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Mixed Mushroom sickness


GCn15

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I live in Northern Manitoba, so our season is probably weeks ahead from most of you. Where I live there is millions of acres of old growth mixed boreal forest at our disposal that is all government (crown) owned. Needless to say, there is no sharing of shroom pick sites.

This year was really wet through all of August and early September and has led to some exceptional picking of chanterelles, hypnum repandums, shaggy manes, king boletes, and honeys. I have a pick one third of the patch policy, and I still could have filled up a rail car if I wanted too.

Anyway, for about the last month and a half, I have been eating mushrooms fresh after a pick about twice a week. Not in big amounts, just a few mushrooms at a time. Awesome culinary experience.

However, earlier this week, I did a mixed mushroom sauté for the first time this season. All the mushrooms were prepared as usual and none have ever given me any trouble on their own. However, when I did the mix fry I experienced some sickness. Not terribly ill, but still sick. I am confident that all mushrooms were properly identified and safe. I do not drink much alcohol and haven't had a beer in days before or after eating these. I am wondering if anyone has ever had experience with two normally benign mushrooms not playing nice with each other?

This could, of course, just been a problem of too much butter...or my stomach being sensitive to something else...but it did leave me wondering if anyone has ever heard of two or more mushrooms creating digestive problems when mixed.

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I mixed roughly the following

50% hypnum repandum

20% morels frozen from the spring

10% chanterelles (frozen about a month ago)

10% shaggy manes

Could be that I've just eaten too many mushrooms lately and the mix of all of the above was just too much for my digestive system to handle. The hypnums have been crazy the past 3 weeks and that is unusual up here, so maybe I took advantage a little too much.

Yesterday, I had a small amount ( a couple of each type) of hypnums and shaggy manes with a pork chop and had no ill effect. The earlier mix with the morels and chanties I had put the frozen in first and sautéed and then added enough fresh hypnums and shaggy manes to get my desired consistency. The morels were parboiled and frozen previously and the chanties were lightly sautéed then frozen. I am wondering now if maybe I didn't cook down the morels enough...it's a possibility.

I am guessing by the lack of response that no one has experienced mixed mushroom sickness, so I can stroke out the possibility that certain mushrooms react badly with each other and concentrate on the preparation of my dish to make sure it doesn't happen again....because man o'man it tasted good.

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Some people develop a sensitivity to morels over time. Shaggy manes can be a problem if they are beginning to turn (pink/gray areas on the gills). There are a few reports that Shaggy Manes may not mix well with alcohol. Honey Mushrooms should be par-boiled, and even then some folks are sensitive to them.

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Thanks Dave. I boil my honey mushrooms, just the way I was taught. The shaggy's were pretty young when I picked them. However, it certainly is a possibility that something was missed, or I took a shortcut in the preparation. After years of mushroom hunting sometimes a little tummy ache is a good reminder to us all that even after years of successful hunting of certain species that we have to do our due diligence.

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