The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-08-09
Table and Kitchen.


Conducted by Ida Ames Willis, Mar
quette Building, Chicago. to whom all
inquiries should be addressed.
All rights reserved by Banning Co.,
Chicago.
The Delightful Mushroom
In view of the fact that fungi form
very considerable bulk among food
stuffs in southern Europe so much dis
,cussion as to their ydigestibility seems
unwarranted2 The poor of France, Ger
many and Italy eat "a large per cent of
them. They are not eaten by this class
as luxury as with US but takes the place
of meat among working classes. The
yearly profit from the sale OF mush-
rooms in the Roman markets amounts
to $4,000. There are two very evident
reasons why the mushroom does not al
ways agree with us, aside from the fact
that the common mushroom may, under
certain conditions, prove very irritating
in some Individual cases. In the first in
stance we do not understand, as does the
hum blest peasant of Europe, that the
mushroom. cannot be eaten too fresh as
they decompose SO easily and while ap-
parently in good condition they are past
the stage when they may be eaten with
out risk. The peasant eats the mush-'
room raw well cooked. Dries them
preserves them in brine, oil or vinegar,
which takes away the acrid qualities OF
some of the suspicious varieties. But by
whatever method they are prepared for
the table they must be fresh grown and
fresh gathered.
Complaints of the indigestibility of
mushrooms are made by people unac-
customed and unfamiliar with their use
and chemical properties, and instead of
serving them as they should be, in place
of other heterogeneous food, they are eaten
accomplishments to these, and the sys-
tenn is over-burdened with more than it
can assimilate. In America mushrooms
are still Injuries which are enjoyed al
most exclusively by the weather. classes,
not because the soil does not produce
these readily and without careful Guilt
walton. for bushels of them waste on
farms unnoticed every year. but because
$50 little is generallys Known of them
while the fear of dreAded consequence is
so strong that the public regards them all
with suspicion and only the brave or
those much learned ms fungi lore are
able to fully enjoy these delicious food
stuffs. If the public had but rudi-
mentary knowledge of the nature of the
foods they eat, they would know that they
daily run greater risks, and take more
serious chances with their health in eat
ing meats, possibly and most probably
impregnated with disease germs; fruits
and vegetables either canned fresh
which may not be fit for food; milk in
which may Turk danger and a certain
death as is in possible poisonous fungi,
they would realize how very unreason-
able is the universal fear that deprives
them of the enjoyment of one of our
choicest natural foods.
Poisonous fungi are comparatively few;
but they closely resemble the edible
forms, the distinctions must be known in
order to avoid mistakes. The poisonous
varieties may generally be recognized by
their high color, their sca1y or spotted
surface and tough or watery flesh; they
usually have offensive odor; grow in
clusters in wet or shady ground and
when bruised show a, play of colors and
yield a pungent milk. Their taste is Bit
ter and burning to the throat and as
they dry they become blush. As the
poisonous matter in them belongs to the
class Of narcotico-irritants, cases of
mushroom poisoning are best treated by
the immediate and free use of emetics
and castor oil.
THE EDIBLE FUNGI
These are seldom high-colored scaly or
spotted and their gills never perfectly
white. but usually of yellow. pinkish
red or brown. They are brittle when.
should be gathered, when not cultivated,
from open dry pasture They grow best
in 'told pasture Their smell and taste
are most agreeable and in such species
which have any acrid taste, this objec-
tionable quality may be dissipated by
cooking. The mushroom is one of three
food stuffs which possess the principle of
sapidity in the highest culinary and gus
tatory sense. This principle is an aka
loid or series of aikaloids. practically
known as osmazome. Meats and cheese
are the other two foods which have this
same highly developed principle. The
browning of these three materials devel-
ops this part to greater degree, hence
when fried brown in fat the flavor is
noticeablys richer. While the cultivated
mushroom may be eaten whit greater
confidence, those grown in the open air
are much finer favored.
Different analyses, widely at vari-
ance, one with the other, may well shake
the confidence of those who do not do
their own thinking and thereby draw
their own conclusions Let each one try
for himself, substituting some of the
many delightful mushroom preparations
for the usual meat dishes and note if
they are not quite as satisfactory in ev
cry way, especially for hot weather food.
The edible fungi are usually classified
as mushrooms, morels and truffies- Al
though but comparatively few of the
former varieties are used as food more
than a thousand are known to exist.
The common mushroom should be eat
en- but at two stages of its growth, one
when 1t is small and white; in this stage
| it is called the BUTTON The other
when # has just expanded and the spore-
bearing ridges form a rosy lining to the
expanded umbrella They should be eat
en- before the spores turn black, other
wise they are overripe- They should be
black-lined and full of assures. Avoid
them in this condition.
THE MOST COMMON VARIETIES
The best known mushroom is the variety
found in bottles on the grocer's shelves
and known the imported button
mushroom But of the outdoor native
room, agaricus campestris. This is usually
| gathered in the autumn. appearing most
plentiful and in best condition Just after
| frost in September. The variety is most
dainty and delicious and is readily known
by its shape: it is smooth and white, with
rosy gills, and when broken gives out a
delicate, pleasant odor.