The bitter bracket fungus, Amaropostia stiptica, is probably not available at your local farmer's market, and if you didn't ...

You’re out for a walk in the woods, and you see a plump white mushroom peeking from the base of a tree, looking clean, fresh and edible. And maybe you pluck it, take it home, and sauté it in butter.

But are these mushrooms really poisonous? Researchers at Friedrich ... mushroom (Amanita muscaria), which also gave the toxin its name. However, considerably higher concentrations of muscarine ...

There is no foolproof way to distinguish which mushroom is edible and which is poisonous. According to the health ministry, one person died earlier this year after eating wild mushrooms.