Missoula man dies from foraged morels

robertk

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Can anyone trust them after this?
I don't see a reason to be any more scared of them. The article says the guy ate mushrooms that he had collected in 2022 and dried for later use. He then ate them after cooking by boiling for five minutes. Seems like undercooking may have been the problem. I don't know if they'd even have time to fully rehydrate in five minutes, much less cook. There have been other cases of people being sick or dying from morels, and the common theme seems to be that they were raw or undercooked.
 

dognose

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recently, there was a woman who died after eating sushi which had raw morels in the sushi roll. Not a good idea.
 

pepperj

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Oh my! Yet another case of fear mongering?

Learn the basics of foraging anything.
Proper ID
Tolerance to the item
If a person can't tolerate it-leave it!

Proper cooking of things that require it should be noted-yet some like things raw and are happy campers consuming them as the risk levels are very low-moderate.

Sushi is one that is consumed by the ton it seems-yet one bad ingredient can make it deadly.

5 Minute read on Morel ID

 

Blackfoot58

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Some false morels can fool some folks. The cap attaches to the stem somewhat differently on ones I’ve found.
 

MuckyBottles

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I don't see a reason to be any more scared of them. The article says the guy ate mushrooms that he had collected in 2022 and dried for later use. He then ate them after cooking by boiling for five minutes. Seems like undercooking may have been the problem. I don't know if they'd even have time to fully rehydrate in five minutes, much less cook. There have been other cases of people being sick or dying from morels, and the common theme seems to be that they were raw or undercooked.
Boiling anything in a rolling boil will kill all bacteria, bacteria or any other contaminants do not survive temps over 165. Maybe he accidentally ingested an amanita mushroom mixed in.
 

Blackfoot58

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Boiling anything in a rolling boil will kill all bacteria, bacteria or any other contaminants do not survive temps over 165. Maybe he accidentally ingested an amanita mushroom mixed in.
Bacteria isn’t the only food borne issue. Some plants have natural toxins that are deadly. Those aren’t bacteria anymore than arsenic, cyanide, etc.
 

fistfulladirt

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Some false morels can fool some folks. The cap attaches to the stem somewhat differently on ones I’ve found.
I have foraging friends that pick and consume false morels, but only the stem. I’m definitely not recommending this, and would never consider it myself.
 

pepperj

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Boiling anything in a rolling boil will kill all bacteria, bacteria or any other contaminants do not survive temps over 165. Maybe he accidentally ingested an amanita mushroom mixed in.
He was experienced on foraging mushrooms.
The differences between a Moral and an Amanita are easily identified.
Screen Shot 2024-05-02 at 8.46.49 AM.png
Screen Shot 2024-05-02 at 8.48.07 AM.png
 

pepperj

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In the interview with the Mycologist indicated that "they didn't know" if the true morels contained hydrazine.
Though hydrazine accumulates in the body over time.
So if this guy consumed morels for 30+ yrs it's possible that an undercooked batch was his last batch.



False morels is a toxin known as monomethyl hydrazine (MMH),
Black morel mushrooms have four lookalikes, and three of them are considered toxic

The good news: The three toxic wild mushrooms, Verpa Bohemica, Genus Gyromitra, and Verpa conica, are pretty easy to tell apart from true morels, if you know what to look for.

 

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