Mushrooms, Ranked

A golden, apricot-scented wild edible that has resisted commercial cultivation, so nearly every one sold is hand-foraged. It is among the most prized and widely gathered mushrooms in the world.

Boletus edulis is the 'king bolete,' a backbone of Italian and French cooking whose dried form delivers intense umami. It is one of the most sought-after wild boletes on earth.

Morchella's honeycombed cap appears only briefly in spring and resists reliable farming, fueling obsessive annual hunts. It must be cooked, as raw morels are toxic.

These underground fungi are hunted with trained dogs, and white Alba truffles rank among the most expensive foods on the planet. Their aroma is prized far beyond their tiny size.

A spicy-scented autumn delicacy in Japan whose premium grades can climb toward a thousand dollars per kilogram as native harvests decline. Its cultivation has never been mastered.

One of the most cultivated mushrooms worldwide and a meaty, umami-rich staple of East Asian cuisine. It is also the source of the compound lentinan.

Pleurotus ostreatus grows quickly on straw or even coffee grounds, making it the easiest gourmet mushroom to farm. Remarkably, it is carnivorous, paralyzing and digesting nematodes.

Hericium erinaceus grows as shaggy white icicles and cooks up with a flavor often compared to crab or lobster. It is studied for compounds that stimulate nerve growth factor.

Known as 'hen of the woods,' Grifola frondosa forms large clustered fronds at the base of oaks and is prized for its rich, savory flavor. It is both foraged and cultivated.

White button, cremini, and portobello are all Agaricus bisporus at different stages of maturity. It is one of the most cultivated mushrooms on earth — reliable, but hardly thrilling.

Laetiporus is a vivid orange shelf fungus whose texture and flavor genuinely resemble chicken. Its unmistakable color makes it a popular beginner forage.

Craterellus cornucopioides, the 'horn of plenty,' is dark and easily missed on the forest floor but delivers a deep, smoky richness. It dries exceptionally well for cooking.

Ganoderma lingzhi, or 'lingzhi,' is too woody and bitter to eat and is instead brewed as a tea. It has been used in traditional East Asian medicine for over two thousand years.

Cultivated enoki are pale, thin, crunchy clusters with a mild flavor, common in soups and hot pots. The wild form, Flammulina, looks entirely different — orange, short, and sticky.

Auricularia auricula-judae is a gelatinous, ear-shaped fungus with almost no taste, valued purely for its snappy texture in Chinese dishes. It carries the meal rather than starring in it.

Calvatia gigantea can swell to the size of a beach ball and is edible only while pure white inside. Even then its flavor is bland, making it more novelty than delicacy.

Amanita muscaria is the red-and-white toadstool of fairy tales and video games, instantly recognizable worldwide. But it is psychoactive and toxic, not a safe edible.

Amanita phalloides is responsible for the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide, and a single cap can kill an adult. It dangerously resembles several edible species.

Gyromitra esculenta contains gyromitrin, which the body converts into a compound also used in rocket fuel. Despite the species name meaning 'edible,' it can be lethal.

Omphalotus olearius faintly glows in the dark and closely mimics the chanterelle, causing severe poisonings in foragers who confuse the two. A beautiful, treacherous look-alike.