Mushrooms : 10 Ways 1

Gently scrape out gills of mushrooms with a spoon. Slice caps into 4 strips each and place them in a large bowl. Combine peanut (almond) butter, vinegar, tamari, ginger, dates, garlic, serrano pepper and 1/3 cup water in a blender. Purée the mixture, adding more water a tablespoon at a time if necessary for it to blend smoothly. Reserve 1/3 cup of the sauce for serving and pour the remainder over the mushrooms. Toss and allow to sit at room temperature 1 hour for the mushrooms to soften.

can botanist who will reduce to practical results a series of observations requiring a lifetime to acquire.
In view of the extent of our subject, the treatise before us can be regarded as no more than a brief and meagre account of some of the few and more prominent species which might occur to a beginner in such districts of England as are fertile in species. But it is to be regretted that the American press is not as generous ill contributions to knowledge in the various departments of natural history as is that of the mother country. Just such a cheap and prettily illustrated treatise, which should be strictly American, would do a great service, and would be what many young persons need. There seems no good reason why the fantastic and gorgeous creations of the fungi, which deck our woods and spring up around our dwellings, or are found in our pastures, should not be studied and as well known to the young, as are the blue flowers of the Hepatica, or the rosy corols of the Mayflow-er, or the first Violets and the Saxifrage and Columbines, which annually awaken a vernal zeal for botany, but which faints and fades away on the coming heats of June, or the sultry days of August. Who has not admired the Agarics and Boleti and Clavarias in the pine woods in September, and who has not longed to know something more of them, to learn their names, their good or bad qualities, their uses or ends? The brilliant scarlet disk of a Peziza, starting into life from beneath the dead leaves of a Penlnsylvallia wood, takes me back now to the vicinity of Pittsburgh, where-years ago I searched for the Erigenlia, the first blossom of the spring there; and there is 'no autumn which does not thrill me with a new life as I see the shady paths and the wet spots of Cat Swamp so bravely adorned with these fugitive and fugacious forms of vegetation.
The excitement which spurs on many a student in natural history, that he may be the possible finder of a new species, is coincident with the study of the fullgi. Spots most familiar to the eve, often are found producing kinds either quite-novel, or at-least of occasional occurrence. Dependent as it would seem, on some atmospherical conditions, species :of fllgi arIe meteoric, and visit places which seem quite singular-and remarkable. Some extraordinary specimens of the exquisite Morel (Morchella esculenta) were found in the coal cinders iln the rear of the Eastern Railroad depot, by the late Mr. Knights, a worthy employee there. Occasionally I have seen it ill old orchards, but should scarcely have supposed it the product of cinders. The beautiful Cyclornyces was first discovered many years ago ill Tewksbury, in this, State, by Dr. B. D. Greene, and found to be entirely unknown before, though subsequently occurring elsewhere. I look for the possibility of the appearance of the truffle in some sections of the limestone strata of the United States; and other wonderful and beautiful sorts are only waiting to be foundd.
The value of the larger fungi as articles of food is scarcely known and hardly appreciated, in this country. The table recognizes them chiefly in the presence of ketchup, made of species indiscriminately gathered by those who, prefer this article or sauce. It is probable that a few only are really deleterious and .poisonous', and even these are rendered comparatively innocuous by heat and spices. Otherwise than this they are rather objects of prejudice, and most persons look upon them with disgust. Even for their mere exterior beauty they are seldom sought, and still less are they employed for ornament, like their equally fugadious and soonfadillng sisters, the many sorts of wild flowers which decorate the parlor. I have, however, seen them gathered and arranged for this purpose, and with singular effect; and the interest such groups, exhibited. at the Horticultural Society Rooms in Boston, elicited was worthy of renmark. [The number of the Agarics describecT by Berkley in his ! Outlines" is 564, as found inl. Eiigla0ncl, yet scarcely more than a single species, the A. campestris, is made an article of food. This' species is represented ini this country, and when cooked is certainly a pleasant morsel. The Rev. Dr. M. A. Curtis, in his Catalogue of the Plants of the State of North Carolina (Geological Report), 1867, gives 438 species of Agarics, of which he considersfifty-six as esculent. In. Poland and Russia evenl such abstemiousness 'is unknown, and most kinds of the larger fungi that occur are employed for food by the common people, either in a dried state, or after pickling in salt or' vinegar. That there are highly poisonous qualities resident in several is indisputable, adld is well known, as has been shown by Christison and others; one -beinog an acrid matter so very fugacious that it disappears when the plant is dried or boiled or macerated in weak acids, alkalies;, or alcohol; the -other principle is more fixed, resisting the action -of these tests, and resembling in its effects the operation of opium.
