_Polyporus sulphureus_
Probably the most conspicuous member of our native polyporei remains
to be considered among the esculents, though until recently it was
included in the black list, Dr. Curtis, of North Carolina, I believe,
having first demonstrated its edibility, though pronouncing it merely
"tolerable."
[Illustration]
The brilliancy of its sulphur-yellow and orange-salmon colors, in
association with its large size, renders it a most conspicuous object,
especially from its habit of growing in dense clusters, often a number
of such clusters in close contiguity upon a decaying stump or prostrate
log, frequently so numerous and so crowded as to completely conceal
the bark beneath, as shown in the accompanying figure, or completely
covering; a space of several square feet.
[Illustration: A YOUNG SPECIMEN]
There lies before me even as I write a fragment of a single cluster
which I plucked yesterday from the trunk of an apparently healthy
red-oak near my studio, the remainder of the clump having been
enjoyed as a special course in my dinner of last evening. In Plate
26 I present a portrait of this specimen, the well-named Sulphur
Polyporus--_Polyporus sulphureus_. It may be found frequently from
July till frost upon its favorite habitat of old trunk, stump, log
water-trough, or fencepost, usually upon wood in the early stages of
decay. A single cluster will often measure a foot in diameter through
its very solid mass of thickened pulpy branches, its early and esculent
stage being thus compact with the subdivisions ascending from their
common thick stem, the mass somewhat suggesting a cauliflower in shape,
as shown in the illustration above.
The general color at this tender stage is pure sulphur-yellow, this
being the ultimate _lower_ or spore surface now exposed by its upright
position. The true upper surface or cap of the later eccentrically
branched fungus is of a bright orange-salmon color, and is mostly
concealed by the crowded growth.
[Sidenote: =A voice in the wilderness=]
The specimen above alluded to would have weighed about two pounds, and
this central mass was so crowded as to afford scarcely a glimpse of the
pinkish-orange pileus surface. Upon showing my specimen to a friend, I
was informed that a certain log by the roadside about two miles distant
was covered with this same kind of fungus, which seemed to be spreading
all over the ground. Doubtless ten or twenty pounds of good nourishing
food was thus going begging by the way-side, even in sight of a rural
homestead, whose lord and master finds the butcher's bill a serious
drain upon his resources.
My plate shows a more open cluster of the fungus in its earlier
stages, the _only_ time when it is fit for food. In this condition
it is tender, succulent, and juicy. In a few days the lobed fringes
or fan-like divisions have lowered and spread out as widely as their
crowded condition will permit, assuming the horizontal or even drooping
position seen at C, and at D in the plate, as viewed from above. The
pileus now being exposed, the fungus presents a deep orange-red or
salmon color to the beholder, its sulphurous-hued pore surface being
turned beneath. Its texture at this adult stage is tough, fibrous, and
almost woody, especially as it approaches the stem, and no one would
think of eating it.
The young specimen, however, is quite delicious and wholesome, and,
considering that a single cluster will afford a dinner for a large
family, its importance as a food product, especially to the farmer or
peasant who finds economy a necessity, is thus manifest. Tasted at
the tip, it yields for the first moment of mastication an acid flavor
recalling that of the _Fistulina hepatica_. This is followed by a
sweet, slightly mucilaginous savor, which, in the realization that
the species is wholesome, will at once prove an invitation to further
experiment with the fungus as food.
[Sidenote: =Texture and quality=]
The texture of the young mushroom will be found to vary in its
different parts, extremely tender at the thickened tuberculated
tips, becoming fibrous as the stem is approached, and increasing in
toughness, in fracture suggesting wood in appearance (see A, Plate
26), and unless the specimen is _very_ young this portion will have
to be excluded from the diet. Excepting this precaution it needs no
preparation for the table, assuming, of course, that the substance is
free from grubs, which will presumably be the case, as I have never
seen this fungus thus infested except in its more advanced woody growth.
[Sidenote: =Methods of cooking=]
I have not as yet satisfied myself as to the best methods of cooking
this polyporus. Fried in butter it has a tendency to become slightly
tough in consistency, in its white stringy fibre as well as in taste
closely suggesting the "white meat" of chicken. It lends itself well
to a stew or ragoût, and might, perhaps, to a curry, the substance
being cut or broken in small pieces and treated after the manner of
meat under similar recipes. Following the hints contained in our
last chapter, many methods of its culinary treatment will suggest
themselves.
[Illustration: _Polyporus sulphureus_]
_PLATE XXVI_