From all the research I've been able to find on the web about these babies...what one does is cut and harvest them, dry them carefully in the oven at a set or certain tempertaure which then converts the deadly toxins to hallucinogens which you consume by either eating them dried or soaking them to make a soup of some kind...the enzymes convert somehow in the process or some such thing...and that American Indians and other indigenous peoples have been doing that for centuries...but who did it first and how was that determined centuries ago? I mean, who was brave enough to try a new process after their hunting buddy died eating one of these? I mean, I've tried some crazy things in my life like solo climbing in winter with broken bones, etc...but I'm not sure it was truly death defying like eating pretty yellow poison 'shrooms?
I came home from work one night and as I parked the car, there these were growing under a pine tree, which is I gather their natural habitat. They are large and I shot them over the course of nearly two weeks as they flourished and developed. They started out large as buds or pods (?) and as they grew and eventually developed, the largest, when fully opoened flat was the size of a dinner plate probably 10-12 inches across! There is a web site where I found a good of info, Roger's Mushrooms, here:
http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5545.asp.
These Amanitas are "Amanita muscaria var. formosa".
Enjoy, and if you want me to harvest them for you next year when they come back, at your own risk of course, give me a shout! JUST KIDDING, DON'T EVEN ASK, WOULDN'T TOUCH "EM PERSONALLY!!!!!!
Paul
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