MUSHROOMS AS FOOD 



inky fungi this will be absolutely necessary, for they will not 

 keep in good condition from one day till the next. Some of 

 the species literally grow up in a night and perish in a day. 

 These also should be cooked with great promptness, for they 

 are only desirable while young and before the gills have begun 

 to change to a black inky liquid. Puff balls should only be 

 used while the inner flesh is pure and white. When the yel- 

 lowish stains of maturity begin to appear they are no longer 

 fit for food. No one would think of eating them after the 

 flesh has changed to the cottony dusty mass of maturity. 



IMany insects are fond of mushrooms. Both they and their 

 larvse feed on them and the latter often live in them. A mush- 

 room may appear fair externally, but if it is cut or broken its 

 flesh may be seen to be full of holes or galleries excavated by 

 larvae, and perhaps a colony of the larvae themselves may be 

 found within. It is needless to say that such specimens are 

 unfit for food. Strange as it may seem, a colony of larvae in 

 the lower part of the stem of a mushroom will sometimes 

 affect disastrously the flavor of the cap or upper part which 

 they have not yet invaded. This fact may explain in part 

 the varying opinions of different writers concerning the flavor 

 and edible qualities of certain mushrooms. Slight differ- 

 ences in flavor may also be attributed to differences in the 

 character of the soil in which they grow, the amount of mois- 

 ture in the atmosphere, degree of temperature, age and rapid- 

 ity of growth and exposure to the sun and wind. Old and 

 slowly-developed individuals are likely to be less tender than 

 young and rapidly growing ones. Differences in individual 

 tastes will also account in part for differences of opinion on 

 this point. There are also peculiarities of constitution which 

 have given origin to the saying, "What is one man's meat is 

 another man's poison." One person can eat no egg, nor 

 anything into which egg enters as an ingredient, without 

 suffering or sickness. Another is made sick by eating straw- 



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