We were shooting video of Dr. Gangi's famous haunted house on Robin Hood Road in Clifton on Thursday, when we saw this woman across the street carrying something that looked like a skull. But that was just our Halloween imagination working overtime. The head-sized thing she was carrying was actually a mushroom -- a Giant puffball, or Calvatia gigantea, to be exact. At least that's what she told us.
Marianna Krivak, who works as an engineering technician for a medical device firm, says she was a biology major in college, which accounts for her certainty that this skull-like fungus was a delicacy rather than a toxin-filled last meal. She'd parked on the Clifton side street and walked down to the Rt. 3 exit ramp, where she'd spotted the puffball from her car. She was thinking about making crepes with it.
Standard disclaimer: don't try this at home, kids. Though Krivak insists "you can't mistake this for something else," we're not counseling anyone to go down to highway exit ramps and pick wild mushrooms. At least without a biology degree.
And here's how the dish turned out...
Comments (16)
Excellent Food for Cats, she's got THAT right! I'd take a pass and opt for a corned beef on rye with mustard & cole slaw with a Sierra Mist.
Sandy
Try a corn beef on rye with russian and cole slaw on the sandwich
wow, i don't know if i'd be willing to sample the puffball omelet, but she certainly made it look good. what i'd really love to do is walk around some of the parks and empty lots in the area and have this very smart lady explain some of the mystery plants. there are so many plants that are probably called weeds but that are fascinating all the same--strange looking seedpods, tiny but beautiful flowers, velvety leaves, etc.
shrooms rule.
Whole Foods is a lot safer
How can you tell if a mushroom is poisonous?
Signs that a mushroom might be poisonous include the following:
warts or scales on the cap or top of mushroom
gills that are white or light-colored, not brown, on the underside of the mushroom
gills that look like thin, leaf-like plates underneath the mushroom
an upper ring around the upper part of the stem
a lower ring around the lower part of the stem
the base of stem looks like a bulb
What are the symptoms of mushroom poisoning?
The following are the most common symptoms of mushroom poisoning. However, each individual may experience symptoms differently. Early symptoms include feeling sick, stomach cramps, vomiting, and watery or bloody diarrhea. If your child has any of these symptoms, call your child's physician immediately.
What you should do if your child has eaten a wild mushroom:
Collect the mushroom your child was eating. Carefully dig up a few mushrooms, complete with underground parts, to help with the identification. If there is more than one kind of mushroom around your child, collect all of the different kinds.
Call your child's physician, the local poison control center, or the hospital emergency room. They will ask you questions about your child and give you appropriate instructions. Also, bring the mushrooms you have collected with you to the emergency room.
How are children treated for mushroom poisoning?
If the child has not vomited, he/she may be given syrup of ipecac, an emetic (an agent that causes vomiting), or activated charcoal to induce vomiting. The physician will check the child's vital signs and consult a local mushroom expert to determine whether or not the mushroom is poisonous and whether any other treatment is necessary.
Poisoning by Amanita phalloides (the death cap) is characterized by a delay of between 6 and 24 hours from the time of ingestion to the onset of symptoms. During this time, the cells of the kidneys and liver are attacked. There is no antidote for poisoning by A. phalloides, and mortality is between 10 and 15 percent.[1] There have been some recorded studies regarding Silybum marianum or blessed milk thistle protecting the liver from aminita toxins and promoting regrowth of damaged cells, including a study whereby 60 patients exposed to death cap poison were given 20 mg/kg of milk thistle seeds per day within 48 hours of consuming the deadly mushrooms. None of the patients died.[2] (PD. A lethal dose is considered to be about 30 gram, or the equivalent of one whole mushroom.
[edit] Symptoms
Serious symptoms do not always occur immediately after eating; often not until the toxin attacks the kidney, from minutes to hours later. In rare cases, symptoms leading to death may not appear for days after eating a poisonous mushroom. Symptoms typically include:
Fatigue
Headache
Dizziness
Cold sweat
Hallucinations
Vomiting
Sharp abdominal pains
Jaundice
Severe diarrhea
Blurred Vision
If treated promptly, death can usually be avoided. Otherwise, with some toxins, death could result within a week or a few days, if the species ingested is a potent one.
Three of the most lethal mushrooms belong to the genus Amanita: the death cap (A. phalloides) and destroying angels (A. virosa, and A. bisporiga); and two are from the genus Cortinarius: the deadly webcap (C. rubellus), and the fool's webcap (C. orellanus). These species cause the greatest number of fatalities. The principal toxins are alpha-amanitin in the genus Amanita and orellanine in the genus Cortinarius. Many species of Galerina, Lepiota, and Conocybe contain lethal amounts of amatoxins.
If i was goobers wife i wouldn,t eat any mushrooms
Sandy
Try a corn beef on rye with russian and cole slaw on the sandwich
Posted by Very interesting | October 28, 2007 3:29 PM
Not too keen on Russian dressing.
Goober Peas, I read it all and I am happy to tell you that without eating that mess, I am sick to my stomach.
What beautiful kitties! I hope they did get to eat something yummy after being tempted by that dish.
I found one of those (fungi) in my garden. Never seen one before. Wonder if Al Gore invented it.
Hmmmm.....
dIcK
There was one in my yard a few years ago. I thought it was a stray soccer ball until it kept getting bigger. I called the RU cooperative extension and a bio student came for it. Rather, I assume they took it. Or it deflated.
After a quick Googling of poison mushrooms, the concensus seems to be:
1. Forget about the "Signs that a mushroom might be poisonous" and just assume all mushrooms are poisonous unless you know what you are doing. Even the experts can be fooled.
2. Seek First Aid immediatly, symptoms may take a while to develope.
3. Most important, call POISON CONTROL at 1-800-222-1222.
If I was married to Goober Peas, I'd eat mushrooms--the poisonous kind.
I don't think we could marry - legally
That's right. It would be illegal for me to marry a beast. My bad.
If the top is light tan, darkening to a brown in the center and bruises purple, you should only eat two.