speciniens should at least be wrapped separately in paper, that 

 they may not soil others. 



In preparing for cooking, all having a dirty, tough or viscid 

 cuticle, should be thoroughly washed or wiped clean or peeled. 

 In the case of boleti, it is well to remove the porous part from 

 the cap, for these pores are apt to form a shiny, unpleasant mass 

 in cooking. They are easily separable from the flesh of the cap. 

 In large specimens the cap may be cut in slices. 



The mode of cooking will depend on the kind of mushroom, 

 the tastes of those that are to eat them, and the conveniences at 

 hand. It is customary to fry, broil or stew them, and in each 

 case to season or dress them according to taste, or the knowledge 

 of the cook. The object to be kept in view is to make a palatable 

 and at the same time a digestible dish. Sometimes mushrooms 

 are used in small quantity, chiefly to give flavor to meats or 

 other dishes. Mushrooms of inferior flavor are often made more 

 agreeable by cooking with them a few specimens of some kind 

 more highly and agTeeably flavored. Species too tough to be 

 eaten with pleasure are sometimes utilized by making of them a 

 kind of soup or broth, which is eaten, while the mushroom itself 

 is rejected. 



The same species is not always equally tender or agreeable. 

 Its flavor and texture appear to depend to some extent upon the 

 kind of soil in wdiich it grew, the rapidity of its growth, and the 

 age at which it was collected. Young specimens and those of 

 rapid growth are expected to be more tender than old or slowly 

 developed ones, but they are not always the most highly flavored. 

 In this way, and because of the differences in the tastes of indi- 

 A'iduals, we may explain the different estimates placed by differ- 

 ent writers on the edible qualities of the same species of mush- 

 room. There are also peculiarities of constitution which make 

 what is one man's meat, another man's poison. 



The same thing is sometimes seen in the use of other foods. 

 One man is made sick by eating egg or any article of food in the 

 preparation of which egg enters as an ingredient. Another man 

 cannot eat strawberries ^\athout being sickened. This individual 

 peculiarity has possibly, in some instances, been the reason why 

 one T\Titer has attributed poisonous qualities to the same kind of 

 mushroom which another writer has declared to be edible. , 



]\Iushrooms have been used for food for many centuries. 

 They graced the tables of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Ac- 

 cidents liaA'e sometimes happened from their careless or unintel- 

 ligent use; yet some jDeople have persisted in using them, and 



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