These are wild Chanterelle Mushrooms, a delicacy found in Northern California woods this time of year. The same areas also support the highly toxic Death Cap mushroom.
The two species do not look at all alike to me, but it is said that confusing the two is a fairly common mistake, one that probably had fatal results this past weekend.
Friday's mass poisoning at an assisted-living facility near Sacramento left two dead, and four others sickened, including the caregiver who had prepared soup for residents using toxic wild mushrooms.
Placer County sheriff's officials have called the deaths of Barbara Lopes, 86, and Teresa Olesniewicz, 73, an accident. Both residents of the Gold Age Villa in Loomis died after eating mushroom soup.
Back on October 20th I wrote about the attractive looking wild mushrooms at the Boggy Thicket, and how dangerous they might be. Obviously, wild mushroom harvesting is no job for amateurs. Makes you wonder how humans ever found varieties that were safe to eat.
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