Julius A. Palmer Jr.

“ In the common mushroom you will notice the gills are pliable; the flesh also can be bent without breaking. The milk-mushrooms and the Russulæ are very brittle; the gills do not mat down like the horse-mushroom, or the elm-tree mushroom; they break into small pieces, while the whole fungus snaps suddenly on being bent. If milk or juice comes, I advise the amateur to reject the specimens. A novice should not attempt to cook them. ”

“ Then comes your believer in charms: dropping salt on the mushroom to see if it turns black or yellow, or stirring them with a coin spoon to watch for evidences of discoloration. Another rejects all which grow from wood. But no test of any kind, in form, color, or basis of growth, will distinguish healthful from harmful fungi. ”

“ Let the mushroom absorb fat enough to cover this, or disguise the taste either by spice or by mixing one variety with another, and you may easily eat enough of a poisonous fungus to cause death.
Julie and I have tested perhaps forty varieties of toadstools; of these, we eat regularly, whenever found, considerably more than one half, and are daily making additions to our bill of fare. Yet, I would not have the reader infer that we act carelessly. In whatever cause, reckless disregard of consequences is not bravery, although no two elements are oftener confounded. ”

“ Mushrooms are mixed with gravies, fried in batter, simmered in fat, seasoned with black pepper or parsley-leaves, and their delicate flavor destroyed by compounding them with other food. The cook, thereby, disguises the very alarm which Nature has placed at the gateway. ”

“ We must use the same discretion daily employed in selecting other food. Who would willingly eat tainted meat? Is it so very uncommon to find a goose or duck too strong to be palatable? Who has not been poisoned by bad oysters, stale fish, or overripe fruit? ”

“ No one should attempt to gather mushrooms who has not the power to fix in his mind the exact characteristics of any specimen, so as not to be in the least danger of confounding it with its nearest neighbor. ”

“ Because many mushrooms do not agree with the human system, it does not follow that they are deadly poisons. I have friends who do not pretend to distinguish varieties, but eat whatever has an appetizing flavor. ”

“ Supposing the stem to be distinctly defined, of ordinary length, and the pores or tubes easily separable from each other, it is a Boletus.
3. Instead of the sponge, you may find a number of small points or spines. It belongs then to the teeth-bearing fungi, generically the Hydnei.
4. When you invert the mushroom, you may find neither gills, pores, nor teeth. It may be globular. In the three other classes, the spores are borne externally; here they are inclosed. If young, the skin is filled with a substance, white, yellowish, purple, or black. ”

“ I believe all white puff-balls may be safely used if cooked at once. They change very rapidly after gathering, and should only be eaten in their freshest state. There is no poisonous fungus resembling them.
The teeth-bearing toadstools are also safe fungi for the experiments of the amateur. I have found only one variety, but Smith says all the species of any size enjoy a good character. The spreading hydnum (Hydnum repandum) is usually yellow, sometimes reddish, always firm-fleshed; stem deformed, indistinct, or eccentric ”

“ The poor animal died twelve hours after receiving the poisonous fungus."
Notwithstanding such a warning, it continues to be a favorite article of diet with us to-day. I think it may be noxious raw, but that the heat kills the virus. It must be remembered that toadstool eating is by no means an exact science. Fungus-eaters are daily making discoveries. ”

“ Omit the whiskey, if you please, or substitute vinegar for spirits, but take sweet-oil liberally in case of a mistake. I believe the Italians eat many dangerous fungi with impunity, because, when fresh, their properties are changed by sweet-oil ”