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Wild Mushroom Foraging: 12 Tips for Beginners

Hunting for mushrooms is a fantastic way to combine outdoor activities, getting closer to nature, and becoming self-sufficient. But if you’re a beginner starting out on your own, the danger of picking deadly mushrooms is not something you should take lightly. Knowing which mushrooms to pick and which ones to avoid is a must if you want to enjoy foraging for many years to come.

Now, I can appreciate that telling you about the importance of taking spore prints or learning how to identify tree species will fall on deaf ears. I was the same when I started out. I didn’t want to waste time waiting for spores to drop, or looking up the differences between beech vs hornbeam. I wanted to go out there, find some mushrooms, then come home and stick them in a pot.

I’ve made all the beginner mistakes and, looking back on some of them, it’s a wonder I’m still alive. And after many years of foraging and successfully not dying, I’ve learned that there are a few simple tips that can make foraging easier and safer. They’re the kind of tips that would have helped me when I started foraging, and hopefully, you’ll find them just as helpful.

Quick disclaimer before we begin: this article is a general guide for how to start foraging, how to identify edible wild mushrooms, and how to avoid dangerous species. It’s a good starting point, but it won’t replace the expertise of a mushroom identification book or a foraging class. Also, I’m a forager from Europe, with experience foraging in the UK, Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The species I found may be different from what you’ll find in your country (especially outside of Europe).

With that in mind, let’s start with the most basic piece of foraging advice.

1. Buy a Mushroom Guide for Your Country or State

The first step in learning how to forage is buying a mushroom identification book. This will help you learn the terminology (such as what is a stipe or a volva), and will also provide images and other clues you can use to ID your findings.

It’s important to buy a book about species growing in your country or state. The mushrooms you’ll find will vary depending on where you live, which will have a direct impact on identifying them correctly. For example, the poisonous Jack-o’-lantern mushroom (Omphalotus olearius) is rare in Europe, but common in the US. And if you’re a beginner, it’s very easy to mistake it for the edible chanterelle.

Speaking of chanterelles vs Jack-o’-lanterns, here’s the best way to tell them apart: check the gills. Jack-o’-lantern has true gills that run in an uninterrupted line. Chanterelle (pictured above) has firm, forked gills that look a bit like veins.

A mushroom field guide with pictures will also help you identify mushrooms on site. There are probably apps you can use as well. But when you find yourself in the middle of the woods, with no WiFi or service, it’s easy to just take out a book and compare your mushroom to the ones in the guide. This will prevent you picking a basketful of mushrooms that turn out to be inedible.

2. Go Foraging With Someone

The best way to learn about mushrooms is to go foraging with someone who has experience picking them. For starters, that person can take you to places where mushrooms are actually growing, which is better than wandering through fields on your own thinking ‘Where them porcini at?’. A seasoned forager also has a trained eye, and will be able to point out mushrooms that you wouldn’t notice otherwise. Most importantly, they will answer your questions in real-time, and make sure you don’t accidentally pick something deadly.

Ideally, you should sign up for a mushroom foraging course. But depending on where you live and the time of year, that may not always be possible. Instead, you can try joining an online mushroom foraging group. This will help you learn about which species are growing in your area, and when. And if you ask around, there’s a good chance that you’ll find local mushroom pickers who would be up for meeting and going foraging together.

A successful mushroom foraging session with friends. Here, we’re dividing our spoils and making sure that nobody picked anything nasty by accident.

3. Always Ask for a Second Opinion 

I cannot stress this enough: always ask for a second opinion when trying to identify a mushroom, especially if you don’t have a field ID book. As a beginner, it’s easy to underestimate just how tricky it is to ID mushrooms correctly. And if you don’t know which features to look for, it’s likely you’ll end up picking something deadly.

Over the years, I’ve seen many identification mistakes made by beginners. I’ve seen new foragers mistake Russula for Amanita. I’ve seen people mistake yellow slime mold for chicken-of-the-woods.

But all these examples are nothing compared to the monumental blunder I made when I first went mushroom picking.