Many vears ago, Greville, in a Memoir before the Wer-n~erian Society of Edinburgh, directed the public attention to the -use of the esculenit fungi as a staple article of diet;-and Schwaegrichenl, the illustrious editor of Schweinitz's first conltrihution to the knlowledgye of our North American species, derived great satisfaction I in eating, those which possessed ,neither a bad flavor nor a disaglreeable smell, and which ha'd a tolerably firm -consistence, with bread and drinking, .nothing but water; such a diet pursued for several weeks, as he affirms, increasing, his strength and improving, his health. "I have observed," says Persool, who furnishes this account, "that fulngi, if moderately used, are very nourishing." The experiments of Braconnot and Letellier detected a substance to which the name of fungin is applied, present equally in the harmless and poisonous fungi alike, which in itself is highly nutritious containing nitrogen, and very similar in its composition to animal matter. 'The process of cooking is -therefore conducive to the gustatory condition, and advan!tageous in overcoming what is deleterious, if present in species. considered esculenlt. A more general as -well as accurate knowledge of our native species would place' these despised plants on the same level with other and higher forms, which embrace among our garden vegetables wild states of several equally poisonous and of many plants beside, often mistaken for harmless ones, ending, if used, in fatal results.
About eight years ago appeared the Rev. Dr. Badham's valuable work on the "Esculent Funguses of Englaind," with drawings of the species colored after nature, and defining their localities, uses, and importance; indicating attention in the right direction to this subject, and followed shortly after by the little treatise whose title stands at the head of this article. To understand the arrangement and classification of the fungi requires a careful study of the systematic treatises of such botanists as have made them a specialty, and to give even an idea of such systems would be out of place here. Yet some peculiarities noticed by our author may not be wholly devoid of interest. "To say that fungi may be found everywhere, would not perhaps be literally true; but to say where they are not found under any circumstances would be puzzling, -every rotten stump or twig, every decaying leaf or fruit, has its peculiar species,-some large enough to attract immediate attention, others so small as to be invisible to the unaided eye." (p. 3.) Of these latter may be mentioned, as confirmatory of this statement, the parasitic fungus, which destroys by a slow consumptive disease the life of the common House-fly (Sporendonema mnusca); and the Botrytis bassiana, which infests the silk-worm; the mother of beer and vinegar is the mnycelium * of other species; and similar mycoderms * riot in the inkstand, and even in pharmaceutical preparations; the decaying hoofs and horns of animals, and the feathers of birds produce their particular kinds; the lungs of water-fowl are attacked by others; the skin of fishes, and the eggs of toads and frogs are destroyed by parasitic fungi. No substance escapes their visits, and even iron hardly cooled has been found invested in a few hours with fungoid threads. The *Conditions of fungi in open or matted threads, from which mouldiness often springs. minute organisms, which serve for seeds and known as spores, float in the air and lodge in the water, waiting opportunity to germinate and grow. Even the cavities of nuts, and the tough kernels of apples develop certain species; and roots and solid timber alike are rent asunder by the presence of particular kinds. The mildews which cover our gooseberries and hops, aiid the' foliage of the vine, or the husk of the ripeninllg grain, are 'forms of the smaller fungi, alnd all powerful in their littleness.
"Nor are these plants less worthy of notice oln account of the rapidity of their growth. The great puff-ball springs up in a marvellous manner to the size of a pumpkin during the night, and Dr. Lindley has 'computed that the cells of which its structure is composed have multiplied at the extraordinary rate of sixty millions in a minute. Dr. Greville mentions an instance of one of the largest of British fungi (Polyporus squarosus) attaining a circumference of seven feet five inches, and weighing thirty-four pounds after having been cut four days. It was only four weeks attaininlg to these dimensions, thus acquiring an increase of growth equal to nineteen .ounces per day." This rapidity of growth is only equalled by the amazing power which vegetables, so fragile and tender in their tissues, possess; instances being cited where pavements have been lifted by the growing of fungi beneath; but somewhat of the same phenomena may be yearly seen in the woods, where clusters of brittle fungi, by perpendicular pressure, lift masses of earth and leaves upwards as they issue into the air and light; and in the early spring the same phenomena may be seen where, the flowers of the Christmas-rose penetrate the frozen ground.
