Inky cap mushrooms are edible – except they become poisonous if consumed with alcohol.

    by GoldenChinchilla

    43 Comments

    1. I’ve a feeling that drunk people would have a higher chance of eating these than a sober person because they become more reckless

      Actually, question: What makes them poisonous when consumed with alcohol? Is there just a chemical reaction with something in the mushroom and alcohol that creates poison? If so, what is it?

    2. Yeah, reading this under the influence and I’ve seen these in my garden while imbibing, no thanks.

    3. Mushrooms are weird af! Maybe these are the real aliens, and they’ve been hiding among us in plain sight all these years.

    4. BradolfPittler1 on

      Reminds me of a Jim Jefferies quote:

      ‘I’m on medication now, but they don’t work combined with alcohol, so I’m not on medication.’

    5. It’s not all ink caps. It’s specifically the common ink cap (Coprinopsis atramentaria) that reacts badly with alcohol because of a compound called coprine.

      Drink booze anywhere from a day or two before or after eating it and you can get flushing, nausea, racing heart, etc.

      Other ink caps don’t do this.

    6. Turbulent-Soil-5176 on

      I think coprinus syndrome is better explained as the mushrooms making the alcohol more poisonous to the body by preventing the breakdown and causing the accumulation of acetaldehyde, which is toxic and comes from metabolizing alcohol.

    7. Acceptable_Foot3370 on

      That is the most disgusting mushroom I’ve ever seen, looks like its covered in tar–Quite unlike the pretty ones I’ve seen in Vermont

    8. Hour_Papaya_5583 on

      These are way past their prime, they don’t usually look like this.
      With that said, while inky caps are one of the less appetizing mushrooms I know, and despite my love for foraging I still haven’t gone for them (fresh ones are much nicer looking than this tho)

    9. Kind-Strategy-1770 on

      Mmm delicious I think it would pair well with my squid ink pasta and a glass of red wine 🤤

    10. … I read a book where these little bastards caused the main plot. It’s called NPCs, by Drew Hayes, and you simply must read it

    11. TheMagicalLawnGnome on

      You gotta hand it to the person who first saw the mushroom that looks like it came straight from the cover of a death metal album, and was like, “yeah, imma eat it.”

    12. linkedinlover69 on

      I rather have magic mushrooms and a few beers than this poison chocolate melted ice cream and no alcohol

    13. Currently 4 days sober from alcoholism (yeah bad time of year to quit I know)

      Maybe I should get some of these as additional insurance

    14. DunstonCzechsOut on

      Shaggy Manes. I used to find them all over this golf course I worked in northern AZ. They make really good soup.

      But yeah, if you don’t pick em, they melt black.

    15. That’s really interesting.

      I’ve recently been on antibiotics (metronidazole) that i couldnt have alcohol with. A little search and its for the same reason, its called the disulfiram-alcohol reaction.

      When you drink alcohol the ethanol is first broken down to acetaldehyde which then your body produces an enzyme to break it down further into harmless acetic acid. Acetic acid is then pee’d out.

      These mushrooms and certain types of antibiotics block the liver from creating the enzyme to break down acetaldehyde, which is toxic. A little build up of it, which can be as little as a single mouthful of any alcohol, leads to symptoms such as feeling sick and vomiting, severe stomach pain and cramps, flushed skin, rapid or pounding heartbeat, headaches, dizziness or drowsiness, difficulty breathing.

      Disulfiram, which the reaction is named after, is a drug used to treat chronic alcoholism. Having any alcohol with it makes you violently ill.

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