“Jure inter sapidissimos fungos numeratur.”—Fries.
No fungus is more popular than the above, though the merits—nay, the very existence—of such a fungus at home is confined to the Freemasons, who keep the secret! Having collected a quantity at Tunbridge Wells, this summer, and given them to the cook at the Calverley Hotel to dress, I learnt from the waiter that they were not novelties to him; that, in fact, he had been in the habit of dressing them for years, on state occasions, at the Freemasons’ Tavern. They were generally fetched, so he said, from, the neighbourhood of Chelmsford, and were always well paid for. Of the Cantharellus, this summer (1847), the supplies were immense! the moss under the beech-trees in Buckhurst Park in particular, was so lavish of them, that a hamper might soon have been filled, had there been hands to gather them. On revisiting the same park about five weeks later, they were still continuing to come up, but in less abundance.
The botanical characters of the Cantharellus are as follow:—
When young, its stalk is tough, white, and solid; but as it grows this becomes hollow and presently changes to yellow; tapering below, it is effused into the substance of the pileus, which is of the same colour with it. The pileus is lobed, and irregular in shape, its margin at first deeply involute, afterwards when expanded, wavy. The veins or plaits are thick, subdistant, much sinuated, running some way down the stalk. The flesh is white, fibrous, dense, “having the odour of apricots” (Purton), or of “plums” (Vitt.). The colour yellow, that of the yolk of eggs, is deeper on the under surface; when raw it has the pungent taste of pepper; the spores which are elliptic, are of a pallid ochre colour (Vitt.).[168] The Chantarelle grows sometimes sporadically, sometimes in circles or segments of a circle, and may be found from June to October. At first it assumes the shape of a minute cone; next, in consequence of the rolling in of the margin, the pileus is almost spherical, but as this unfolds, it becomes hemispherical, then flat, at length irregular and depressed.
“This fungus,” observes Vittadini, “being rather dry and tough by nature, requires a considerable quantity of fluid sauce to cook it properly.” The common people in Italy dry or pickle, or keep it in oil for winter use. Perhaps the best ways of dressing the Cantharellus are to stew or mince it by itself, or to combine it with meat or with other funguses. It requires to be gently stewed and a long time to make it tender; but by soaking it in milk the night before, less cooking will be requisite.
The Canth. cibarius is very abundant about Rome, where it fetches, not being in great esteem, from twopence to twopence halfpenny a pound.
AGARICUS ATRAMENTARIUS, Bull.
Subgenus Coprinus, Fries.
Bot. Char. Pileus fleshy, campanulate, margin uneven, colour greyish, then light brown, slightly hairy, often corrugated, sometimes scaly in the centre. Gills numerous, deep, with clear veins, light brown, black in age, the edges grey or white, free, obtuse behind. Stem about four inches high, swollen at the base, piped, juicy, fibrous, marked with bands.