The Puget Sound Mycological Society's annual Wild Mushroom Show, the biggest mushroom event in the region, is this weekend at Shoreline Community College.
- When: Saturday, Oct. 24, noon to 6 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 25, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Where: Shoreline Community College, 16101 Greenwood Ave. N., Shoreline.
- Admission: $10 adults, $5 students with ID, free for children under 12. PSMS members who volunteer at the show get in free. Masks are recommended.
What's there
The centerpiece is a display of up to 400 wild mushroom varieties, each identified and labeled as edible, poisonous or of no food value. Around it, PSMS lists:
- eight educational lectures over the weekend;
- a cooking and tasting demonstration;
- a station where you make an oyster mushroom growing kit to take home;
- a feel-and-smell display and mushrooms under the microscope;
- more than 20 vendors selling field guides, cookbooks and scientific supplies;
- a fluorescent haunted house and a treasure hunt for kids.
Bring your own finds
Experts at the show will try to identify mushrooms you bring from your yard or walks. PSMS asks that you collect the entire mushroom, including the parts below ground; the base of the stem is often what separates a harmless species from a deadly one. An identification at a show is a learning tool, not a guarantee that something is safe to eat.
Why it matters this time of year
Late October is peak season around Puget Sound, for prized edibles like chanterelles and for some of the most dangerous mushrooms in North America. Death caps have turned up on the University of Washington campus, and the small brown Galerina marginata, which carries the same liver-destroying toxins, is common in the region's wood chips. Seeing the poisonous species side by side with the edible ones on a labeled table is one of the best lessons in why casual foraging goes wrong. (We wrote about that risk this week: the deadly mushroom in Seattle's wood chips.)
If you, or anyone, may have eaten a wild mushroom that wasn't identified by an expert, PSMS's advice is to contact a doctor or the Washington Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222, with the mushroom or a photo ready if possible. For difficulty breathing, seizures or loss of consciousness, call 911.
About PSMS
The Puget Sound Mycological Society was founded with the help of University of Washington mycologist Daniel Stuntz, its first scientific adviser, and has held the show every fall for more than six decades; last year's was the 62nd. Beyond the show it runs monthly meetings, fall identification clinics, classes and field trips. Details are at psms.org.
Sources
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