104 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



tinguishes the chantarelle from agarics. The entire 

 substance of the fungus is dry and opaque, and it has 

 a peculiar odour, which some have characterised as 

 that of ripe apricots and others as of plums. When 

 raw the taste is rather warm. The flesh is whitish, 

 tinged with the same yellow. It will be seen from 

 this description that the chantarelle is a unique and 

 very remarkable fungus. 



Berkeley says that " The chantarelle is occasionally 

 served up at public dinners at the principal hotels in 

 London, on state occasions, where every effort is 

 made to secure the rarest and most costly dainties ; " 

 and Dr Badham writes that " Having collected a 

 quantity at Tunbridge Wells one summer, and given 

 them to the cook at the Calverley Hotel to dress, he 

 learnt from the waiter that, they were not novelties to 

 him ; that, in fact, he had been in the habit of dress- 

 ing them for years, on state occasions, at the Free- 

 mason's Tavern." Nevertheless, we confess to never 

 having seen them exposed for sale in London, although 

 constantly on the Continent, and never to have recog- 

 nized them at table, at any dinners, but those memor- 

 able ones of the Woolhope Club at Hereford. 



The chantarelle is eaten regularly in France, Ger- 

 many, Austria, and Italy, where it is exposed in the 

 markets for sale, but it does not seem to be a great 

 favourite with the poorer classes. 



The most approved method of cooking is to pick 

 and wash the chantarelles, and then allow them to 



