Primary Pore Color. Again, it is a spectrum thing but the filters are designed to allow for the way that different people perceive/label colors in a different way.
- White, Buff, or Light Gray.
- Yellow to Orange.
- Red, Pink, or Purple.
- Some Shade of Brown.
- Black, Dark Brown, or Dark Gray.
Pore Size. This is a confusing filter because it requires you to know what’s ‘average’. Immature mushrooms always have tiny pores just like human children lack the emphasized shapes of adults. DO NOT USE this filter unless you are sure it applies.
- My Mushroom is Mature & Its Pores are Huge. In general, those mushrooms with pores that can exceed 1 mm in diameter.
- My Mushroom is Mature & Its Pores are Tiny. In general, those mushrooms that can have 3 pores per mm.
Pore Staining. Note that really beat-up and really old mushrooms often stain much slower than they did in their primes. Only apply this filter to mushrooms that would be edible if they came from the right species. There is a great deal of anectodal evidence saying that very dry or very wet weather can have an effect too. Slow-staining mushrooms typically pass through both the “Does Not Stain” (DNS) filter, and the one for the color they eventually hit.
- Pores Do Not Stain Within 30 Seconds.
- Pores Stain Blue.
- Pores Stain Other than Blue. E.g., red, pink, brown, green, yellow, or black.