Common Edible Mushrooms

MUSHROOM COOKERY
Unless there is some obvious reason for doing so, mushrooms
need not be peeled, nor do the gills have to be removed. Wipe
them clean with a damp cloth and cut off the ends of the stems
after you have inspected them according to the directions for
gathering mushrooms on pages 14-16. Soaking them in water impairs
the flavor and is unnecessary.
"According to the views of many persons," says a government
bulletin * on wild mushrooms, "mushrooms are best cooked simply,
with no seasoning but butter, pepper, and salt. The addition of
various seasonings impairs the delicate mushroom flavor. Mushrooms
may be prepared for the table in any way which would be
suitable for oysters." This is an interesting observation that amateur
mushroom collectors may wish to put to the test in their own
kitchens.
While mushrooms are eaten principally for their excellent flavor,
recent evidence indicates that they are a wholesome and
nourishing food as well. The common cultivated mushroom contains
nearly 4 per cent protein, more copper and iron in assimilable
form than most other common foods, and relatively large quantities
of riboflavin and nicotinic acid. In general cultivated mushrooms
offer about as much nourishment as some of the common
fruits and vegetables. The available data suggest that a number
of wild mushrooms have a somewhat similar food value.
"TO DRESS A DISH OF FUNGEE" f
"Take them fresh gathered and putt them betweene two dishes,
and sett them on a Chairing Dish of Coles, and there lett them
Stewe, and putt nothing to them in the first Stewing for they will
Yeald Liquor enough of them selves, and When all the Water is
stewed out of them, power that Liquor Cleane from them and
putt a good quantitye of Sallitt Oyle unto them and Stewe them
* Flora W. Patterson and Vera K. Charles. Some Common Edible and
Poisonous Mushrooms. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin
No. 796 (Washington: Government Printing Office. 1922).
t A seventeenth-century recipe.
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