I discovered foraging in 2014, when my husband and I were volunteering on a farm in Poland. Our host, Mirek, really loved his mushrooms. Every morning, he would take the dogs out for a walk around the local fields and woods, and come back with stuff like this:

Giant parasol mushrooms

To our untrained eye, these looked like easy mushrooms to identify. Look for something with a big cap and a long stem, preferably brown. Gotcha, easy. So one day, we decided we’d go into the forest and pick some mushrooms ourselves. It was all fun and games, until we came back with this:

I honestly can’t explain to you why we thought this was a good mushroom to pick. We probably looked at it and thought that it kinda looks like a parasol, even though it’s the wrong color. We probably thought it’s some deformed champignon. And because we were a couple of dumb twats who had never looked at a mushroom identification book, let alone go foraging with someone, we managed to pick the deadliest mushroom known to man: Amanita phalloides. Our host was livid. It was sheer luck that we decided to ask him whether it’s good enough to eat before actually putting it into an omelette. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this article.

This goes to show that a little knowledge can do a lot of harm. Learn from my mistakes: if you’re new to foraging, always ask someone with experience for an ID. Your life could literally depend on it.

4. Start by Learning About Pored Mushrooms

The main reason people want to pick up foraging is because they want to eat wild mushrooms. That’s probably why you’re reading this article. Sure, the fresh air and exercise are all fun and games, but you can get that by just hiking. And I’ve never heard anyone say ‘Boy, I sure had a fun day out in the woods identifying Pycnoporus species!’ because, let’s face it, where’s the fun if you can’t use them?

So let’s cut to the chase: if your aim is to find edible mushroom species, start with the ones that have pores. Start by learning how to identify Boletus, Suillus, and Leccinum species. These genera have the most beginner-friendly mushrooms. They’re tasty, easy to identify, and have very few toxic or deadly lookalikes.

A handsome Boletus reticulatus (summer cep) growing in a beech forest.

Leccinum pseudoscabrum (hazel bolete) is common in deciduous forests, and it has no toxic lookalikes. Fun fact: you can also use it to make jam.

If you’re a beginner, the main rule is to avoid red pored bolete. Admittedly, some red pored species are edible if you prepare them correctly. Unfortunately, most toxic bolete species have red pores. The best example is Devil’s bolete, which has a cream or chalky white cap, red stem, red pores, and stains blue when you cut it.

Rubroboletus satanas: pretty to look at, not so pretty once it finds its way in your stomach. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

The second rule is to avoid bolete species that stain blue when you cut or touch them. This is common with red-pored bolete, but also some yellow-pored species.

Check out those large mushrooms with cream-colored caps and yellow pores. Notice how they stained a bluish-grey where my fingers touched them. Also, notice the cut stems: they bruised blue after cutting, but then faded to a brownish-grey. Those are rooting bolete (Caloboletus radicans). They have a notoriously bitter taste and, according to some studies, can cause vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

After you get familiar with bolete, start learning about pored mushrooms that have unusual fruiting bodies. Here are three great beginner-friendly species to look for:

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) is a fantastic edible species when young, and it has very few toxic lookalikes.

Beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica) is a bracket fungus that’s impossible to mistake for a poisonous species. The easiest way to identify it is by cutting it: the mushroom will ‘bleed’ a reddish liquid. The ‘flesh’ also looks like raw beef. Not everyone is a fan of its tangy, slightly bitter taste, but I find that blanching it helps improve the flavor.

Polyporus umbellatus or the umbella polypore is another pored mushroom species that’s edible and easy to identify, and has no harmful lookalikes.

5. Learn How To Ask for a Mushroom ID 

There’s a good chance that you’ll pick up mushroom foraging on a whim. One day, you’ll find yourself hiking through the woods or walking your dog in the park, and coming across a mushroom.

Now, I doubt that your first thought will be ‘Hmm, better rush home, buy a mushroom identification book, join a foraging class, and learn all I can about fungi.’ Instead, you’ll want to find out what it is you found ASAP, and whether it’s of any use. Most likely, you’ll post your mushroom find online and ask for some advice.