"It is a curious fact in connection with the growth of these singular plants" (the fungi), "that while Phanerogams absorb carbonic acid from the atmosphere and respire oxygen, in this instance the order is reversed, and carbonic acid gas is given off. Fungi appear to flourish best in the absence of light, inl dark cellars, under flag-stones, in hollow trees and AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 38 in like places, where no other form of plant could exist; while some are entirely subterranean. Theforms, too, which these singular plants assume are extremely diversified; in some the form is that of a cup, in others of a goblet, a saucer, an ear, a bird's nest, a horn, a bunch of coral, a button, a rosette, a lump of jelly, or a piece of velvet. In color they are almost as variable as in shape, the rarest color being, green. VWe have all shades of red, from light purple to deepest crimson ; all tints of yellow from sulphurous to orange; all kinds of browiis from palest ochre to deepest umber, and every graduation between pale gray and sootyi black; blue and violet'tints do 'not abound, but these, as well as a beautiful amethyst, occasionally occur. White and creamy traits are very common. Odors are manifestly agreeable or disagreeable to a considerable extent, according to the taste, of the inhaler, but it must be confessed that some of the fungi exhale an odor so intolerably fetid, that -no set of olfactory nerves could be found to endure it longer than was absolutely necessary; the truly elegant but rare Clathrus being an instance to the point. Fortunately this unpleasant feature is not common in the fungi, some smelling like newmade hay, like violets, like anise, or walnuts, or new meal,, or tarragon,-and a variety of flavors which the fungi possess is calculated to please." It has been asserted by some botanists that climate greatly modifies the properties of these plants, and renders them harmless, where found out of their native habitats. A magnificent species, knoxvn as the Arnarnita mnuscarius, or Fly Agaric, a native of Europe, and found in our woods, is one of twelve species occurring in Enigland, of which many beside this one, aide decidedly poisonous and used in the preparation of fly-paper. Roques, in his work on the esculent fungi, distinctly says, "That this plant has not its poisonous. qualities modified by any climate, the Czar Alexis lost his life by eating' of it, and yet it has been affirmed that in,. Kamtschatka it is used as a frequent article of food, and is cooked and eaten in Russia. In Siberia, it supplies the inhabitants with the means of intoxication similar to that produced by the hctschiscb and majooz in the East." Under the vague and general name of mushrooms, several species of fungi are consumed as articles of food. It may be true that in. some localities, only one or two species are digfnlified with the appellation of mushroom, while all the rest which resemble it in form are condemned as toadstools: yet we believe there is in. prospect an age when more of those which are really worthy will be admitted to the tables of rich and poor without that accompaniiment of suspicion and dread which attaches to a dish of mushrooms. We accord perfect justice to Agaricus comrnestris, the mushroom of cultivation, whilst more delicious kinds, and equally harmless, are allowed to flourish and decay year by year without molestation.
Dr. Badham, whose work we have already nientioned, gives us instances of Tbeefsteaks growing onl oaks in the' shape of Ptistuiicta kepatica; Agaricusfusipes to pickle in clusters under them; puff-balls, which some of our friends have not inaptly compared to sweetbread for the rich delicacy of their unassisted flavor. Hydna;, as good as oysters, which they somewhat resemble in taste; Agaricus deliciosuts, reminding us of tender lamb kidney; the beautiful Yellow Chanterille, the Kaloon kcti agatlhoo of diet, growing by the bushel; the sweet nutty Boletus inl vain calling itself edulis (edible), where there was none to believe; the dainty Orcilla (Agaricus heterophyllus), which tastes like the crawfish when grilled; the red and green species of Agaricus, to cook inl any wvay, and equally good in all." Of this list of dainties let us see what we have among us wherewith to replenish our larder. The beefsteak (Fistulina), though n1ot given in. -my friend Sprague's second list of New England fungi, in. the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Ntatural History, vol. vi, p. 315, is credited to D. Murray il aI previous list of the fifth volume, p. 325; and according to Schwinitz, is common throughout all Pennsylvania, and often of the greatest size. We must forego the pickled Agaricus fuspes, unless brought to light by Curtis or Ravenel; the creamy puff-balls, which in the Lycoperdon giganteum, is, according to our author, excellent eating, especially esteemed in Italy, and onl the authority of Mrs. Hussey (author of a costly work on British Mycology) are, when sliced and "dipped in the yolk of egg, and sprinkled with chopped meat, herbs, and spices, much lighter and more digestible than ego, onmeletts:" these rare bits arerepresented in the L. Bovista, which attains an enormous size, and would furnish "omelets" for ail army. Then for vegetable oysters we have several species of Hydna: the lamb's kidney in pine woods is the Lacttarius (or Agaricus) deliciosus and the volemumn is in Mr. Sprague's list, a more common species; as to the "beautiful yellow Chanterelle," which smells like ripe apricots, a bright sunny afternoon in September revealed such a group to my eyes as has gladdened them ever since when my memory has recalled the scene; the edible Boletus, if not among our native species, is curiously represented by some counterfeit, and, according to C. C. Frost, occurs in the woods of Brattleboro', Vermont; the dainty Orcella, I am sorry to say, is found in bad company with species of Russuict, and no matter if wanting with us, a genus containing "some of the best and some of the worst of fungi viewed in an aliment ary aspect, and some of the most brilliantly colored species." Our author gives us quite a list of species not un1comMOnD in England, some sold by the quantity in the markets with their true scientific namens, without which they could not be recognized with. any degree of certainty. In a few instances we have been able to identify them with American kinds, by comparing reliable catalogues of our own mycologists; but even this method is not without certain objections, since by the united labors of Berkeley and Curtis, the Schweinitzian collection has been found not so authentic as it could be wished. The student, curious in these matters, may be referred to these papers in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for July, 1856 (new series), and to those in' the Memoirs of several Scientific Societies, and to Dr. Curtis' list of plants alluded to above. But in an enterprise like the one before us, the efforts of gastronomy must be enlisted, and a series of experiments instituted upon our New England species. Plants thus low in the order of vegetation would be most likely to be represenated by co-species and transatlantic forms, equally good for food or dangerous as viands, possessing the chemical principles which are to be sought and found in them.
