Fungi season is well underway and so many people tell me they’re scared of mushrooms, and I always ask why? 

To me plants are way more scary, but then I’ve licked a death cap and been absolutely fine, but I still have the scars from my hogweed burn. 

When it comes to learning about edible mushrooms, in the UK, we have 15,000 different species of fungi.

Five will happily kill you; 40 or so could kill you if you ate enough.

 I’ve eaten 158 different UK wild fungi. Of that 158 there are about 30 that I’d regularly eat. Everything else will either taste like crap or give you the shits, so learn 50 or so mushrooms—the five deadly ones, 30ish  edibles, and their lookalikes—and ignore the rest. So, here are the ones to learn. bare in mind that some mushrooms will fruit in multiple seasons.

The deadly five:

• The Death Cap, Amanita Phalloides. I’ve licked it because you can! Any UK fungi you have to physically ingest to cause any harm. I don’t recommend licking it, obviously.

• The Destroying Angel, Amanita Virosa. I’d love to find one of these beautiful mushrooms, pure white with a beautiful skirt.

• The Deadly Webcap, Cortinarius rubellus. I recommend avoiding all of the webcaps. They’re very hard to identify from each other, and they’re all pretty poisonous.

• The Deadly Fibrecap, Inosperma erubescens. Again, avoid all the fibrecaps. If it’s got a pointy cap and a fibrous texture, leave it alone.

• The Funeral Bell, Galerina Marginata. Does what it says on the tin. Grows on stumps, looks a bit like a Tawny Funnel or a Velvet Shank. It’s another death stick.

Most of these mushrooms contain amatoxin, which is a compound that destroys your liver and kidneys. Death is quite nasty when you’ve eaten these mushrooms. It starts off with profuse vomiting and diarrhea, and then you’re okay for a few days. In that late stage, the toxin is working on your liver and your kidneys, causing hepatorenal syndrome, which stops your liver from working, and unless you have a speedy liver transplant, means that after 3 to 5 days, you’re dead.

The 30 edibles:

Spring time...

• Morels are easiest to find on wood chip. For the Morchella Esculenta, there are a few other types of Morel Mushroom, but these are the easiest to find. Have a look around newly built housing estates on the wood chip.

• St. George’s Mushroom, Calocybe Gambosa. This one is white, grows in rings in the grass, and smells like wet flour. You could mistake it for a Field Mushroom, but they don’t tend to grow in the spring.

• Dryad’s Saddle, Cerioporus squamosus. This one’s a big bracket fungi that grows out of the side of trees, has a pheasant-like patterning on the cap, and smells of watermelon.

Summer mushrooms to find...

• The Chanterelles. These are golden nuggets of mushroomy goodness. I’m not overly fussy with what tree they grow with; I find them with birch, oak, beech, and conifers like pine, spruce, and fir. There are 3 on the radar the golden chanterelle ( though there's a few types the most common is the  Girolle, Cantharellus cibarius, and the Trumpet of death, Craterellus cornucopioides

• Horse mushrooms and other Agaricus (Field Mushrooms). With these guys, remember to avoid any that stain yellow and smell chemically. You can do a little test: pop a piece of your mushroom on some kitchen towel, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and if it’s yellow, don’t eat it. You don’t actually need to know the species, although some taste better than others; the Prince is delicious, whereas the pavement mushroom I usually find is full of grit and not worth bothering with. Try looking for the Agaricus Agustus, Campestris, Arvensis, silvicola, and avoid Xandthodermus and Moelleri

• Puffballs, especially the Giants. These guys are good to go as long as they’re pure white all the way through and spongy like marshmallow, making sure it’s not got any gills and it’s a big global ball of fungus. The most common puffballs are the common puffball, Lycoperdon Perlatum , The spiny puffball Excipuliforme, The stump puffball, Pyriforme and the Giant puffball Calvatia gigantea

• Oyster mushrooms. It looks like the ones you buy in the shop or a kit. It’s good to eat. These grow on dead and dying trees. Make sure it’s either grey or white, and be careful when selecting the white ones that it’s not growing on pine because that could be Angel Wings, which are reportedly toxic, and you’ll be cuddling the toilet. The two to keep an eye out for are The pale oyster, Pleurotus pulmonarius and the grey oyster, ostreatus and avoid Angel wings, Plurocybella porrigens 

• Porcini and all of its yummy friends. For this one, I tend to be lazy. I learn the characteristics of a Bolete Mushroom and apply the rule of “red and blue could make you spew.” Avoid any fungi with pores instead of gills that have a cap and stem that turn blue when you bruise them or cut them open, or if they have red anywhere on them. You are missing out on some delicious mushrooms, but you’re also avoiding the five toxic ones. The best edibles are The cep, Boletus edulis, Brown birch bolete, Leccinum scabrum and The bay bolete, Imleria badia  and avoid the tylopilus felleus  as its bitter and the rubroboletus satanas 

• Chicken of the Woods.  Laetiporus sulphureus You’ve got to cook this guy really well as it can cause gastric upset, and remember that some people are intolerant to it, so try a little bit first. But it’s easy to identify as there’s no other bracket that’s bright yellow and orange.

• Hedgehog Fungus. These are another easy one; it’s a cap and stem mushroom that, instead of gills, has spikes. There are a few different types, and there are some bracket-like fungi that you could mistake it for, but if it’s coming out of the ground rather than growing on wood, it’s the Hedgehog. Hydnum repandum and Terracotta hedgehog, rufescens

• Cauliflower Fungus. Sparassis crispa  This is a weird-looking thing growing at the base of a pine tree. It’s white and frondy, and it’s a bit of a pain to clean, but it tastes great, and again, nothing to mistake it for.