Whenever you find an unknown mushroom, it’s important to take relevant photos and note anything that can help others offer an ID. As a beginner, you may not know how to do that. And often, you may take one random photo and make a post that looks a bit like this:

‘I found this mushroom in the forest near my house, can anyone help ID it?’

This is a pretty bad photo of a mushroom. It doesn’t show the gills or the stipe, whether it has a ring or a volva, and the cap is just an overexposed mass of white. To get helpful answers, you’ll need to take better photos.

Let’s start with a better photo of the cap. This shows the cap color, and that it has no veil remnants (like the ones you would find on several Amanita species).

Next is a photo of the stem. You can see the gill color and shape and, most importantly, the absence of a ring on the stipe. A photo of the base of the stem would also be helpful.

You should also photograph the way the mushroom is growing in its natural habitat. Here you can see that it’s growing in a deciduous forest (a mix of oak, beech, and hawthorn), and that it’s growing in a fairy ring.

These photos are very helpful, but there are a few more details you can provide, such as:

Which country are you in? This mushroom was found in Romania.

When was this mushroom picked? This was around mid May.

Does the mushroom have any particular smell? Actually, yes, it smelled mushroomy but also mealy, kinda like flour.

By putting all these clues together, getting an ID is simple: you found a St George mushroom (Calocybe gambosa).

6. Always Compare Your Mushroom to Its Toxic Lookalikes 

Many edible mushroom species have inedible, toxic, or deadly lookalikes. And once you move away from the (relative) safety of bolete-like mushrooms and start exploring gilled species, it’s important to learn how to tell them apart from dangerous ones.

One of my favourite examples is comparing the differences between the toxic panther cap and the edible blusher. Both these mushrooms have similar features, and they’re both described as ‘a mushroom with brown cap and white spots’. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Above, you can see a photo of the toxic panther cap (Amanita pantherina). The white clumps (‘spots’) on the cap are remains of the ‘veil’ that covered the entire mushroom when young. Notice how the clumps have a white color and a fluffy, crumbly texture.

Now, compare it to the blusher (Amanita rubescens). Notice how the veil fragments (cap spots) have a different texture and a slightly reddish tint. Also, notice the very faint pink on the stipe, below the ring. If I were to pick it up and cut the stem, the cut would start turning a reddish pink. That’s where the name ‘blusher’ comes from, and also an easy way to tell it apart from the toxic Amanita pantherina.

Sometimes, it helps to tell mushrooms apart even if they don’t have toxic lookalikes.

A few years ago, I became obsessed with finding wood blewits. I was really curious about what they tasted like. And, knowing that they have purple stems, caps, and gills, I thought they would be easy to identify.

That’s when I came across this.

The first thing that threw me off was the huge basal bulb. The stem didn’t look right either — it was creamy white, when it should have been purple. Then I noticed the web-like strands along the edge of the cap, and the brown spore marks on the stipe. That’s when I knew: this ain’t no blewit, this is a webcap. This particular species is Cortinarius purpurascens. Admittedly, it’s considered edible, but it’s not recommended due to its similarity to other toxic Cortinarius species.

Compare that to an actual wood blewit (Lepista / Clitocybe nuda). Notice the lilac-colored stem, the deep purple gills, the absence of cap webbing and basal bulb, and the lack of brown spore stains on the stipe. What I found is that the easiest way to tell it apart from similar-looking webcaps is the smell. Wood blewits are very fragrant, and they smell like perfume or artificial orange juice — think Fanta or any other type of cheap orange soda. Once you get a smell of it, you’ll be able to identify this mushroom each and every time.

Any good mushroom identification book will have a section that highlights the toxic or deadly lookalikes of edible mushrooms. But if your book doesn’t have that, you can do a simple search online for similar species, and check how they compare to what you found. If your mushrooms look a bit too similar to a toxic species, you have two options: take a spore print to help narrow down the ID, or avoid picking and eating them.

7. Slice Your Mushrooms To Help ID Them

You probably noticed that I mention slicing mushrooms a lot. And for good reason: this is a very helpful way to tell toxic and edible species apart. Plus, it’s easy to use when you’re out on the field, and it will help reduce the risk of accidentally bringing an inedible mushroom home.

