Edible Wild Mushrooms Of Illinois And Surrounding States: A Field-to-Kitchen Guide (Field-To-Kitchen Guides)

Download Free (EPUB, PDF)

Lavishly illustrated with nearly three hundred gorgeous full-color photos, this engaging guidebook carefully describes forty different edible species of wild mushrooms found around Illinois and surrounding states, including Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky. With conversational and witty prose, the book provides extensive detail on each edible species, including photographs of potential look-alikes to help you safely identify and avoid poisonous species. Mushroom lovers from Chicago to Cairo will find their favorite local varieties, including morels, chanterelles, boletes, puffballs, and many others. Veteran mushroom hunters Joe McFarland and Gregory M. Mueller also impart their wisdom about the best times and places to find these hidden gems.Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States also offers practical advice on preparing, storing, drying, and cooking with wild mushrooms, presenting more than two dozen tantalizing mushroom recipes from some of the best restaurants and chefs in Illinois, including one of Food & Wine magazine's top 10 new chefs of 2007. Recipes include classics like Beer Battered Morels, Parasol Mushroom Frittatas, and even the highly improbable (yet delectable) Morel Tiramisu for dessert.As the first new book about Illinois mushrooms in more than eighty years, this is the guide that mushroom hunters and cooks have been craving.Visit the book's companion website at www.illinoismushrooms.com.

Series: Field-To-Kitchen Guides

Paperback: 232 pages

Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 1st Edition edition (March 31, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0252076435

ISBN-13: 978-0252076435

Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.5 x 10 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #63,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #27 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Plants > Mushrooms #80 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Botany #89 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Reference

After purchasing so many mushroom guides with muddy, poorly-lit [or drawn] illustrations, mind-numbing lists of obscure sub-species, and detailed accounts of taxonomic histories from the dawn of time, it is wonderful to open this new guide and actually learn useful stuff about mushrooms.The book is perfectly organized, with clear descriptions and first-rate photographs of common toxic and then edible area fungi and their habitats, and is extremely helpful in identification.I would strongly recommend this guide to both experienced and novice mushroom hunters.

This book is so much fun! It's a great read, and knowing about edible mushrooms really enhances our family hikes, not to mention our meals. I bought this book just in time for morel season this spring, and we've been eating wild mushrooms of various kinds ever since. (We just finished a hen-of-the-woods, and have a bag of oysters ready to fry up for supper.)This field guide is so much better than other mushroom field guides because it deals with only two categories of mushrooms: the edible ones and the inedible look-alikes. There are lovely pictures on almost every page, and helpful hints to let even a beginner feel totally confident with identification. The style is friendly, often funny, and very readable--I've found my 7-year-old curled up reading this book several times.The recipe section has some basic recipes and some way out-there recipes (morel tiramisu, anyone?). The book does deserve the name of "field to kitchen guide," but the emphasis is definitely on the "field" section--first things first, after all. I'm hoping for a more recipe-oriented sequel someday!

With the outstanding photography and detailed descriptions, even beginners should have no trouble identifying some of the most delicious mushrooms in the midwest. This is one of the best regional guides that I have seen. I bought 2 extra copies to send to friends in Illinois.

It's ok for a reader, but not very good as a field guide. The Missouri Department of Conservation sells a book that is a perfect field guide. I do like that this book goes into a little more detail on each mushroom, but it's a little difficult to identify a mushroom using this book. The mushrooms are more ordered by season rather than identifying features or species.

Although I'm in southern Wisconsin, thankfully this excellent book covers my area also. I really appreciate the look-alike comparisons and the clear instructions on how to tell them apart. The section of recipes is fabulous, although many are probably too advanced for me to try! Still, it's great fun to see what creative chefs can do with exotic ingredients. "Fry 'em up in butter" is my speed, and that's the first cooking test recommended for a wild mushroom of any sort.This book is great winter reading, but it makes me long to get out in the woods and hunt for these rare goodies! As other reviewers have said - wonderful photography and excellent, expert advice is in this book; it's the best mushroom book I've found.

I use this book here in Ohio since there isn't a book that specifically addresses Ohio mushrooms. Many of the mushrooms in this book have been found here in Ohio. The pictures and descriptions are clear and concise. I would recommended this book to anyone who lives in the Midwest and wants to identify mushrooms.

Great book, the pictures are outstanding and the recipes are great. We take walks in the woods and always take this book with us. Morels used to be the only mushrooms that I would harvest, but with this book I feel more confident in harvesting some of the more easily identified mushrooms.

I live in central Illinois and started mushroom hunting just several years ago. It helps you find lots of common mushrooms that are almost impossible to miss identify. I've been using this book for several years and have found quite a few of the shrooms that are in it. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because some of the pages have started to fall out. But I take it in the woods with me and have been quite rough on it so that may not really be the book to blame. Hope this was helpful.

Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States: A Field-to-Kitchen Guide (Field-To-Kitchen Guides) Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field-to-kitchen Guide Poisonous Mushrooms You Shouldn't Be Tricked With: A Must Have Book For Mushroom Hunting: (Mushroom Farming, Edible Mushrooms) Edible Mushrooms of Alaska (The Mushrooms Of Alaska) Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia and Surrounding States (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book Ser.) A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America (Peterson Field Guides) Rocks & Minerals of Wisconsin, Illinois & Iowa: A Field Guide to the Badger, Prairie & Hawkeye States (Rocks & Minerals Identification Guides) Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt To Plate (The Wild Food Adventure Series, Book 1) North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide To Edible And Inedible Fungi (Falconguide) Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest: A Simple Guide to Common Mushrooms (Mushroom Guides) Mushrooms of the Northeast: A Simple Guide to Common Mushrooms (Mushroom Guides) A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America (Peterson Field Guides) Wild Edible Plants of Texas: A Pocket Guide to the Identification, Collection, Preparation, and Use of 60 Wild Plants of the Lone Star State Cultivating Edible Fungi: International Symposium on Scientific and Technical Aspects of Cultivating Edible Fungi (Developments in Crop Science) The Edible Flower Garden (Edible Garden Series) Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada The Mushroom Book For Beginners: 2nd Edition Revised : A Mycology Starter or How To Be A Backyard Mushroom Farmer And Grow The Best Edible Mushrooms At Home (Volume 1) 100 Edible Mushrooms Edible Mushrooms: Safe to Pick, Good to Eat Collins Gem Mushrooms: The Quick Way to Identify Mushrooms and Toadstools