Preparing before drying

[Icucmyclieum]

Hi there,

As a total newbie to picking and preparing AM until this year I am finding this forum really interesting and dreamers videos great so thank you to everyone involved and posting some great info. I’m getting absorbed by this special happy and very beautiful mushroom.

My question if anyone could help is...would you say it is better to remove the gills from the cap before drying or to leave the cap intact? I read that the Muscimol is only present in the top and layer just underneath, is this correct?

Also any tips for harvesting as I seem to be getting to them after the deer, squirrels and greedy slugs in the UK.

Thanks

[UrsusSapiens]

I read that the Muscimol is only present in the top and layer just underneath, is this correct?

And WHERE exactly did you read that? Fact is: in fresh or air-dried AMs the ibotenic acid outweighs the muscimol content. That's the reason why everybody wants to do a conversion process... Because the muscimol is more psychoactive than the ibotenic acid (and less toxic btw). So, there is not much muscimol hidden, wherever you look for it... at least without conversion.
But in our collection of scientific papers you'll find several accounts about the distribution of psychoactive substances within the fruiting body
... In short: Most in the cap, next in the bulbus, the least amount in the stem. Breaking it down further is IMHO pointless, because if you dry the caps you will get about 80-85% of the ibotenic acid/muscimol-to-be. I know, that some people just peel of "the skin" of the cap for smoking... Or some people peel of the white specks from the cap, because they "freak them out".... Well - all this CAN be done, but is actually pretty pointless, because the actual distribution even in the cap is somewhat erratic. I.e. you could eat the left half of a cap and get only a mild effect and then eat the right side of the same cap and be shot into hyperspace....

My question if anyone could help is...would you say it is better to remove the gills from the cap before drying or to leave the cap intact? I read that the Muscimol is only present in the top and layer just underneath, is this correct?

Not "only".... as I said, the good stuff is not that evenly distributed. But unless you have a very good cause (for you!), to go through this pain and get rid of the gills, I would advise you to keep them. There may very well be a significant amount of active stuff in them, and you will will not get rid of the spores that way.

Also any tips for harvesting as I seem to be getting to them after the deer, squirrels and greedy slugs in the UK.

Pretty easy: Be there first!
Seriously: Get to know places, where the AM grow. Come back next year between July and October (this is the typical AM season in middle europe) after the first rainy night with temperatures below 10 degrees Celsisus. After this day, come often! Deers, squirrels and boars are fast!

[Marv]

I was replying at the same time ! No more to say

[Icucmyclieum]

Great thanks for the info. I did not read that in this forum it was probably some dodgy website and now you’ve said about smoking the cap that may well have been what context it was written in, so this is why I wanted it confirmed or not by the pros in here! Yet to read all the scientific papers in here but grateful for others knowledge and time. And totally aware of the ibotenic acid to muscimol activation protocol and reasoning, don’t fancy barfing as it always seems to come out my nose! Ha sorry!

Thinking about it I could have seen whether the cap was whole or not in Amanita Dreamers video when she was boiling a decoction

Yeah, I think I started a little late in the season so next year I will be prepared and a lot more knowledgeable hopefully.

Happy day’s of winter to you all

[Marv]

You can still pick up the ones that are not decomposing. Old specimens are still good and potent. If the mushroom is hard enough to pick and dry then it is still good to eat or infuse. I like the ones that have bites in them, I have the sensation to partake food and medicine with some forest brothers !

[Icucmyclieum]

Sure thing, the forest brothers and sisters know what’s good hey!

I don’t mind the squirrels 🐿 and deer but what’s put me off using the eaten ones is there are some rank little white wormy things with a tiny black speck for a head. Size wise they are probably about half a mm thick and about 4mm long, are they some kind of maggot?!

They don’t look like any maggots I’ve seen before.... yeah I know that’s a caterpillar Will see if I can take a picture of one and post it, if I’m not to late to pick some more.

[T36]

Yeah ive seen those white little things with black heads
They show up even on mushrooms that have no bites or worm holes in them!!! I find them under the gills that i remove with a knife

[Marv]

Yeah I often see them and eat them !

[UrsusSapiens]

As a rule of thumb : Don't pick ANY mushroom (be it amanita or some other mushroom) some other animal has nibbled on. No holes, potentially made by some worms or maggots. That means I am somewhat picky.... But you know : Garbage in, garbage out.... If you want a fine product, you need fine ingredients. And they grow everywhere in my area. Amanita muscaria grows especially under pine, spruce, fir, birch, oak and cedar. The first four of these trees make up to 85% of all trees in my area.... So I can afford to be picky.
Especially for more "advanced" (i.e. work intensive) projects like making amanita syrup or amanita ale, you can't afford not to be picky.

[Icucmyclieum]

Thanks agree,I had seen that info and personally agree, but hey some are more protein oriented than others! I have wondered what those little creatures are though, does anyone know