Review: Foraging Mushrooms Washington

As I wrote about in my Top 5 Washington State Mushroom Books article, this is my favorite book to use in Washington State. In this article, we'll dive a little deeper into the pros and cons of this book and why it is one of my favorites.

Pros:

1. It is Washington-specific

I think this is the biggest advantage of this book over other guides. It can be really frustrating to have to flip through pages of irrelvant mushrooms when you know they don't grow in your area. This is the only quality field guide that I have found that is Washington-specific. There are many that are focused on the Pacific-Northwest, but not Washington. As I said in my How to Get Started Mushroom Hunting article, I recommend everyone has at least two field guides. If you live in Washington, I would definitly recommend this one and at least one more from the Top 5 Washington State Mushroom Books list.

2. Detailed, easy to read descriptions

As you can see, this guide features many helpful sections such as 'Season', 'Identification', 'Habitat' and many more! For this mushroom, there is even a recipe section which can help teach you how to prepare wild mushrooms.

3. High quality photos

**BONUS: Ruler**

That's right, there is actually a 5 inch ruler on the back of the book! To be honest we don't find ourselves using the ruler that often, but it is still nice to have as a bonus item.

Cons:

1. It only has 64 mushroom species

Other guides such as The National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms has over 700 species of mushrooms. In comparison this books is pretty limited, but at the same time it is also very focused on the most common mushrooms you may encouter in Wasington. While I think this can be helpful, it can definitly be a drawback since you will likely run into mushrooms that you can't find in your guide. This is why I always recommend more than guide.

2. Awkward shape

This guide is 6 x 9.1 inches and 0.4 inches thick, which makes it an awkward size as it won't likely fit in your pants pocket, meaning that you will most likley have to either carry it in your hand or in a backpack. This isn't a huge deal, but it can be a big inconvenient, especially if you have other things you need to carry already (leash, mushroom basket, etc.). Personally I would have preferrered if they made this guide a little thicker so it could be less wide.

Conclusion

While this guide is not perfect, I still would say it is a must-have for any Washington mushroom hunter. Being compact and focused it removes distractions and allows you to focus on the common mushrooms we all want. As I mentioned in my article on How to Get Started Mushroom Hunting I would definitly recommend using more than one field guide, but this one is a must have.