I am lucky enough to live very near a Mycologist and have taken courses from her. So, while I am far from an expert, I can tell you what I was told.

The toxins in the beefsteak mushroom are cooked off when you are sauteing them. Unfortunately, the person cooking them is inhaling all those toxins as they evaporate. Supposedly, they are neurotoxins which can cause acumulative damage over time. It seems to effect some people more than others. To me this is the scary part. However, the more immediate effect is that they cause gastral problems in some people.

Marilyn, my mycologist friend, says she knows people who have been eating them forever with no problems. She says she won't eat them.....So, I trust her. I won't eat them either.

I looked at a photo of one of these 'beefsteak mushrooms"...it looks exactly like what I have seen my father (when he was living) pick for years... is this the one that can get huge and you can slice several slices from one mushroom? I've eaten them, but think I'll leave them alone after seeing that they are poisonous, despite having never gotten sick from them.

Kim,have her explain to me why people have gotten sick from eatting them but never have cooked them if the toxins are cooked off..

Length of cooking time? Differences in body chemistry? The important thing is....even if you don't feel sick. IT IS STILL BAD FOR YOU.

I guess I am one of the fortunate ones. My family has been eating these things for as long as I can remember with no one getting any ill from them. It is a common practice to cook them until nearly crisp though. My great grandmother has recipe's that are designed around these ones as well.

Most likely those recipes have come from Europe where the gyromitra for some strange reason does not contain gyromitrin. The European ones are not the same as the American ones.

What's really scary to me about "beefsteaks" is that I used to devour these by the pound when I was a young child. To me, this was just a fifth variety of morel, usually served right alongside morels, all prepared identically. I haven't eaten any in decades though. I stopped as a teenager when I started hearing of the possible toxins.

I am new to the site but can share an experience with beefsteaks. I live in OH and have never even seen one till last year in the U.P. We had a great time picking about 15lbs in 10 minutes, and then showed them to a local neighbor and he explained what they were as well as the fact that some people eat them and are fine, while others get sick.

I brought them home and gave a few to a friend who ate them that same evening. When he finally got out of bed about 24 hours later, he "thanked" me for the mushrooms and the experience he had.

Needless to say, I won't be picking them even to give to people I don't like.

NEVER EAT BEEFSTEAKS!!!!!!!!yukky anyway...full of bugs...gritty....my bro ate those for years....all of the sudden......sicker than the dog......i know people that have ate them for years with no ill effects....but the toxin will build up in your body ....body never rids it...just like seafood...the iodines build up and get to a high level...just as you grow out of an allegy...you also can grow into one.it is not in anyones best interest to eat these wild mushrooms!!!

I think I'll stick to the morels myself....No use in dying for something that doesn't sound very appealing.