• Hen of the Woods, a.k.a. Maitake. Grifola frondosa This is a forager’s dream; we all love Hen of the Woods. It’s an oak-loving fungi at the bottom of the tree and forms a wonderful rosette of frond-like brackets. This mushroom is great in everything from on toast to in a pudding.

The Autumn Massive...

• Beefsteak Fungus. Fistulina Hepatica Another oak lover, this is a red, bleeding bracket that, when you slice the flesh, looks like marbled meat. It makes the best jerky in the world.

• Saffron Milk Caps. Lactarious deliciosus and deterrimus They’re orange. There are no other orange mushrooms apart from Saffies, and if you’re still not sure, run your fingernail across the gills, breaking them, and you’ll see an orange liquid released. Only Saffron Milk Caps are orange and release orange milk. If the milk’s not orange, it’s not a Saffy. Avoid the  wooly milkcap, Lactarius torminosus

• Shaggy Ink Caps. Coprinus comatus Shaggy, they’re white, and they drip black ink. These are an iconic autumn mushroom. Many people recognize these, sometimes called Lawyer’s Wig. Great fried in butter.

• Parasol Mushrooms. You want to be careful with with these as their look a likes the Dapperlings that they could be confused with, as they make up quite a portion of the 40 mushrooms that could happily kill you if you ate enough. So, Parasols are bigger than your hand, stain red when you rub the stem, and have a ball and socket-like stem attachment. The gills are free, and if you pull the stem out, you can pop it back in, and it will stay on. The common parasol, Macrolepiota procera is the safest as its easily identified by it's boob like cap with a central nipple and darker colouration and snake like skin pattern on the stem. There is a shaggy parasol too but that has a look a like thats really hard to tell apart from its toxic look a like so i tend not to bother especally as they can cause gastric upset for many.

• Trooping Funnels, Infundibulicybe geotropa. One of my favorite autumn fungi. Wonderful texture, nice meaty with a great flavor, and they get huge! With these, you could mistake them for the Fool’s Funnel, which is not a nice mushroom to be eating. So, have a feel in the middle of the cap, and you’re looking for a little lump or nipple, or the technical name, an umbo.

• Blewits (Field and Wood), Ciollybia prsonata and collybia nuda These are some really pretty, purple mushrooms. The Field Blewit has a purple stem and a buff cap; the Wood Blewit has purple stem gills with a slightly darker buff cap. Both of these I identify by their smell. To my nose, it’s wonderfully floral. For this one, what you’re looking out for is the Violet Webcap, and as I’ve said in the poisonous bit, avoid all the webcaps. I have heard and read that the purple webcaps aren’t toxic, but I still don’t want you taking that risk. For this, do a spore print: if it’s pinky-white, eat it; if it’s rusty brown, don’t.

• The winter chanterelle, Craterellus tubaeformis  sometimes called Yellowlegs. These can be found in huge numbers. They’ve got a brown cap with a hole in it, which blends in beautifully with the leaf litter, and a yellow, hollow stem, making it similar to the Black Trumpets in that you could probably blow a little tune on it if you’re an elf.

• Honey fungus, Armillaria mellia.  a tree killer but delicous if well cooked. Recognisable by the dark V shaped flecks on the cap, that are moe concentrated in the centre and becoming more sparse as you get to the cap edge and honey coloured stems. theres a few different types of honey fungus and they're all edible.

The Winter Collective...

• Velvet Shanks (Flammulina, which means flaming top, and Velutipes velvet stalk), which is exactly what this mushroom is. Growing on wood in the winter, it has an orange-yellow cap and a velvety stem that starts off yellow and becomes darker and eventually black with age. They have a wonderful, fruity, blood-like metallic smell.

• Scarlet Elf Cup, Sarcoscypha coccinea These are a little jewel in the winter, growing on willow logs near wet, damp places like rivers and canals. They don’t have much of a stem or gills; they are cup fungi, with a white

The Lookalikes or Toxic Ones to Learn:

• Glistening Ink Caps, coprinellus micaceua  You could mistake these in the winter for Velvet Shanks, but not really, the books say theyre edibe but it's pushing it in my book, utterly not worth dirtying the pan for.

• Sulphur tufts, Hypholoma fasciculare, common  find growing on dead wood most of the yearm they have yellow/orange caps and sulphur yellow gills that become greenish black with age, taste bitter as hell and if you can tollerate the taste they'll give you the shits so don't eat these. They do however floress under black light so they are pretty cool.

• Brown Roll Rims, Paxillus involtus. I absolutely, absolutely hate these things. From afar, they look like Porcini; however, they have gills and an inrolled rim. These fall into the category of mushrooms that, if you eat enough, will kill you.

• Russulas: These are fairly decent edibles, to be fair, but by the time you’ve got them home, because they’re so brittle, you’ve got a basket full of almond flakes, and it’s just not worth it, with the exception of the Charcoal Burner Russula cyanoxantha which doesn't have brittle gills. If you want to learn these, learn to do a spit test: stick a bit on the tip of your tongue, and if it’s spicy, don’t eat it; it’s could make you puke.

• Amanitas: There are some good ones in this group, like the Blusher and the Grisettes, but there are so many other mushrooms to learn, and if you get these ones wrong, you’re looking at potential death.