Does BAD mushrooms really turn silver black?

OldEastside

???

Steve

fastrudy

No. Old Italian wives tale. IIRC, Italians would place a silver coin in cooking mushrooms, and if it turned black, they were toxic. The coin never turned black and whole families were wiped out. One family in New Hyde Park, NY were all poisoned on the same day by ingesting poison mushrooms that they had gathered.

fastrudy

from wikipedia:
Folklore of poisonous mushrooms

"Poisonous mushrooms blacken silver." – None of the known mushroom toxins have a reaction with silver.

razzle

The most recent scientific research on safe mushrooms suggests that if you keep voters in the dark and throw them a little horsesh*t once in a while, your debt can mushroom, but it will be very red, not black.

ricko

Yep.... heard that tale often in the Pacific Northwest where mushroom hunting is a big pursuit..... told people over and over again that it was not true.... Seems every year there are a couple of deaths up there due to mushrooms.....Cheers, RickO

nibanny

<< <i>No. Old Italian wives tale. IIRC, Italians would place a silver coin in cooking mushrooms, and if it turned black, they were toxic. >>



When I was young - in Italy - I heard about a silver spoon instead (or a piece of garlic).
Luckily, nobody in my family ever believed it. But we usually eat only Porcini mushrooms which are eay to recognize (and the best ones, imo).