RECIPES 



FOR 



COOKING AND PREPARING FOR THE TABLE 



PREPARING toadstools for the table should begin while collecting them. 

 Have a soft brush, a knife, half a dozen one or two-pound paper bags 

 and an open-topped, roomy, shallow basket. As edible species are 

 Collecting 1 . found, cut them loose well above their attachment. Keep 

 Cleansing-. ^Q S pore surface down until the top is brushed clean and 

 every particle of dirt removed from the stem. This prevents dirt from 

 getting upon the spore surface, from which it is very hard to dislodge. 

 Never clean a toadstool over other toadstools. If the stem is hard, 

 tough or wormy, remove it. 



Having cleaned the plant, place it in one of the paper bags, spore 

 surface down. Write its name on the bag. Place but one kind in the 

 same bag, unless species of about the same texture and flavor are found 

 and mixing is not objectionable. Where another species is found, give 

 it a bag to itself. 



Select fresh, inviting plants only. Do all possible cleaning in the 



field. Plants keep clean, pack better, and more of them 

 Selection. . , r . , . 



can be carried. A careless jumble is gritty, bruised 



and disappointing. 



If not ready to cook the find, place the bags in the ice chest. It is 

 best to cook fungi as soon as possible. Cooked, they can be kept much 

 longer than when uncooked. 



When ready to cook, wash the plants by throwing them into a deep 



pan of water. Pass the fingers quietly through them 

 Washing-. 



upward; let stand a moment for the dirt to settle, then 



gather them from the water with the fingers as a drain. Remove any 

 scurf or adhering dirt with a coarse flannel or a cloth. Wash in this way 

 through two or three waters. Lay to drain. By experience in drain- 

 ing, exactly the amount of water necessary to cook a particular species 



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