A “gastronomical issue” would be something like sending your steak back because it was not cooked to your liking. You meant “gastrointestinal.”

I can't even say how many pounds of morels I've foraged and eaten in my life. I think I've had enough, now.

Toxicology report?? Not even mentioned.

I've never heard of morels killing anyone before now.

My great uncle warned of this, he was from Kalispel Great Falls area. He also warned of the parasites in raw shellfish. Gut health is often overlooked, gut health regulates your entire health.

I'm glad she's sharing her husband's story!!!

I'm not a wildlife expert but why is there no mention of the fake morel?

Experience doesn’t mean s**t when you don’t prep the food properly. I’m sorry for your loss

If someone this intelligent and well-versed in these things is so easily lost, I'm never eating wild mushrooms of any kind. I'm sure he's missed very much. 😔 Thank you for helping the rest of us understand the important safety issues involved.

Looking at the rack of mushrooms at 0:36, there appears to be some false morels. Second row from the top on far right, and 4th row in the middle, the pointed shape that has a short top. I would NEVER pick those. Even that color is not consistent with true Morels.

sent this to my dad who forages morels. thank you for the effort and time, and thanks to his family for making this public. i bet she is saving a life or two.

Back in 2002 me and 5 buddies went hiking in the area and ate them for dinner. Well, two weeks later I wake up in the hospital. I had died and was revived but then in a coma for two weeks. Had the strangest dreams and to this day I don’t eat any mushrooms, except for psilocybin

Truly tragic, and it only takes once with something as toxic as certain mushrooms. RIP, Mr. Dayton.

Storage is the reason he died...collected mold and undercooked...

When I was a teenager I relied on a friend who said a particular mushroom was safe. I almost died.

It's amazing how many people can have an opinion based on so little information.

Pretty sad. Forage every year on Mt. Hood for morels, porcini, matsutake and chanterelles and never had a problem eating them. Likely that the morels were not cooked long enough. Or got a false morel in the batch possibly.

He ate them for thirty years and this time he died? I wonder if some of the morels were false morel which he did not look at closely enough? The false morels look almost exactly like the edible ones, except for the insides. Morels have a hallow inside, the false morels have a cotton like fiber (mycelium) inside. Easy mistake to make but after thirty years this is odd. I feel badly for his family.

Death from eating morels is so rare you have a better chance of winning the Powerball than dying from morels. For one thing, the long-term storage attempt was not a great idea with morels and you have to cook them a bit. No worries with eating them ever if you eat them fresh and moderately cooked. They are not poisonous mushrooms!! Lots of people in here exaggerating. On our farm in Indiana when I was a kid we'd eat thousands of both the brown and yellow varieties. And we'd sell extras to local restaurants for mucho dinero. Go out and buy that lottery ticket, you ain't gonna win the big prize and you ain't gonna die from a morel. Gimme a break....

They went bad in the jar. He straight up had food poisoning.

It's interesting how the expert says there is so little know about these kinds of mushrooms considering people have been eating them for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Have eaten morels most of my life growing up in the Midwest ( Missouri ) and have always washed and cleaned them very well, then cooked till totally done, extra cleaning gets rid of those bugs and sand, but for the most part, yum yum

Was there no autopsy? No bloodwork on the survivor? No analysis of leftover samples from the same batch? Is there really any chance a false morel could have been in the batch?

Note to self. Don’t eat foraged mushrooms.

Born & raised here. Never ate one. Nerve will. And they grow behind my house. To much of a risk. Had an acquaintance ate a undercooked one. Ended up in ER then long term care. With brain and cardiac issues.

Damn we ate morel mushrooms when we were younger the whole family would go out looking for them

When gastrointestinal meets astronomical.

So sad. Thank you to Colleen for sharing her husband’s tragic story. I’m not familiar with wild mushrooms, so had no idea there was any possibility of morels being toxic. May your dear husband’s soul be resting in peace. It sounds as if he lived a full and active life. Condolences to Colleen.

just cook your morels really well. they're fine, and really tasty.

Would stay clear of that type of mushroom. It's not worth it.

We eat morels every year that we pick from our woods. We’ve never been sick. My dad soaks them in salt water and then breads and fries them very well.

