While taking a little stroll through a hemlock grove last week, a happened to see a mushroom in a tree. Not the usual place for a mushroom. The don’t tend to grow in trees. And this one was stuck between two branches. I figured something must have put it there, the most likely culprit being a squirrel. But does that mean this mushroom was edible?
I’m not really good with mushrooms, so I tend not to forage for them. I know a couple that might be okay, but while I don’t know much about mushrooms, I do know not to trust my own judgement. So I decided to look into this a bit more.
First, the mushroom. It was one of those with a red cap. I see them fairly often, and many times they will have little nibbles taken out of them. Since I see mushrooms with little nibbles and don’t see little animals rolling on the ground holding their little bellies nearby, does that mean these are edible? Short answer, no.
A quick check online showed me a couple red capped mushrooms. We do have a red chanterelle in the province, but these are not chanterelle shaped. Maybe a fly agaric, but those have little red spots. Most likely a russula of some type. But that’s where the fun starts.
There are a number of different types of russula mushrooms. For many of them, you can only tell what type they are by looking under a microscope. A couple are actually edible. Some are edible if you par boil them first. And then there are some that aren’t so edible. Like the Russula emetica, also known as the Sickener. When people name a mushroom the Sickener, it’s probably not good for you. So why were squirrels dragging them into the trees?
Dig a little further, and squirrels are known for this sort of thing. While there is no actual proof, some researchers seem to think there is some sort of enzyme in a squirrel liver that can process the toxins in some mushrooms. In any case, they can eat mushrooms that will make us pretty sick.
Reading a little further, the same article also mentioned that they have also been known to gather psychotropic mushrooms. Now that’s what we need. Squirrels hopped up on magic mushrooms. Although it might explain why they are so jittery.
For a short time, I was thinking that if a squirrel could eat a mushroom it must not be toxic. But apparently squirrels can lead us astray and are able to eat things we can’t.
So never trust a squirrel. At least when it comes to mushrooms.