Most difficult vegetable to clean

That's exactly what I do, and if they're really dirty, a moist towel. Getting into the nooks and crannies, especially for things like lobster mushrooms, is a real challenge.

For what it's worth, Alton Brown once took on the don't-wash-mushrooms wisdom in a myth-checking show, and went through one of his wacky procedures in which he weighed dry, rinsed and soaked mushrooms and found only a trivial uptake of water when he weighed the results, almost within the margin of error.

And Harold McGee did it before him in The Curious Cook. However, I'd argue that not all mushrooms are equal. What's true of crimini or white mushrooms is not true of Chantarelles, which DO absorb moisture (and turn soggy) quite readily.

Cooked some just the other night. I wash all mushrooms. Always before they are cut and each is handled a little differently. Chanterelles I rinse quickly just before I'm ready to cook them. Most of the button-type mushrooms can be washed a considerable amount of time before cooking.

[Jenise]

I wash all mushrooms. Always before they are cut and each is handled a little differently. Chanterelles I rinse quickly just before I'm ready to cook them. Most of the button-type mushrooms can be washed a considerable amount of time before cooking.

I do, too (wash all mushrooms). Chantarelles are such buggers because they have all those twiggy bits adhering to them, all of which never just rinses off. You probably do better down there than I do up here with this autumn delicacy--I remember driving 99 to the coast and passing several local entrepeneurs selling them on the roadside.

The rain comment is interesting- every mushroom hunter knows that rain waterlogs already-growing mushrooms.

Just as every mushroom hunter knows it rains a lot where mushrooms grow.

I've followed this discussion with considerable interest. I find cleaning home grown lettuce (butter and read leaf my favorites) a pain. First, I live in slug country. I've never successfully grown lettuce that doesn't have the tiny hermaphrodites clinging to the undersides and insides of almost every leaf. It almost turns me off salad for an entire season. Then there is the fly larvae. Eeewwwww!!!

But, I am most interested in the mushroom discussion. I have a co-worker who has been harvesting mushrooms since she was a young girl. She harvests them every year in huge quantities, and sells them to local markets. (Apparently this is a fabulous location for crimini and morelles.) But, she doesn't cook and eat her own bounty. Why? Fear, she told me. Although she has been taught to do this by her Italian grandmother, and has successfully harvested mushrooms all of her adult life. She will not eat them -- although her clients have no problems selling them in their stalls and restaurants! I want so much to go mushroom gathering with her (which she has invited me to do) -- but, if she is afraid, why shouldn't I also be afraid. Is this fear of mushroom poisoining overblown. Seeking your advice.

It isn't overblown- you can get really, really dead with the wrong one. But on the bright side, if you limit yourself to (say) chanterelles, morels, and porcini, it's very easy to learn to tell them apart from anything that will do you harm.

Jo Ann,

I know how you feel about the slugs--I've seen Washington slugs and they dwarf our New York variety by a few feet long...

Don't fear them, however, if you manage to slip a few down your gullet by mistake, you will have added some high protein to your salad!

Incidentally, if you spread DE powder or crushed egg shells around your plants that should keep the slugs at bay, although I've never had to contend with the variety you have on your end of the world.

Jo Ann,

I know how you feel about the slugs--I've seen Washington slugs and they dwarf our New York variety by a few feet long...

Don't fear them, however, if you manage to slip a few down your gullet by mistake, you will have added some high protein to your salad!

Incidentally, if you spread DE powder or crushed egg shells around your plants that should keep the slugs at bay, although I've never had to contend with the variety you have on your end of the world.

That egg thing didn't quite hatch out here. These Oregon slugs are some tough mothers. However, a few shallow bowls of beer sunk in the soil up to their rims worked wonders.

Jo Ann,

I know how you feel about the slugs--I've seen Washington slugs and they dwarf our New York variety by a few feet long...

Don't fear them, however, if you manage to slip a few down your gullet by mistake, you will have added some high protein to your salad!

Incidentally, if you spread DE powder or crushed egg shells around your plants that should keep the slugs at bay, although I've never had to contend with the variety you have on your end of the world.

That egg thing didn't quite hatch out here. These Oregon slugs are some tough mothers. However, a few shallow bowls of beer sunk in the soil up to their rims worked wonders.

The beer works, but it's a waste of beer--unless you use the A Busch watered down version--but my slugs became more violent when I tried to feed them that stuff.

Maybe you need goose egg shells...