Several mushroom species will bruise when cut, and their ‘flesh’ will turn blue, pink, red, black, or yellow. Use this visual clue to compare them against dangerous species.

I picked this mushroom on the edge of a forest and, although I could tell it was a species of Agaricus, I wasn’t sure which one. So I decided to cut the stem. The ‘flesh’ turned a reddish pink, which told me that it’s either Agaricus sylvaticus or Agaricus benesii, both of them edible. Had it stained yellow, it would have been the toxic yellow stainer (Agaricus xanthodermus).

Cutting mushrooms in half will also show you what they look like on the inside, which is an easy way to avoid inedible and deadly species. The best example is puffballs. Most of them are edible, but dissecting them is always a must.

The common earthball (Scleroderma citrinum) looks similar to several brown puffballs species. The best way to differentiate this toxic mushroom from its edible lookalikes is to slice it in half. Earthballs are black or dark purple on the inside. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Compare that to the edible umber-brown puffball (Lycoperdon umbrinum). Notice the ‘flesh’ and how it’s just a mass of pure, spongy white tissue. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

As they mature, puffballs will start producing spores. This is when the ‘flesh’ inside them starts turning brown. At this stage, they’re no longer edible (they won’t kill you, but they will taste like ass). By cutting them, you can check the flesh and make sure that they’re still fresh enough to eat. This Bovista plumbea was edible when young, but once it got to this stage it was best to leave it in the field. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Puffballs can also resemble the immature stage of several inedible mushrooms. These stinkhorn ‘eggs’ (Phallus impudicus) can be mistaken for puffballs, until you cut them in half. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Cutting mushrooms in half will also help you identify Amanita eggs. Here you can see the difference between the deadly A. phalloides and the edible A. caesarea. Notice how you can see the shape of the mushroom cap at the top of the ‘egg’. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

8. When in Doubt, Leave It Out

One of the most important things you’ll have to learn as a mushroom forager is that you should never negotiate edibility. Some days you’ll come home with a basketful of porcini, and some days you won’t. No matter how tempting it is, you should never pick an unknown mushroom. Coming home empty-handed is better than ending up in hospital.

I still struggle with this after many years of foraging, and as a beginner, so will you. And it’s easy to understand why.

Being out and about in nature, looking for food, triggers something inside your ‘lizard brain’. It awakens a part of you that forgets that you have food at home, and puts you in a primal, hunter-gatherer mindset. Don’t scoff, it will happen to you. For the lizard brain, nothing is more disheartening than wasting calories on a fruitless search for food. And as the hours go by and you fail to find anything, that part of your brain that’s survival-driven will start negotiating with the part of your brain that knows better. You’ll start looking at random mushrooms and thinking ‘Well, maybe I could pick these ones, they look edible so I’m sure they’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll cook them extra long just in case.’

And that, my friends, is when mistakes happen. With so many toxic and deadly lookalikes, picking the wrong type of mushroom is one of the easiest mistakes you can make — especially when you’re trying to make your foraging trip worthwhile.  

Several years ago, I came across these mushrooms growing on a dead stump. It was late November, so my first thought was that they were velvet shanks (Flammulina velutipes). I’d never found these mushrooms before, so I excitedly picked them up. And that’s when things started feeling a bit off.

For starters, the stem had faint remains of a ring. That was a big no-no: Flammulina velutipes does not have a ring on the stipe. The stems also had small, beige-colored flakes — again, not something you would find on velvet shanks.

There was a chance that maybe they were Kuehneromyces mutabilis, an edible species that looks similar to Flammulina velutipes. Unfortunately, this mushroom is also similar to the deadly funeral bells (Galerina marginata). Now, some field guides mention that one way to tell them apart is the way the caps age. Unlike Galerina marginata, Kuehneromyces mutabilis caps dry out from the center, which means that the edges will be darker than the middle of the cap. However, it wasn’t enough to put me at ease.

