I don't know anything about wild edible mushrooms...and yet, I picked and ate some
lobster mushrooms on the recommendation of a stranger.
I KNOW!! ............ DON'T FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE, FOLKS!
THE STORY:
In September 2013 I was camped in Cape Blanco State Park (on the southern Oregon coast, the furthest-west point in Oregon...and further-west than any point in CA, for that matter). Walking along the paved path to the restrooms I noticed some orange-red growth pushing up out of the duff, so I crouched down to take a picture with my phone.
An older woman (i.e., older than me) came along and said something like "Those are lobster mushrooms -- they're edible!" She went on to tell me that she didn't know anything about mushrooms, but she met another camper who's an expert, and last night the expert cooked and served these to her and her husband.
I was a little skeptical...and I said something like "Really -- are you sure? And you're not a psycho or anything, are you?" She laughed. I'm not sure if a psycho would laugh or not.
I picked a couple of the better-looking specimens and took them into my camper and cleaned them off.
I had a decent cell-Internet connection on my phone, so I looked up lobster mushrooms. Expert websites all agreed that there's no mistaking them. Also, very interesting is that it's not actually a specific species of mushroom, but rather is a fungus that has parasitized a mushroom and caused it to distort into the weird shape. And experts claimed that it's never been known to parasitize a poisonous mushroom.
So I sliced them up and sauteed them.
And I ate them.
They were fine...not sure if they were in prime condition or not...and I don't have a very refined palate anyway.
Despite my confidence in the Web-endorsed safety and
non-recklessness of eating wild mushrooms recommended by an old-lady stranger... I decided to do this "just in case": I left a note in case anyone came upon my comatose body in my camper:
And all was well.