RECIPES 321 



34 Dried Mushrooms 



It will often happen in a normal fungus season that 

 the production will exceed the possibility of consump- 

 tion, and thousands of pounds of delicious mushrooms 

 will thus be left to decay in their haunts. 



The process of drying mushrooms for winter use is 

 in most extensive practice by the peasantry of Europe 

 and Britain, who thus find an all-the-year-round de- 

 pendence upon mushroom diet. 



With most species this process of desiccation is so 

 simple that it is recommended, in the confident belief 

 that, once tried, the winter mushroom will hereafter af- 

 ford a frequent relish upon many a board and will well 

 repay the slight trouble in their summer preparation. 



In most of the Agarics — notably the Campestris, 

 Procerus, Champignon, Russula, Chantarelle — simply 

 threading on strings and hanging in the sun and 

 wind, or festooned above the kitchen range, will be 

 sufficient to reduce them to complete dryness in a 

 few hours. Indeed, some of these, such as the Pro- 

 cerus and Champignon, dry spontaneously in their 

 haunts, and may be thus gathered. 



In the instances of more fleshy fungi, such as the 

 Boleti, Polyporei, and Coprinus, more rapid desicca- 

 tion is necessary. By exposing them in the sun on 

 a tin roof or absorbent paper the moisture is rapidly 

 evaporated. They might also be suspended above 

 the kitchen range in a wire basket and thus quickly 

 dried. In Boleti the drying is facilitated by the 

 removal of the whole pore layer, which is easily sep- 

 arated from the cap. 



