Melody Sitarz, age 12, of Tucson, Arizona, for her question:

Can you tell a poisonous mushroom by cooking it?

Not even a qualified expert can tell whether a cooked mushroom is poisonous. So we ordinary mortals are wise to disqualify the cooking test    definitely. The risk is far too great to try it. In fact, we are wise to forget all the tests and rumors of tests that promise to prove whether a mushroom is safe to eat. Experts assure us that there is only one way to be sure. If you have a yen for the delicate, earthy flavor of mushrooms, buy them in a produce market. These strains are known to be safe and are grown under hygienic conditions. Many wild mushrooms are safe but an assortment of bugs and grubs are sure to be concealed inside. Besides, the cultivated strains taste better than almost all the risky wild strains.

Mushrooms and toadstools are fungus plants and in everyday language the toadstools are the poisonous types. Actually, all these fungi are close cousins and there are hundreds of them. It is impossible to be sure of the safe types because even they may be deadly poisonous at certain periods of their lives. But every year, sad to say, hundreds of wild mushroom hunters try cooking and other tests and become wretchedly sick, often fatally sick. Only real experts can tell which wild mushrooms are harmless. Wild mushrooms may be admired    but left strictly alone. None of them neither the gaudy beauties nor the plain Janes can be trusted.