The fairy-rings, described in English books, are due to the presence of a modest little Agaric, figured and colored to life, under the name of Miarasmius oreades, an appellation which we find in Mr. Sprague's list, but with which we have no personal acquaintance. "The little fairy-ring Champignon," says M. C. Cooke, "is one of the privileged few that enjoy a good reputation, but even in this instance the reputation is local. In the dried state they are available for culinary purposes, while thousands of them annually rot in the pastures, where they grow without a hand to gather them. There is scarcely a more delicious fungus. It is so common in districts that bushels may be gathered in a day. They may also be readily dried by stringing them together on a thread, and suspending them in a dry kitchen, and when thoroughly dried may be kept in close tins." Allusion has already been made to the Boleti as articles of food, of which both England and this country possess many species. In selecting them for trial in cookery, we are informed that "it will be advisable to caution all who are iinexperienced in collecting Boleti, that several are unwholesome, some decidedly poisonous. If upon cutting or bruising any specimen it should be found to change color, it should be rejected. Some species become blue almost immediately upon wounding ; those with reddish stems, or with the under surfaces red or crimson, should also be rejected." Any one familiar with our woods in the autumn must recall the nunierous sorts of the coral fungi, so delicate and branched in variety of shapes, as to remind him of the corals of the ocean. They bear the generic name of Clavarice, from Clavus, a club, the single branches being blunt or club-shaped at the apices. If such on being gathered and carried home are laid upon a piece of slate or black paper, a multitude of small white particles, or perhaps of a bluishgray color, will fall from them, aud become visible after a few hours. These are the spores. "All the white-spored Clavarias are wholesome; but some are so tough and leathery, and others are so small, that the number at all available for culiniarv purposes is limited. They should, after beings collected, be washed in lukewarm water and perfectly dried, then tied together in little bundles like asparagus, and cooked with butter, parsley, onion, pepper, and salt; when cooked, they may be improved by the addition of a little cream and the yolk of an egg." The Enlglish and European species cited are C. C. cinerea, amesthystina, rugjosa, verrniculata, fastigiata, coralloidea, and cristata, of which we have several, and representatives of the others. The Helvellas, like the Mlorels, to which allusion has been made, are also classed among the edible kinds, and represented in our country in two more species at least. "The best substitute for the expensive Morels may be found in two indigenous species of Ilelvella, which, like the Miorels, may be gathered during the season, and dried, and thus preserved for use all the -year round. They impart anl excellant flavor to gravies and soups." Related to these, but of different shape, size, color, and consistence, are the nlumerous Pezizce, of which the list of North American exceeds at least two hundred species; and in GreatBritain one hundred and thirty or more. They are interesting to the mycologist, presenting in their exterior both delicate and gorgeous tinlts, varying much' iin size, and found almost everywhere in moist situations. "In the manufacture of the handsome Tunbridge ware, a variety of wood is employed under the name of green oak. Although of a mineral green color, this is the ordinary British oak; but the alteration which it has undergone is due to the presence of a fungus. A halndsome little species resembling a Pezizia traverses with its mycelium the whole fabric of such wood, and these minute threads give the green tint to the timber." Similar tinted' but decayed sticks and pieces of timber may be found in our own woods, owing doubtless to a similar cause.
In conclusion, it is to be hoped that the coming season may be seized upon for collecting, delineating, and coloring from living specimens some of the many fine and curious species of this vicinity; and that our naturalists may institute experiments, aided by the chemist and the gastronomer, in this line of wholesome, novel, and dainty tidbits of the AMONG the dark-brown leaves and green filaments which are borne upon the edge of the incoming tide, one frequently observes a substance hardly distinguishable from the surrounding plants, except for its light-broxvn color and porosity. This is sometimes dendritic,* with lank branches springing from broad, thick-spreading bases; but generally it is broken into fragments, and only the palm-like parts, with their fingershaped ends, are left grasping among the froth-covered sea-weeds. A slight pressure will expel the water, and the aspect of the half-dried specimen will at once arrest attention. ' It is in fact a Sponge, differing only in the details of its