PURE CULTURE SPAWN.—The recent discovery of pure culture spawn in this country has made possible the selection and improvement of varieties of cultivated mushrooms with special reference to their hardiness, color, size, flavor and prolificness, and the elimination of inferior or undesirable fungi in the crop. The scope of this article precludes a description of the pure culture method of making spawn. It is now used by the large commercial growers and has in many sections entirely superseded the old English spawn and other forms of wild spawn. As now manufactured it resembles much in appearance the old English spawn (see Figure 501). Some remarkable results have been obtained by the use of pure culture spawn. We illustrate a cluster of fifty mushrooms on one root grown by Messrs. Miller & Rogers, of Mortonville, Pa., from "Lambert's Pure Culture Spawn" produced by the American Spawn Company, of St. Paul, Minn. (Figure 502). Several promising varieties have already been developed by the new method, and can now be reproduced at will. Figure 503 is a good illustration of Agaricus villaticus, a fleshy species in good demand. Figure 504 shows a bed of mushrooms grown from pure culture spawn in a sand rock cave, using the flat bed.
Figure 504.—A Mushroom Cave, Showing One of the Test Beds of the American Spawn Co., St. Paul, Minn.
HOW TO COOK MUSHROOMS.—To the true epicure there are but four ways of cooking mushrooms—broiling, roasting, frying them in sweet butter and stewing them in cream.
In preparing fresh mushrooms for cooking, wash them as little as possible, as washing robs them of their delicate flavor. Always bear in mind that the more simply mushrooms are cooked the better they are. Like all delicately flavored foods, they are spoiled by the addition of strongly flavored condiments.
Broiled Mushrooms.—Select fine, large flat mushrooms, and be sure that they are fresh. If they are dusty just dip them in cold salt water. Then lay on cheese cloth and let them drain thoroughly. When they are dry cut off the stem quite close to the comb. Or, what is better, carefully break off the stem. Do not throw away the stems. Save them for stewing, for soup or for mushroom sauce. Having cut or broken off the stems, take a sharp silver knife and skin the mushrooms, commencing at the edge and finishing at the top. Put them on a gridiron that has been well rubbed with sweet butter. Lay the mushrooms on the broiling iron with the combs upward. Put a small quantity of butter, a little salt and pepper in the center of each comb from where the stem has been removed and let the mushrooms remain over the fire until the butter melts. Then serve them on thin slices of buttered and well browned toast, which should be cut round or diamond shape.
Serve the mushrooms just as quickly as possible after they are broiled, as they must be eaten when hot. So nourishing are broiled mushrooms that with a light salad they form a sufficient luncheon for anyone.
Fried Mushrooms.—Clean and prepare the mushrooms as for broiling. Put some sweet, unsalted butter in a frying pan—enough to swim the mushrooms in. Stand the frying pan on a quick fire, and when the butter is at boiling heat carefully drop the mushrooms in and let them fry three minutes, and serve them on thin slices of buttered toast.