Mushrooms and Truffles

Appears in

By Fannie Merritt Farmer

Published 1896

  • About

These are classed among vegetables. Mushrooms, which grow about us abundantly, may be easily gathered, and as they contain considerable nutriment, should often be found on the table. While there are hundreds of varieties, one by a little study may acquaint herself with a dozen or more of the most common ones which are valuable as food. Consult W. Hamilton Gibson, “Our Edible Toadstools and Mushrooms.” Many might cause illness, but only a few varieties of the Amanita family are deadly poison. Mushrooms require heat and moisture, — a severe drought or very wet soil being unfavorable for their growth. Never gather mushrooms in the vicinity of decaying matter. They appear the middle of May, and last until frost comes. Campestris is the variety always found in market; French canned are of this family. Boleti are dried, canned, and sold as cepes.