Canoe and Camp Cookery: A Practical Cook Book for Canoeists, Corinthian ...

Edible mushrooms are found in clear, open, sunny fields and elevated ground where the air is pure and fresh ; poisonous ones are found in woods, low, damp ground, in shady places and upon putrefying sub- stances. The edible kind are most plentiful in August and September, and spring up after low lying fogs, soaking dews or heavy rains. They first appear very small and of a round form, on a little stalk, the upper part and stalk being then white. They grow very fast, and, as the size increases, the under part gradually opens and showsa fringyfur (called " gills ") of a deli- cate salmon color. After the mushroom is a day old this salmon color changes to a russet or dark brown. The gills of the poisonous variety are red, green, blue, yellow or orange red, and sometimes white, but they never have the delicate salmon color of the edible > stewed Mushrooms. Select mushrooms of uniform size. Wipe them clean with a soft cloth ; peel, commencing at the edge and finishing at the top ; cut off the lower part of the stem ; put them into a tin or earthen vessel and half cover them with cold water, and stew gently for fifteen minutes, frequently stirring to prevent burning ; sea- son with pepper and salt. When the stew is done stir into it one or more tablespoonfuls of butter, previously 72 Canoe and Camp Cookery, mushroom. The latter have an agreeable odor, and the poisonous have sometimes a similar odor, but gen- erally smell fetid. The flesh of the edible kind is com- pact and brittle ; that of the poisonous generally soft and watery. The skin of the former is easily peeled from the edges, and the seeds or sprouts are for the most part roundish or oval ; the skin of the latter is i not easy to peel and the seeds are mostly angular. Some poisonous ones assume a bluish tint on being bruised and others exude an acrid, milky juice. The mushroom should have all of the above-named char- acteristics of the edible variety before it is put in the - i pot, and it is safest not to select mushrooms gathered \ by somebody else, as they change color after being \ picked several hours, and the two kinds are then diffi- cult to distinguish. Finally, if a white peeled onion cooked with then! turns black, or if a silver spoon with which they are stirred while cooking turns black, don't \ eat them ; and if you don't know a salmon color from \ a yellow let somebody gather them who does. ^ ^irv mi? ~> Vegetables. }^3 cut in small pieces, and rolled in flour ; stir three or four minutes. Do not let it boil. Fried Mushrooms. Prepare as directed for stewing ; heat in a frying pan enough butter to thinly cover the bottom ; put in the mushrooms and fry both sides a golden brown. Broiled Mushrooms. Prepare as above, put on a broiler with gills upper- most, sprinkle on a little salt and pepper and a tiny piece of butter, and hold over a bed of coals. Fried Beans* Put enough butter in a frying pan to just cover the bottom when melted. When it is hot put in your beans, already boiled and drained, and fry brown, stirring occasionally. CHAPTER VI. icB. — Cracked Wheat. — Hominy Grits. — Batter j. — KiCE Cakes. — Puddings. — Welsh Rarebit. — I Bread for Soups.— Stewed Cranberwes. ^^" Boiled Bioe. ^ —