.

“In 1879 mushrooms were exported from Japan to the value of 243,440 yens. The yen is equal to 99.7 cents. Among the northeastern tribes of Asia fungi are largely used as food. One species, when pounded, forms their snuff, while another, the Fly Agaric, which is utilized in Europe as a fly killer, and is regarded as one of the most poisonous forms, is used by them as a substitute for ardent spirits. One large specimen is sufficient “to produce a pleasant intoxication for a whole day,” the alcohol being obtained by the usual method of fermentation. In many parts of Europe fungi are a favorite food, being eaten fresh, and also preserved in vinegar for winter use. For pickling purposes, all kinds, it is said, are gathered, the vinegar being supposed to neutralize the alkaline poison of the noxious species.”

Thomas Taylor, Mushrooms, United States Department of Agriculture Division of Microscopy, US Government Printing Office, 1894, p. 7.

This text by Thomas Taylor from the United States Department of Agriculture offers interesting insights into the use of Amanita muscaria at the end of the 19th century. And of cultural attitudes. In Europe it was used as a fly poison and “is regarded as one of the most poisonous forms.” At the same time, Taylor points out that “is used by them [Japanese] as a substitute for ardent spirits. He then refers to one large specimen being processed with alcohol — or into alcohol — to provide “a pleasant intoxication the whole day.”

Alan Phipps documented the use of Amanita muscaria in Ueda, Japan, being used as a social drug in the 1990s an early 2000s. He observed the mushroom being grilled. But what is important here is noting the ethnocentricity of European field guide edibility assessments. If it can be consumed socially as an inebriant, then it is obviously not deadly poisonous.

The psychoactive compounds in Amanita muscaria are water soluble. Macerting in alcohol would produce a psychoactive drink — ibotemic acid, muscomol, and methonol.

This text is also interesting for noting a European folk tradition of boiling up a bunch of mushrooms and then processing them with boiling water to eliminate toxins in the “noxious species.” This could have included amanita muscaria as it is detoxified in water. More likely, it refers to russula species, like Russula emetica, and yellow staining lactarious. Both of these mushrooms are eaten pickled in parts of Europe — mostly in the most Northerly areas like Sandanavia and Russia.