mushrooms

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Family of 11 Hospitalized After Eating Wild Mushrooms

Mushrooms were toxic, but it's not clear what type they were

(Newser) - An Amish family of 11 was hospitalized Friday night after ingesting toxic mushrooms, officials say. The victims—all of whom were treated and released overnight—included a man, woman, and nine of their children, and ranged in age from just one year old to 39, CNN reports. One victim walked...

Woman Denies Killing In-Laws With Poisonous Lunch

Erin Patterson of Australia allegedly served deadly mushrooms

(Newser) - A woman accused of serving her ex-husband's family poisonous mushrooms pleaded not guilty in an Australian court on Tuesday to three charges of murder and five charges of attempted murder, per the AP . Erin Patterson, 49, appeared briefly in Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court by video link from a Melbourne...

Culinary Diplomacy: What's Janet Yellen Eating in China?

She ate potentially psychedelic mushrooms on her last visit, and all eyes are on this trip

(Newser) - Ever since she ate mushrooms that can have psychedelic effects in Beijing last July, Janet Yellen has united Americans and Chinese in wanting to know what she'll eat next. As the AP reports, now that the US Treasury secretary is back in China this week, having stopped in Guangzhou...

Extremely Rare 'Devil's Cigar' Mushroom Spotted in Texas

It makes a hissing noise before releasing cloud of spores

(Newser) - An extremely rare hissing mushroom known as the Texas star or the "devil's cigar" has been spotted in a Texas state park. Inks Lake State Park, around 60 miles west of Austin, said in a Facebook post that visitors hoping to see the fungus should ask at headquarters....

Cops: Woman Behind Fatal Meal Also Tried to Kill Husband

Australian police say Erin Patterson attempted to do so 4 times, including with lethal mushrooms

(Newser) - When police in Australia charged a woman this week with three counts of murder over poisonous mushrooms she served to guests, they added unspecified attempted murder charges as well. Now the details are out: Police say Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband, Simon, four different times, reports the...

After Fatal Mushroom Meal, Cook Calls It an Accident

Australia's Erin Patterson gives her account to police after 3 deaths

(Newser) - The woman who cooked a meal with mushrooms that killed three people and nearly a fourth has given her first account to police, and she insists it was all a terrible accident. "I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people, whom I...

Australian Cops Investigate Deadly Mushroom Lunch

Three people are dead, one more is hospitalized, and a daughter-in-law is a suspect

(Newser) - Police in rural Australia are trying to figure out whether a deadly mushroom meal was accidental or sinister. Three people are dead and a fourth remains hospitalized after they ate lunch at the home of Erin Patterson in Leongatha, reports the Guardian . Patterson herself is fine, as are her two...

Killer Poisonous Mushrooms May Have New Antidote

The death cap may have met its match

(Newser) - Eating even a tiny slice of the death cap mushroom—AKA Amanita phalloides —can be fatal. It contains a group of toxins called amatoxins, which are extremely poisonous to humans. Amatoxins damage the liver and kidneys, and can lead to death even if treated, but that may soon...

Mushroom Picked in Yard Poisons Woman and Son

Kam Look, 63, requires liver transplant after tainted meal

(Newser) - "For me, it looked like any other normal capped mushrooms, which I thought it was very safe to eat," Kam Look said. To be sure they were as safe as the ones she grew up eating in Malaysia, Look cooked the mushroom, which she had picked in a...

Lawyer: Drugs Tell Different Story in Peter Spencer's Death

Paul Jubas: Shooter said they took mushrooms, but psilocin wasn't detected in shooter's blood

(Newser) - Peter Spencer was shot dead by a co-worker during a a Pennsylvania camping trip last December; two weeks ago, Venango County District Attorney Shawn White announced no charges would be brought, saying that based on the evidence and Pennsylvania's "stand your ground" laws, prosecutors would be unable to...

