Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States: A Field-to-Kitchen Guide (Field-To-Kitchen Guides)

Well written and a good read for mushroom hunters. Also gives good information on the look-a-like mushrooms to avoid.

Pros: It actually tells ya what's in the area, compared to the more comprehensive books on edibles of these things, which are extremely vague on locations and time of year.It's got really good photos, I feel pretty comfortable identifying some and being able to pick out the imposters.Overall, a pretty well done book and I'm happy with the purchase. It would have been 30$ at our local book store, and here it was only 16.Cons: As someone else stated, the selection is a bit smaller and I noticed immediately that it didn't include a couple mushrooms that I'd just seen in my yard. Which I can suppose they're not edible anyways, but I'd still like to know a little about them.It doesn't SCREAM what's poisonous. You gotta more or less sift through the (what I found weird and didn't like) categorization and actually notice that it's a fake or in the first chapter to know not to eat it. Or some didn't even include whether it was known to be edible or not, just said "unknown".The general set up is just paragraphs, and I would've preferred what I've seen in other books which is the list setup with general information, and then the paragraphs on what it's deal is.Still not a bad deal, though and gets the job done.

The book is excellent. The full color pictures and information is clear and concise with excellent descriptions and explanations. The only issue I have is that the book did not cover the specific mushroom I was trying to identify, which happened to be a fairly unusual and rare type. This book covers the usual types that will be found.

I like that it is small enough to carry out in the woods. Helps me know my mushrooms.

This book has great detailed descriptions and pictures. I love that it specifically deals with edible mushrooms in my region because general field guides can be so overwhelming to a beginner. I did wish that it contained a calendar to help you remember which mushrooms to look for in each season, so I made one myself with the dates presented in the book for Southern Illinois. Hopefully other people will find it useful as well. Happy mushroom hunting!

I like the fact that this is not an encyclopedia of all mushrooms one might encounter. Instead, the authors target 40 commonly found, tasty mushrooms. Each chapter shares their first-hand experience, helping beginners distinguish the correct species from similar-looking mushrooms that one should not attempt to eat. The descriptions and photos of both good and bad mushrooms are marvelous. As one reads, one gains confidence, and that is what a great book should do. The outstanding food photography in the 44-page "Let's Eat" chapter, with the mouth-watering recipes and cooking advice, make this book a must-own. This is the only mushroom book I own that has a companion website: [...]. It is a treat to visit that website. From it, one may find out how to get together with knowledgeable people and go on a mushroom foray, perhaps the safest of all ways to learn about mushrooms. Beautifully photographed recipes may also be found on this website.As Vice President of Iowa's Prairie States Mushroom Club, I've twice purchased boxes of "Mushrooms of Illinois." I love to take them with me whenever I do presentations so that I may sell the books at a discount.

The softcover book is full of color photos. A good read for anyone. It's not pocket size, but it's small enough to fit in a small back pack. I plan to use it in the field this Fall 2021.

This is a fantastic must have mushroom guide. Last late summer we had in our deep So. Indiana woods a bounty of beautiful egg yoke color 3-6" mushrooms. Wife and I took some back to cabin, looked them up in the book and they were just like the cover. Chanterelles. We are, were, novice mushroom hunters but were very comfortable with the identity. Imagine we had the confidence to identify and then harvest the mother load of the rarest of all gourmet mushrooms. Tasty! Wonderful and we had so many we gave to good friends. I'd give the book 6 stars due to the great photos and no-nonsense articles. Particularly and important is the pictures of the supposed look alike mushrooms that are dangerous. Shoom in confidence with this fantastic book!