I grew up in the mountains of NC, in a temperate rainforest. My family owned a little grocery store and I grew up roaming the woods, especially interested in my favorite non-meat food,
mushrooms. That said, I am not an expert. I carry at least 1 field guide with me on every mushroom hunting trip, even after 30 year
experience.... and, if there is any questions, I do a spore print to be sure. I can identify several varieties by sight though. A question in another post, today, was regarding puffballs. I may have been unintentionally flippant. Mushroom hunters identify 4 or 5 mushrooms (usually) that are so easily identifiable and edible as to be called "no brainers" and on nearly all of the lists are giant puffballs. Here is an old government publication to get aspiring mushroom hunters started.
https://archive.org/details/somecommonmushro00charrich Although there are some very good websites, my first recommendation would be to apprentice under an older mushroom hunter (age is a good reference in a field in which fool hearty people may find a quick end). Barring that, a mycology
course at a
local college/university would be recommended. If you have resource to neither, or are stubborn and of a rebellious, independent nature... as am I... The National Audubon Society's Field Guide To North American Mushrooms, David Aurora's
books and 100 Edible Mushrooms are good starting places if you are looking for mushrooms to eat. If you are looking for mushrooms to
sell, take extra measures of care. If you are looking for "other" mushrooms, be especially careful. We gardeners may take
Sepp Holzer's advice for incorporating mushrooms into our
Permaculture systems. His chapter on mushroom growing is absolutely brilliant. Sure ,
Paul Stamets goes in to more detail.... way more detail.... hundreds of pages of detail.... but, he is a specialist. If I can attain a fractional level of being a generalist like Mr. Holzer, I will be satisfied.