California urges mushroom lovers to try grocery stores instead of dying
California health officials have issued the world’s least‑hipster food advisory: stop plucking mysterious forest mushrooms and just buy them at Safeway. After nearly two dozen people were hospitalized, and one died, from the deceptively cheerful “Death Cap” mushroom, the state is begging amateur foragers to take a break from their woodland cosplay before their liver files a formal resignation letter.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said in its advisory that there have been 21 confirmed cases of toxic mushroom poisoning — which it says is “likely” from consumption of death caps — between mid-November and last Friday.
Toxins from the mushrooms killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in kids and other adults. Several patients required intensive care, “with at least one individual potentially needing a liver transplant,” health officials added.
Officials said there have been “significant clusters” of cases reported in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas, but are warning of risk statewide.
The problem is that Death Caps look like the kind of artisanal mushroom a food blog would pair with goat cheese, but they are actually an efficient biological prank that melts your organs. They grow under oak trees, smell nice, taste fine, and then roughly half a day later, surprise you with medical symptoms usually reserved for enemies of the Russian state. Officials say the mushrooms are thriving after heavy rains, so until science invents an antidote or people stop thinking Instagram likes are worth a liver transplant, stick to mushrooms grown by professionals.
The always interesting ladies of "This Podcast will Kill You" did a whole hour on toxic shrooms, why they're toxic and how you die.
IIRC it's thought that the toxins are a sort of insect deterrent. After the above podcast, I'm significantly deterred from any kind of myco-foraging!
The people who forage wild mushrooms are braver than I am, that’s for sure. I know enough to know that whatever mushroom I chose, it would end up being one you can only taste once.