Thank you for the thorough report. Poor guy.

so sorry for your loss😢-

This is a story that everyone needs to share. The reason? There is a whole foraging thing going on. Do a check, and you will see all sorts of people posting videos, "tweets," and such on how you can forage morels for yourself. Not all are very informative; more of internet clickbait than safety conscious. You would be surprised which of your friends forages for things they don't know how to prepare.

You can die from dehydration too. The other gentleman recovered so It makes me wonder. This is a rare occurrence but should definitely be investigated. Always positively identify and cook wild mushrooms thoroughly. Very tragic story.

The fact that they were stored so long, may be the biggest factor

Why take the risk?

I am so sorry. My condolences

I'm in my 30s and have eaten morels every spring since I was young, would pick them with my mom or grandparents. I don't know anymore who has died from eating morels (Western Canada)

Ate tons of morel over my life. So has my family for many generations. Not one of us ever got sick or died from eating them. So that leads me to inquire as to how he cooked them, stored them, or even if it was truly a morel.

Why even take the chance??.

All mushrooms are edible....some only once.

Such a tragic incident, but I think everyone wants to be that active and vital when they are 69, that’s inspiring. He was LIVING way more than most folks 1/2 or 1/4 his age, sitting inside watching some screen instead of experiencing the real thing. All those he left behind and missing him will hopefully take comfort that he left this world doing something he loved, pedal to the metal. I Love mushrooms but I’m a scaredy cat as far as foraging, and I would never have considered morels as a dangerous variety.

DAVE'S NOT HERE MAN

Gastronomical issues?

I'll get my mushrooms at the store thanks.

Funny how people who have foraged mushrooms for years end up dying horrible deaths by eating mushrooms.

Thank you for this video, and the vital information it contains.

After looking well at that pic, it looks like he picked quite a few false morels. Impossible to tell for sure, but many of them look more like false morels than true ones.

Unfortunately, lots of people die every year from food poisoning. My mother recently got sick after eating at El Nopal's and she went to the hospital for two days. She's ok now. You just never know.

In my 60 years, I have never heard the word morel before. But if I heard there was some foragable mushrooms that were toxic unless you cook the crap out of them, I would simply avoid them. Undercooked pork is risky enough.

I over consumed chanterelles over the course of two years and now can no longer them anymore due to severe stomach pain. I even tried a piece of pizza with a few (very well cooked) slices of mushroom on top about two years after realizing I couldn’t eat them anymore and still had the same painful reaction. There is much we don’t yet know about mushrooms as I had eaten them for many years prior to this without any problems.

Well, the last morels I ate were dried, uncooked. I actually found them near the North Platte near Sinclair, Wyoming. It’s been over a year ago now. Hopefully not the slow acting kind. But if so, at least they were really good.

morels are soooooo good but you have to be so careful because they do resemble another mushroom looks like the edible morel. As a kid, I never could tell them apart so I just let the experienced 2:45 folks pick them….plus where were, snakes abided also.

Thanks for this informative update!

I like how he mixed it with uncle Bens ready rice. Not the first thing I would suspect from a foraging granola muncher

Scary. Thanks for educating us.

Its kind of nice to hear about actual science on the news and not from some corporate stooge.

Sorry to hear. God bless Peter and family.

Oh my. So sad. I foraged morels all my life in Montana, never heard of anyone! ever having a problem from them.

What about the friend? He survived?

Picked months earlier ? I picked morels years ago, dried some, put them in a mason jar for later , and they ended up with mold on them,, they are just decorations now,,,, sorry to hear about this, I would like to know the absolute cause when its found...

That’s so scary! Here in northeast Alabama I don’t reckon morels are such a big thing but I know cooking mushrooms very well is very important. R.I.P. Peter

They really should specify what species of morels it was. This report feels very half baked

I hear about this way too often. Rip

My mom was an ER nurse and once on a ride-along she found a whole family dead around the dining and living room after a meal of foraged mushrooms. Morels were really popular in our area but we obviously got all of our mushrooms from the supermarket.

It doesn't sound like he reconstituted the dried mushrooms. They wouldn't cook thoroughly.

I'm over 60 and been eating morels most of my life and always have a huge pan of fried morels on my birthday... fry them up and sit eating them like potato chips! My Dad when he was younger used to find bushel baskets of them but it's been a long time since you could find that many around here and well he's to old to hunt them now. I order mine from Morel Masters I just got my birthday order.... this is the first I ever heard of people dying from eating morel mushrooms.

