Abstract
It is believed by people in mountainous areas that toxins in A. muscaria are reduced by drying, storing or cooking. The main physiologically active substances, ibotenic acid (IBO) and muscimol (MUS), in A. muscaria were therefore investigated. IBO is readily transformed to into MUS through decarboxylation, and MUS is a hallucinogen. Drying A. muscaria in the sun or with a heater caused an increase of MUS in the mushroom, though a lot of precursor IBO was lost. It was suggested that the toxicity of the mushroom would be intensified by processing. IBO and MUS in the mushroom were stable on storage under dry or salt conditions. MUS increased in concentration while IBO decreased during heat-cooking, and the changes were more marked under acidic than alkaline conditions. However, general cooking (within 10 minutes) hardly reduced the toxic substances. Boiling or soaking A. muscaria in water caused most of the IBO and MUS in the mushroom to be released rapidly into the water.
