tasting deadly amanitas -- safe?

[Thomas O'Dell]

Whoa, whoa there, lets not get too carried away here!
Half a cap is considerably more than "a fingernail-sized portion"
More to the point, any mushroom can safely be chewed up and tasted, 
provided you do not swallow it. Watch out for spoilage though (and those 
Russulas!!)  :)

  "a-Amanitin is extrordinarily toxic for humans. The LD50 [lethal dose for 
half the population] is estimated to be ... 6-7 mg for the average 
person... [about one half to one average cap at 0.5 - 1.5 mg/g mushroom]"
- Dennis Benjamin, pg. 211 in Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas (a handbook 
for naturalist, mycologists and physicians). 1995. W.H Freeman & Co.

On 13 Mar 1996, R.N. Weinstein wrote:

> Apparently, a fingernail-sized portion of these mushrooms are fatal.  I 
> wouldn't try it.
> 
> 

todell at u.washington.edu
Mycology is better than Urology!