Another edible fungus is the viorel, Morcliella escidenla, Pers. {Phallus esculentus of Linne) ; Fr. morelle, Germ. Morchel. It is agreeably flavoured, of a firm spongy con- sistency, and abounds in April and May in certain localities, along wet ditches. It is eaten cooked fresh, or strung up to dry. Some champignons pass in France under the name of cepesfrancs, in two varieties, white and black. They yield extracts of good flavour, but are liable to degenerate during preparation and become uneatable. At the sight of truffles, or even the hearing of their name, a proper French gastronomer is expected to go into ecstasies of delight and admiration. French authors call them the sacrum sacrorum of gastronomers, the diamonds of the kitchen, and other nonsense. According to Dumas, the truffle says, ‘ Eat me and adore God.’ He also informs us that to write the history of truffles would be attempting an account of the civilization of the world. The author of ‘ The Physiology of Taste ’ ascribes to truffles such metaphysical effects as that ‘ they awaken erotic recollections,’ and, with- out being positively aphrodisiac, will, under certain con- ditions, make women more loving and men more amiable. The truffle, Tuber cibarkim, or Lycoperdon gulosorum, grows nearly in the whole of France, south of Burgundy, wild and uncultivated. It assumes four modifications, of which three are distinguished by the colour of their flesh, THE SPIRIT OF COOIIER) 3<X) the black being mainly of Perigord, the white of Burgundy, a gray and violet variety of no particular home, while the fourth, Piedmontese, also white, is marked by its odour of garlic. It grows from six to seven inches below the surface, and has to be discovered and dug up. The collectors employ trained dogs and learned pigs in their searches. This diffi- cult mode of collection and relative rarity of the truffles explains in part their high price. Truffles contain less water than any other edible fungi, namely, 72-80 per cent. ; their nitrogenized ingredients rise to 8-91 per cent., their ingredients free from nitrogen to 7-54 per cent. ; but with these they contain 7 -92 per cent, of woody fibre or insoluble cellulose, and 2-21 per cent, of inorganic materials. In the ash potash and phosphoric acid prevail, while only little sulphuric acid is present. Now, it is this amount of woody fibre which makes all truffles, if not hard, at least very solid, and thus contrasting with the tenderness of the mushroom, and detracts much from their quality as ‘ food for the gods,’ however attractive may be their flavour to mortal palates. The name of truffle is derived from the Italian tartufolo, the diminutive of tartufo, signifying he who hides or dis- guises himself. According to Pliny, Apicius and Lucullus imported truffles from Libya, by Carthage, to Eome. According to Galen, the Greeks also valued them, and at Athens the rights of citizenship were accorded to the children of Cherips on account of his having invented a new kind of ragout with truffles for flavour. The Piedmontese truffle, Tither griseum, Pers., Piedm. truffola, is white or gray, and has the alliaceous taste, on account of which it is preferred by the southern Kelts. They preserve it in fused butter. Napoleon’s cooks carried it with them to Eussia, and those of Louis XVIII. occa- sionally paid half a crown an ounce for it. Truffles are dear at a shilling an ounce.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Another edible fungus is the morel, Morchella esculenta, Pers. {Phallus esculentus of Linne) ; Fr. morelle, Germ. Morchel. It is agreeably flavoured, of a firm spongy consistency, and abounds in April and May in certain localities, along wet ditches. It is eaten cooked fresh, or strung up to dry. Some champignons pass in France under the name of cepesfrancs, in two varieties, white and black. They yield extracts of good flavour, but are liable to degenerate during preparation and become uneatable. At the sight of truffles, or even the hearing of their name, a proper French gastronomer is expected to go into ecstasies of delight and admiration. French authors call them the sacrum sacrorum of gastronomers, the diamonds of the kitchen, and other nonsense. According to Dumas, the truffle says, ‘ Eat me and adore God.’ He also informs us that to write the history of truffles would be attempting an account of the civilization of the world. The author of ‘ The Physiology of Taste ’ ascribes to truffles such metaphysical effects as that ‘ they awaken erotic recollections,’ and, without being positively aphrodisiac, will, under certain conditions, make women more loving and men more amiable. The truffle, Tuber cibarkim, or Lycoperdon gulosorum, grows nearly in the whole of France, south of Burgundy, wild and uncultivated. It assumes four modifications, of which three are distinguished by the colour of their flesh, 3<X) the black being mainly of Perigord, the white of Burgundy, a gray and violet variety of no particular home, while the fourth, Piedmontese, also white, is marked by its odour of garlic. It grows from six to seven inches below the surface, and has to be discovered and dug up. The collectors employ trained dogs and learned pigs in their searches. This difficult mode of collection and relative rarity of the truffles explains in part their high price. Truffles contain less water than any other edible fungi, namely, 72-80 per cent. ; their nitrogenized ingredients rise to 8-91 per cent., their ingredients free from nitrogen to 7-54 per cent. ; but with these they contain 7 -92 per cent, of woody fibre or insoluble cellulose, and 2-21 per cent, of inorganic materials. In the ash potash and phosphoric acid prevail, while only little sulphuric acid is present. Now, it is this amount of woody fibre which makes all truffles, if not hard, at least very solid, and thus contrasting with the tenderness of the mushroom, and detracts much from their quality as ‘ food for the gods,’ however attractive may be their flavour to mortal palates. The name of truffle is derived from the Italian tartufolo, the diminutive of tartufo, signifying he who hides or disguises himself. According to Pliny, Apicius and Lucullus imported truffles from Libya, by Carthage, to Rome. According to Galen, the Greeks also valued them, and at Athens the rights of citizenship were accorded to the children of Cherips on account of his having invented a new kind of ragout with truffles for flavour. The Piedmontese truffle, Tither griseum, Pers., Piedm. truffola, is white or gray, and has the alliaceous taste, on account of which it is preferred by the southern Celts. They preserve it in fused butter. Napoleon’s cooks carried it with them to Russia, and those of Louis XVIII. occasionally paid half a crown an ounce for it. Truffles are dear at a shilling an ounce.

The spirit of cookery