If I have to choose between not eating mushrooms and a meal that could potentially lead to kidney failure, I’d much rather starve. The health risks are never worth it.

This is where I once more have to point out that taking a spore print would be immensely helpful. Yes, I know, there’s a good chance you won’t do it. But if you can’t visually identify a mushroom, then please don’t pick it.

9. Check the Underside of the Caps With Your Fingers 

I’m a lazy forager, and I absolutely detest wasting time picking mushrooms that turn out to be inedible. I also hate waste, and I feel bad whenever I pick something I can’t bring home, and just have to throw it back on the ground. So a few years ago, I started using my hands to feel the underside of the mushroom caps before picking them.

This is a very helpful tip for beginners. On one hand, it’s a quick way to determine whether a mushroom has gills or pores. Remember: if you’re new to foraging, it’s best if you avoid picking gilled mushrooms.

The deer shield mushroom (Pluteus cervinus) can look similar to a Leccinum, especially when young. But feeling the underside of the cap will tell you that it has gills rather than pores. Now, deer shield mushrooms are edible, but they have no culinary value. Personally, I avoid them because they’re bland. As a beginner, you should avoid them too because they’re easy to mistake for deadly species, such as Amanita phalloides. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Using your fingers to feel the underside of the cap can also help you assess the condition the mushroom is in, without having to actually pick it up.

Here, I found a bolete-like mushroom that looked OK, despite the fact that the cap was a bit chewed up. I gave it a quick touch test, and the underside felt a bit soggy, mushy, and full of holes. For the sake of the argument, I decided to pick it up anyway to show you what it looks like.

Big nope. This species of Suillus was way past its best. Slugs have made a feast of it, and there’s a good chance the stem was full of maggots. Don’t get me wrong, I would chop it up and throw it in a stew if my survival depended on it. But until then, I’ll leave it in the forest, for wildlife to enjoy.

10. Don’t Pick Mushrooms That Are Too Old or Too Young

For starters, small, immature mushrooms won’t make a very substantial meal. On the other hand, old mushrooms can have an unpleasant taste and texture, and they’re often filled with maggots.  

This scarletina bolete was a bit too old to pick. The cap felt soft and soggy to the touch, and the stem looked like it would be full of worms. I left it in the forest to spread its pores, and hopefully create more mushrooms for the following year.

Mushrooms that are too young or old are also difficult to identify correctly. As mushrooms grow, they can drastically change their appearance. You saw earlier how deadly Amanita ‘eggs’ can look very similar to white puffballs. When the caps start producing spores, their underside can also start changing color. And in some cases, mushrooms can lose certain features that can help you identify them, such as cap spots or stipe rings.

To the untrained eye, this baby fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) can look similar to the edible Caesar’s mushroom (Amanita caesarea) or the edible gilded brittlegill (Russula aurea). To make matters worse, it has lost most of the white specks on the cap after the rain. This makes it difficult to ID correctly, especially if you forget to check its stem. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

When I first saw these baby mushrooms on a piece of log, I was convinced they were some variety of oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus). The purple color and the soft, almost fluffy caps threw me off though, so I decided I won’t pick them yet. When I checked on them a week later, it turns out they were dark honey fungus (Armillaria ostoyae). Both species are edible, but they require different cooking methods.

This baby bolete is too small to ID properly. It could be the edible scarletina bolete (Neoboletus luridiformis/Praestigiator), or it could be the toxic Devil’s bolete (Rubroboletus satanas).

Chicken-of-the-woods is easy to identify, even when young. Well, most of the time. In some cases, though, it’s best to be cautious. Compare this specimen to the one below.

I found this small mushroom on a deciduous wood stump. At first glance, it looked similar to a young CotW. But for some reason, it just didn’t look and feel 100% right to me. Although this species has very few toxic lookalikes, this particular mushroom looked a bit to similar to Hapalopilus nidulans for my liking. H. nidulans is a toxic mushroom that, if ingested, can cause kidney and liver failure. Now, it’s possible that I was a bit paranoid and this particular mushroom was just a weird-looking chicken-of-the-woods. But, again, it was too small and growing on its own, and I decided it’s not worth the risk.

