open fire, in the
presence of David Arora and culinary
historian William Rubel, and would
highly recommend its flavor and tex-
ture.
Both authors refer to historic and
cultural detoxification methods applied
to a variety of different mushrooms, not
frequently mentioned in field guides.
"Many mushrooms can be made edible
through knowledgeable processing."
(page 233) Several examples of the de-
toxification of different mushroom spe-
cies are given on pages 233 and 234.
Be advised that, Amanita phalloides, for
example, cannot be detoxified this way.
Amanita muscaria is much less toxic.
Arora and Rubel remind us that ".sci-
entific nomenclature is updated, but the
edibility information is not." (page 236).
".mushroom field guide authors teach
the science of taxonomy. They could
teach the science of edibility, but they
don't." (page 236)
I would highly recommend the schol-
arship of these authors to all of you.
They have written a very interesting
article and it can be found at www.davi-
darora.com. Of course, there are several
mushrooms which are highly toxic and
a number of amanitas, including Aman-
ita phalloides and Amanita ocreata, for
example, are amongst the most deadly.
They cannot be detoxified by any cook-
ing method! However, some amanitas,
such as the Amanita calyptroderma,
caesarea and francheti, to name a few,
are delicious, and the Grisette, which
may be less flavourful, are commonly
eaten.
Before I ate any of these amanitas,
I was 100 percent sure of the identifi-
cation, thanks to expert identification .
I had the good fortune to eat Amanita
calyptroderma and francheti, as well as
muscaria, with David Arora and William
Rubel , and thoroughly enjoyed them all.
Some amanitas are amongst the most
commonly eaten mushrooms in the
world, along with russulas and boletes,
but we must all recognize that mistakes
can be fatal and that one must be 100
percent sure of identification before
consuming any of these mushrooms.
I know some of you will disagree with
this email, and I certainly understand
why. I would advise everyone to err on
the side of extreme caution. At the same
time, I encourage you all to read this
article for a better understanding of the
importance of recording ethnobotanical
and ethnomycological traditions so that
our field guides better reflect mushroom
edibility. Enjoy your mushrooms!
Dr. Sinclair Philip
Sooke Harbour House
Sooke, British Columbia, Canada