Common Edible Mushrooms

About Mushrooms
Mushrooms have long been regarded all over the world as the
most delectable and succulent of foods. Their peculiarly delicate
flavor charmed the luxury-loving Roman aristocrats more than
twenty centuries ago, as it charms all civilized folk today. But
most of us do not realize that the mushrooms we buy at the grocery
store, either fresh or in cans, represent only one of the many
edible kinds and that countless others make equally delightful
eating. For edible mushrooms are to be found every where — in
front yards, on shade trees, in parks, fields, and forests.
All too often these evanescent plants are looked upon as strange,
unearthly things, to be feared and avoided, if not trodden upon
and destroyed. Yet many of these same mushrooms that spring up
in such prodigal abundance are both savory and delicious, eagerly
sought by the epicure but to be had by anyone for the mere fun
of hunting and picking them. To those who do not know them
the best are made to share the reputation of the worst, and all are
grouped together under the darkly suggestive name of toadstools,
malevolent things that smack of night and thunder and pouring
rain, fit company for goblins and witches!
There is a rather general feeling that only an expert can tell an
edible mushroom from a poisonous one, and that he can do it only
by some obscure and secret test. For this reason people who would
enjoy eating wild mushrooms shun the many good ones for fear
of confusing them with the few bad kinds, though anyone can
easily learn to know the common edible mushrooms well enough
to pick and eat them with perfect safety. Some of them, in fact,
are even easier to recognize than flowers or trees, and we need go
NOTE: Assistance in the preparation of the colored plates and of Diagrams
i and 2 in this book was provided by the personnel of Work Projects Administration,
Official Project No. 165-1-71-124, sponsored by the University of
Minnesota.
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