The golden rule of safe foraging is to learn from an expert. Before eating or even gathering any plant or mushroom, if you are not already thoroughly familiar with it, consult someone who is. That means a human being.
For any given edible, you are not an expert until you know “who, what, where, when, how, and why.”
WHO
Until you have spent a long time with an edible, sometimes years, anything else can “look alike.” Two plants or mushrooms that look different to you today can look the same to you tomorrow. Just like us, plants and mushrooms change throughout their lives, which can last a season, decades, or as little as a few days.
WHAT
What part is edible? Yew is a shrub with red berries. The flesh of the berry is edible. The other parts of yew — the seed, leaves, bark, and roots — are all deadly. So, is yew edible or deadly?
WHERE
Where is the plant or mushroom growing? Is the location contaminated, such as near a building, a road, or in landscaping that has been sprayed? If so, then what was edible is now toxic. If you’ve already gathered it without thinking about where, an expert cannot help you to not poison yourself for that reason.
WHEN
Some plants are only edible at certain stages. Poke leaf is edible young and toxic thereafter. A mushroom is no longer edible when it’s rotten. Can you tell the difference?
HOW
Are morel mushrooms edible? What about bamboo shoots? Raw, both are deadly. For most people, the leaves of violet plants are edible by the handful. More can cause severe GI upset. How much a person can tolerate depends on the individual. Some people can eat pawpaw fruit, daylily shoots, wisteria flowers, and sunchoke tubers freely. Others get violently ill. Which one are you?
WHY
This probably sounds so complicated. Why bother? Because you don’t really have a choice. The edibles in your area are what makes it home. Unless you want to always feel lonely and never quite at home, it’s time to eat the neighbors.
For 300,000 years, foraging is what every human did. It was easy because we never did it alone. Nor did we ever feel that way.