This chicken-of-the-woods, on the other hand, had seen better days. It was old and tough, with a cork-like texture. True, it was still edible. But if you’ve ever eaten an old CotW, you’ll know that it makes for a very grim meal.

11. Learn How To Cook and Eat Mushrooms

I’m not talking about learning how to cook the best mushroom Stroganoff. But if your main reason for foraging for mushrooms is to eat them, then you must learn how to prepare them correctly, and how to consume them.

Most mushroom species are inedible if you eat them raw. Also, several species contain toxic compounds that can be rendered harmless if you cook them long enough.

Take blushers (Amanita rubescens), for example. These mushrooms contain a hemolytic toxin that can cause anemia if eaten raw. But if you cook them at high temperature for at least 15 minutes, they are perfectly fine to eat.

The same is true for red pored bolete. Scarletina bolete (Neoboletus luridiformis), for example, is a species I enjoy greatly, but only after cooking for 20 minutes.

Honey fungus (Armillaria) can cause stomach problems if eaten raw or if they’re undercooked. To make them safe to eat, you will need to boil them for 15 – 20 minutes, then strain the water, and give them a good rinse. You can then use them in any recipe that takes your fancy.

Honey fungus are one of my favourite mushrooms. However, they often get a bad press because they’re associated with indigestion and diarrhea. The trick is to cook them correctly.

Some mushrooms are not safe to eat in combination with alcohol. This includes ink caps (Coprinus) and red pored bolete species, such as lurid bolete (Boletus / Suillellus luridus). Some people also report nausea and vomiting when drinking alcohol after eating mushrooms such as chicken-of-the-woods and morels.

Also, please bear in mind that even edible mushrooms can cause gastrointestinal problems. Many people report cramps, vomiting, and other issues after eating chicken-of-the-woods. The only time I ate umbrella polypore, I felt horrendously sick. These reactions are normal. Some people have a higher sensitivity to some mushroom species than others.

If you’re eating a wild mushroom species for the first time, try eating a small amount to begin with. If it makes you sick, it could just be that your body had an allergic reaction to that one specific species, and that it’s best to avoid it.

12. Keep a Mushroom Diary

If your goal is to become a long-term mushroom forager, I strongly recommend starting a mushroom log. Take a notebook and, after you come back from your foraging trip, write down the date, what you found, where, and what the weather conditions were like on that day.

Write your diary even if you don’t find anything. This will help you determine what to expect each year. Looking back on your findings, you’ll know when to start looking for different mushroom species, depending on your region.

A mushroom diary will also help you track how mushroom availability changes over the years. One year, my local forest was full of honey fungus. The next year, however, there wasn’t a single one to be found. I’ve noticed similar patterns with other species, such as Boletus and Lactarius (milk caps). And from what I can tell, if one year is particularly bountiful, the next one will provide a smaller harvest (it’s possible that mushrooms have mast years, but I couldn’t find any scientific evidence to support my theory).

You can also take photos of your foraging trips. They will complement your diary, and help you visualize seasonal changes and species availability.

I have a folder on my phone dedicated to mushroom foraging. It helps me keep track of what I found, when, and what the forest looked like at the time. Simple!

I also recommend making notes or taking photos of where you found mushrooms. Not everyone knows how to identify trees, shrubs, and other types of vegetation. But a photo can provide a visual guide for mushroom growing conditions, and can even help you discover potentially new foraging places.

Open forests such as these are a fantastic growing ground for Boletus, Amanita, Lactarius, and Russula species. These mushrooms form mycorrhizal relations with oak, beech, pine, and birch. If you can also find bracken (ferns) and brambles, call yourself lucky: you’ve just found the jackpot of mushroom foraging grounds.

Last but not least, remember to visit different parts of your local fields and woods regularly. Your first visit may be fruitless, but when you return a few weeks later, you may have a pleasant surprise.

That’s it from me. I hope you found this ‘little’ foraging guide helpful, and remember: all mushrooms are edible, but some are only edible once. So when in doubt, leave it out. Have fun out there, and stay safe!

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