Reefer Madness

Wow, a real one! Amanita Muscaria. So, does it intoxicate, inebriate, poison or make good eatin'?

It depends on who you ask and if it is PROPERLY PREPARED. David Arora, our text book author and mushroom expert, says it's edible and tasty (page 265.) But it must be "parboiled" to remove toxins.

David Arora also wrote a paper on the edibility of Amanita Muscaria published in Economic Botany. He basically blames cultural bias of field guide authors for lumping mushrooms with any potentially averse properties as "poisonous".

Co-author of the paper on cultural bias and the edibility of mushrooms is William Abel. Here is a picture of his wife holding a basket of Amanita Muscaria.

The classic online vault of psychoactive substances, Erowid, even has Amanita Muscaria on it's front page. It is called Fly Agaric because when mixed with milk it has been used to attract and kill flies.



It is known that the veil of the Amanita Muscaria contains the intoxicants Muscarine and Ibotenic acid and has been used for millennia by people all over the world as a drug.

So, Amanita Muscaria, intoxicant, indigestion, poisonous, or delicious? When in doubt, throw it out!