I had no idea morels were so sketchy. They’re good but not worth the risk…

My dad, military, warned of this since we were small children I just remember my dasa lecture is all He trained recruits

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Don't eat morel mushrooms RAW. All mushrooms need to be cooked for the sake of digestion, but raw morels can kill you.

A guy died in a car accident after being safe driver for thirty years. Therefore, you will die if you drive a car.

Excellent segment Powers. Nice work

That's terrible. I'm sorry for your loss. They have those morels where my son work's. My family ate them many years ago. But, my son hates mushrooms, he's the only one who wouldn't eat them. I told him not to tell anyone where they are growing. Thank you for sharing your story. 🇺🇸

I had no idea they were toxic. I've seen them offered for sale dried.

My mother, born in 1909, could walk through the woods and find mushrooms. She cooked them with an old-time nickel. If the nickel turned black.....or if the nickel didn't turn black....that is how she knew she had a good batch. Does anyone know the nickel trick? Unfortunately, mother is gone now.

My Father was a Mushroom expert for over 60 years. All Wild mushrooms , such as morels and boletes have to be cooked a special way . Go to a wild mushroom expert website and learn how to cook them properly. If they are dried they still have to be soaked for at least 10 minutes first then cooked as specified for the type of mushroom it is. , Never hoover and hang out over the pan while cooking wild mushrooms. Do not breath in that stream. There are important steps you must seriously take folks to make sure you do not poison yourselves if you consume Wild Mushrooms. Enjoy your foraging but take those steps to insure the safety to your health.

This news clip is disjointed. First, it's entirely possible for experienced foragers to make a mistake (e.g., picking up Gyromitra). Secondly, the clip also mentioned that his friend became ill. Thus, even if accumulations of hydrazines were found in Peter's body, the friend's sickness would require explanation, too. Thirdly, nobody seems to question if the bag of Uncle Ben's rice might have contributed to his sickness or death. Fourth, "gastronomical" isn't the correct word to describe "gastrointestinal" goings-on.

One does not die from morels however there is a deadly toxic lookalike

“Morels in June”? That’s a little late….

That’s crazy I’ve lived in Idaho and picked morels all growing up and I ate numerous raw picked right from the ground and I’ve never had an issue. Didnt even know they were poisonous. Soo sad though he looked like a wholesome human. Prayers to his family 🙏

Thats heartbreaking. Rest in peace

we eat the mushrooms raw from the grocery store all the time, so i never knew you had to cook morels for a long time to not die from a poison, guess i'll stay clear of those

I have always wanted to be able to forage but I will stitch to buying at the supermarket!

don't be afraid, be cautious and sure. rest in peace dude 💚

My Condolences 🙏 speechless 😶

If they are not one piece, they are the fake and poisonius ones. Poisonous ones break where cap meets stem.

Alot come from burn area's it could be the fire retardants planes dust the fires with

I hunt for morels because my husband has had them since he was a child. We wash our morels, then we cut them open and wash them again. Then we coat them in flour, salt and pepper and cook them until they are crunchy...so far no issues. I have picked mushrooms that look just like the good morels but the bad morels have fur on the inside and the stem isn't as open as it should be. Morelsa are the only mushroom I hunt.

Wow! That is worrisome. I panfried a bunch of morels with cashews last friday night and my wife and I consumed them. I have considered morel to be a safe wild mushroom. I will be very careful.

The false morel?

Just picked up many pounds Morels in the last 2 weeks, eaten all of them with friends gave them away and NONE of us are dead! Nothing wrong with eating these shrooms!

Rest in peace and condolences.

Oh wow, I used to go morel mushroom hunting with my grandparents every spring. I’m so glad that we never got sick.

With so many other mushrooms to eat that are not poisonous, why even take the chance with these???

RIP NEVER HEARD A WORD ABOUT THIS UNTIL NOW.

I will never eat anything "foraged" again. I ate hen of the woods mushrooms cooked by a friend once, and I was so nauseated afterwards. Not worth it. I'll stick with mushrooms from a reliable source, TYVM. We have supermarkets now. There's no need to hunt or gather anymore.

as a general rule of thumb you don't want to get sushi from a guy named Dave, maybe a cheeseburger but definitely not sushi.

Something about this information seems off I don't think you can cook the toxicity out of any mushroom that is poisonous.