On a walk through Bannister Park in Fair Oaks, Jim Adams says it’s easy to find all kinds of mushrooms. Rainfall early in the fall created perfect damp and cold conditions for them to grow.
As the president of the Sacramento Area Mushroomers, Adams has a good eye for spotting them. But one growing at the foot of an oak tree stuck out to him in particular.
“There's some yellow ones, some white ones,” Adams says, gesturing to the variety of mushrooms growing around the tree’s roots. “But the one that caught my eye is a mushroom with a slightly green cap that is slowly emerging out of the leaf litter underneath this tree.”
That mushroom is the Amanita phalloides, more commonly known as the “death cap mushroom.” California officials recently advised residents against foraging for wild mushrooms due to a recent rash of over 20 poisonings, and one fatality, linked to its consumption. Consuming it can result in severe liver damage or death.
In a recent announcement, the state department of public health said, “Given the grave risk posed by consuming these toxic mushrooms, CDPH strongly advises the public to avoid foraging wild mushrooms and to only consume mushrooms purchased from reputable stores or known commercial sources.”
Adams says he doesn’t often see this mushroom in Sacramento County, but ideal weather conditions for their growth seem to have helped them proliferate.
“This is the first year I’ve seen them here in Sacramento County,” he says. “I've seen them under some oaks over in Yolo County in the past few years.”
California officials said many of the poisonings occurred in the Bay Area and Monterey. Paula Urtecho, a naturalist for the East Bay Regional Park District, says her district regularly puts out advisories on mushroom foraging.
“Unfortunately, every year there is some number of mushroom poisonings, but I think this year it's a little bit higher than usual,” Urtecho says. “We got early November rains that led to an early flush of mushrooms, so I think people are seeing them out in the woods when they're hiking.”
Urtecho said these poisonings often happen when a mushroom is misidentified.
“It's kind of a generic looking mushroom in that the cap is convex and it has pale gills,” she said. “You could easily mistake it for something that looks just like a stereotypical mushroom that you would find at the grocery store.”
Adams says it’s still possible to forage safely, but it’s important for beginners to do it with an expert, rather than solely relying on a book or an app to identify a mushroom.
“Human-to-human teaching is the best way to learn about mushroom hunting safely,” Adams says. “It's also a great activity to do as a group — learning about mushrooms, about what's coming out in the environment, what to look for, what to avoid.”
He says coming to a meeting hosted by the Sacramento Area Mushroomers is one reliable way to get connected with experienced foragers. Anyone interested can learn more by visiting the group’s website at sacmush.com.
