Mushroom Growing

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ...to Agaricus campestris and related forms) in the home is restricted by the fact that they must be consumed immediately--not being easily kept even for a day or two. It is well to err on the side of freshness and safety with all foods; but it should be pointed out that when mushrooms are properly gathered, and marketed in relatively small containers, fairly well aerated, they keep two or three days even in warm weather. In a cold dry place or open in a properly kept refrigerator they keep much longer. Under no circumstances should mushrooms be kept long in a tight box in warm weather, a precaution which clearly applies also to almost any fresh fruit or meat. Mushrooms grown in small quantity for home consumption may be gathered in a condition so neat and clean that cutting off the stem end is the only precaution required. Sprinkling the beds, however, will often result in spattering a little soil on the caps, and it is usually desirable to brush the mushrooms as they are gathered. Mushrooms purchased on the market will require washing, but never soaking--the latter resulting in a loss of flavor. In using puff balls, boleti, and the fullgrown Agaricacece, peeling will usually be required, and the stems of pileate forms should usually be scraped or peeled, depending upon the texture. It is entirely unnecessary to peel buttons of Agaricus campestris and other delicate species, and in this connection it may be pointed out that in the most successful mushroom culture the buttons are often of giant size. Such buttons may be lightly peeled or scraped, not peeling by stripping the skin with the fingers from the margin inward toward the center, as should be done with older specimens. Morels, clavarias, and the branched forms of Hydnum and the like,...