Afghan Family Mistakenly Eats Toxic Mushrooms After Escape

2 boys near death in Poland, and other family members are hospitalized

(Newser) - Doctors at Poland’s main children’s hospital said Tuesday they will carry out a liver transplant on a 6-year-old Afghan boy who ate highly poisonous mushrooms with his family, per the AP . His 5-year-old brother is in a coma, however, and they are carrying out tests to establish if...

Listeria Outbreak Linked to Mushrooms Takes 4 Lives

Enoki mushrooms from Korea are being recalled over the outbreak

(Newser) - Do not eat enoki mushrooms from Sun Hong Foods. That's the message from the FDA , which says the company is recalling the mushrooms in question due to a listeria outbreak that has killed four people (in California, Hawaii, and New Jersey) and hospitalized 30 others. The outbreak also resulted...

US City May Be First to Decriminalize 'Magic Mushrooms'

Denver will vote Tuesday

(Newser) - Tuesday's a big day in Denver—a day that could end with the decriminalization of a Schedule 1 drug. The AP reports residents are headed to the polls to cast their vote on whether to decriminalize psilocybin, an illegal drug found in "magic mushrooms" that has been shown...

Luke Perry Got His Final Wish: Interment With Mushrooms

Specifically, he was laid to rest in a biodegradable 'mushroom burial suit,' per his daughter

(Newser) - There's been some confusion on whether Luke Perry was buried or cremated, and his daughter has apparently cleared that up, with an interesting detail thrown in. Per the Tennessean , Perry was interred in Tennessee (he'd owned a farm in Vanleer), and in an Instagram post over the weekend,...

Porcini Mushrooms May Help Keep You Young
Porcini Mushrooms May
Help Keep You Young
NEW STUDY

Porcini Mushrooms May Help Keep You Young

Study finds that mushrooms in general are packed with 2 antioxidants

(Newser) - Hoping to age gracefully? You might consider tossing some porcini mushrooms in the shopping cart. A new study out of Penn State finds that mushrooms in general contain high levels of antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione, and some varieties are more potent than others. "What we found is that, without...

The Dark Underworld of Competitive 'Shroom-Hunting

Often-obsessive hobby can result in fatalities from poisoning, falls—even murder

(Newser) - What drives someone to head deep into the woods and spend hours foraging for fungi? Writing for Eater , the appropriately-named Joshua Hunt examines the seemingly obsessive quest for some of the world's rarest mushrooms. There's C. geaster, or "kirinomitake," for instance, which just one living person...

Latte as Superfood? Mushroom Coffee Is Now a Thing
Mushroom Coffee
Is Now a Thing

Mushroom Coffee Is Now a Thing

Touted for its health benefits, some of which check out

(Newser) - If a company in Finland gets its way, we're all going to be sipping fungus-based coffee as part of our morning routines. That's right, Finnish-based Four Sigmatic is selling hot cocoa mixes, instant coffee blends, and elixirs infused with dried fungus—all in the name of health, reports...

NY Factory Turns Fungus Into Furniture

They're making footstools from toadstools

(Newser) - The sturdy stools and spongy cushions made at an upstate New York factory are formed with fungus. Ecovative Design is a business staking its growth on mycelium, the thread-like "roots" of mushrooms, the AP reports. The mycelium grows around small pieces of stalks and stems to create a material...

Canada's New Scourge: World's Deadliest Mushroom

May have just claimed a 3-year-old victim in Victoria

(Newser) - Twenty years ago, residents of British Columbia in northwestern Canada didn't have to worry about the deadliest mushroom in the world. But Amanita phalloides, the "death cap" mushroom, likely hitched a ride on trees being imported into the area to beautify city streets and is now flourishing, resulting...

Truffle Oil Is a 'Remarkably Successful Con'

Truffles are known for their scarcity, but not even trace amounts appear in truffle oil

(Newser) - For years, truffle oil has promised to bring consumers the hard-to-find truffle with convenience and a longer shelf life. Problem is, truffles are neither long-lasting nor convenient—which is part of what makes them so exciting and expensive, reports Priceonomics . Well, it turns out the oil, often marked as "...

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