”The most recognised mushroom that has its own emoji 🍄
GeorgeFlavour Fred
The most photographed mushroom in the world has an incredible history of uses....
Disclaimer: This is a video to educate on the history and folklore of this mushroom. Never eat it raw or ingest it without doing your research. The Amanita family where this sits has some of the deadliest mushrooms. It is beautiful, very interesting and if processed correctly has a multitude of uses.
The Fly agaric is a stunning mushroom which has connections to Christmas, Fairytales, Alice in Wonderland, Mario and featured a lot on Victorian postcards. Arguably the most commonly photographed and visual association with mushrooms from my perspective. The Amanita family is not to be trifled and often people will say don’t eat mushrooms with white gills that grow from an egg in the ground (universal veil – once the mushroom erupts it leaves a volva which is like a cup around the base). It’s a good general guide given the many poisonous and deadly compounds that exist in this, family especially the death cap, destroying angel & panther cap. The Fly agaric has a red cap with white spots which the remnants of the universal veil. The stipe (stem) will have a skirt on it which is the remains of the partial veil which would have been protecting the gills until it’s ready to spore.
However this mushroom has been used for thousands of years in rituals to achieve a higher state of consciousness, reach other realms, and find answers from nature by using this magical mushroom. Shamans from Siberian and the Sàmi people from the artic circle lived entwined with herds of wild reindeer. Preparing this mushroom often found around conifers by drying them and hanging from the tree. Or drying over a fire in socks and also using the reindeer who eat the mushroom to filter the toxic compounds drinking the urine. All of which are to reduce the toxic ibotenic acid and derive the muscimol.
