Rubel and Arora Amanita Muscarie Economic Botany

This paper traces the history of Amanita muscaria from the first reports of its use as as a mood altering drug in Siberia in the early 17th century through the scientific, medical, and mushroom field guide literature to the present day. Our thesis is that the mushroom is edible if properly part boiled before ingesting, that this has been widely known for centuries, but for some reason field guides do not accurately report the scientific fact of its edibility of properly prepared. By way of comparison we discuss other mushrooms and foodstuffs that are as “poisonous” as A. muscaria that are widely eaten after proper preparation.