Fungus among us

Cat Campbell/For The Madera Tribune

A bowl of homemade mushroom barley soup is a meal in itself.

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Sometimes it can be cringe-worthy to realize that one of my favorite foods (mushrooms) is actually a fungus. But then again, one of my favorite cheeses is Gorgonzola, and it gets its flavor and appearance from mold. And I mustn’t fail to include yeast, which helps us bake breads, as all three are types of fungi. So, I guess I am not really very picky.

This time of year, I like to walk around my property and search for wildflowers and mushrooms. I really cut way back on picking and eating wild mushrooms, however, and I’ll tell you why.

Many years ago, I saw on a news channel that a university professor who was an expert in mycology, the study of fungi, took his class on a field trip to teach them how to distinguish between the edible ones and the toxic ones. Well, he made a fatal error and lost his life from consuming a mushroom he thought was safe. Ever since then, I’ve been afraid to go foraging, even though I had done so successfully for many years.