Campus News

May 5th, 2026

Lewis breaks down Garrett County mushrooms

GC assistant professor notes favorite local edibles and deadly varieties

Bryan Lewis broke down the mushrooms of Garrett County – the good, the bad, and the tasty – during last Wednesday night's Joan Crawford Lecture Series in the Performing Arts Center at Garrett College.

Without a doubt, Lewis – an assistant professor of mathematics at Garrett College – has his favorites.

"Black trumpets – which look like, well, black trumpets – they're superb; one of the most choice edibles you can find," said Lewis, whose presentation featured dramatic photographs of all the mushrooms he discussed. "Corrugated boletes are delicious... and black morels are choice edible mushrooms.

"Mica caps – which largely grow in leaves and litter – are also pretty delicious. The problem with them is they cook down to almost nothing," noted Lewis. "If you cook them, you'd better have a lot – they have a lot of water in them."

Lewis also termed hedgehog to be "really tasty" and said oyster mushrooms are a popular edible – but with a warning.

"They're just full of bugs and slugs," cautioned Lewis, noting oysters eat dead logs and grow quickly, especially after a soaking rain. "You might want to consider buying them from mushroom growers who grow them inside."

Hen of the woods –found near the base of dead or dying oaks – have "a meaty flavor and one mushroom can weigh up to 20 pounds," Lewis reported.

Some mushrooms are worth waiting almost all year to enjoy, according to Lewis.

"The velvet foot is one of the very last mushrooms you will see in our woods each year," said Lewis. "It's pretty tasty – you can buy them in stores, where they are called enoki. They need really cold temperatures before they start fruiting."

Lewis noted another category of mushroom – "not poisonous; just not edible." He identified wax caps, verpa, and elfin saddle as members of that particular group. Lewis also identified mushrooms that are edible – but with some pretty important caveats.

"Peck's milky is the hottest thing you've ever tasted," said Lewis. "Not hot in a peppery way, but in an acidy way. The alcohol inky is edible – the problem is, if you drink any alcohol within five days of eating one, you become very, very ill."

There are also some mushrooms where you can become very, very dead.

"Destroying angels are responsible for most of the mushroom poisonings in the U.S.," said Lewis. "It's an all-white gilled mushroom with prominent rings and a cup around its base. If you're a beginner [picking and eating mushrooms], don't eat anything with gills. And always look at the base of the mushroom – if you see a cup, you should be alarmed."

The deadly galerina, a little brown, lives up to its name, according to Lewis, while puffballs that are black inside are also poisonous. Cortinarius [corts] are common and hard to identify, with some deadly poisonous species, said Lewis, who identified the red bolete are another category of mushrooms to avoid.

"If the red bolete stains blue, don't eat it," cautioned Lewis. "You won't die, but you may wish you had."

These are mushroom types that aren't edible for humans, but other animals love them.

The Eastern box turtle loves russula and you'll often see squirrels making a lunch of them," said Lewis.

Notes: The Joan Crawford Lecture Series honors dynamic educator Joan R. Crawford, who died in 2010 after serving the Garrett College community for 30 years in a variety of faculty and staff roles.