It will often happen in a normal fungus season that the production
will exceed the possibility of consumption, 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 dependence 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 afford 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 Procerus 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 desiccation 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 separated from
the cap.
The Clavaria and Morel are very simply dried, even in ordinary house
temperature. Strung upon threads and suspended in the sun or near the
fire they would very quickly be reduced to absolute dryness.
Mushrooms thus treated seem to retain their aroma; in Procerus,
Clavaria, Morel, Helvella, and "Fairy-ring" being intensified above
that of their moist condition and most appetizing.
The desiccated specimens should be kept in a dry place, with good
circulation of air, or enclosed in hermetically sealed tin boxes; in
the latter case being occasionally examined to insure against mould by
possible absorption of moisture.
When desired for use they are simply soaked in tepid water, which, by
gradual absorption, causes the specimens occasionally to assume almost
their original dimensions and juicy character, when they should be
treated as recommended for the fresh mushrooms.
* * * * *
For the benefit of the vegetarian, or the curiously or experimentally
inclined, I append a few suggestions apropos of a _menu à la mode_, in
which the fungus might be employed with good effect as a rival to the
familiar established prandial delights. Each selection is numbered with
reference to its particular descriptive or suggestive paragraph in the
preceding pages of the chapter.
A feast based upon these recommendations, re-enforced with appropriate
adjuncts--the "mother"-born vinegar, the fungus-leavened loaf, the
fungus-foaming beaker--might cumulatively prove a persuasive plea for
the creed of vegetarianism.