If you started growing mushrooms with our spawn and want to be sure before you harvest and eat them that you've got the ones you intended to grow, send us a photo. For all other purposes, as a policy we do not identify mushrooms. We can however give you some tips on learning how to observe mushrooms and resources to help you hone your skill.
In observing a mushroom, the first thing to note is where it's growing, its environment or its ecology. Field or forest, sand dunes, or marsh? What types of plants are growing nearby, where in the world are you and your new fungal friend? Many fungi rely on relationships to plants or only grow in certain conditions or certain times of the year so all of these factors are great clues to figure out.
Next, you'll observe the morphology or physical characteristics of the mushroom itself. Don’t rely heavily on color as the primary identifier, since color can differ depending on different factors including the lighting, life stage, and inherent variation between specimens. A list of categories or criteria you may want to look for, which is by no means comprehensive since there are also genus / family specific features (like the color of latex for Lactarius species, or bruising for boletes) follows:
- Overall shape
- If a cap is present:
- Cap shape
- Gills, pores, teeth or neither?
- Spacing of the gills (crowded, distant, etc.)
- The arrangement of pores or teeth
- Cap surface texture (a hand lens or jewelers loupe can be great for this!)
- Cap margins / edges (upturned to inrolled)
- Gill attachment
- Veil or cortina characteristics
- Stem shape (bulbous, tapered downward, equal, hollow)
- Stem surface texture
- Flesh color and bruising
- Spore print
Taking a spore print is a fun and easy way to sometimes hone in on what mushroom you're looking at. To take a spore print, remove the cap of the mushroom and place it on a piece of paper with the gills, pores, or teeth facing down. It's sometimes helpful to cover the mushroom with a cup or bowl to increase the ambient humidity which can help the mushroom release spores. Some folks bring aluminum foil on forays to wrap caps in, to take spore prints on the go. Observing spores with a microscope can help you tell what size and shape the spores are.
More advanced ID techniques include: smell, taste, and chemical reactions. Smell is a really powerful cue. Smooth chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) can smell like apricots, while Dryad’s Saddle (Polyporus squamosus) can smell like watermelon rind and cucumbers. Taste is also powerful, but one should be careful not to swallow - one small bite of a toxic mushroom may be lethal. Generally, you can tear off a bit of cap, crush and hold on the tongue for several seconds before spitting it all out. Then rinse your mouth with water, taking care not to swallow. Russulas especially can be spicy. As a rule of thumb, taste a mushroom once you’ve narrowed down who you’re looking at, that the family doesn’t contain deadly mushrooms (like Amanita), never taste a mushroom you know nothing about. Chemicals for testing include: Ammonia, KOH, and Iron Salts. Best to test within an hour of picking, and sometimes these tests differentiate mushrooms that look identical.
Practice observing mushrooms for a while - then start using identification keys like in "Mushrooms Demystified" by David Arora or the ones linked here by Michael Kuo: Mushroom Expert Major Groups Keys
Going on walks with a local mycological society can also help you familiarize yourself with characteristics to look out for, specific to your region.
Before consuming any mushrooms, a person should be 110% positive on identification, consulting several sources, cross-checking in different field guides, even reaching out to online forums or local mycological clubs to consult experts. And it is wise to familiarize yourself with deadly poisonous mushrooms, to know how to avoid them.
Some other good field guides to reference are: Mushrooms: How to Identify and Gather Wild Mushrooms and Other Fungi and Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada