33 Mushroom Catsup
Large quantities of mushrooms of various species are annually consumed in Europe in the manufacture of catsup. Following is one of the many favorite foreign recipes:
Place the Agarics, of as large a size as you can procure, layer by layer in a deep pan; sprinkle each layer with a little salt; the next day stir them well several times, so as to mash and extract their juice; on the third day strain off the liquor, measure and boil for ten minutes, and then to every pint of liquor add half an ounce of black pepper, a quarter of an ounce of bruised ginger-root, a blade of mace, a clove or two, and a teaspoonful of mustard-seed; boil again for half an hour, put in two or three bay-leaves, and set aside until quite cold; pass through a strainer, and bottle; cork well and dip the ends of the bottle in melted resin or beeswax; a very little Chili vinegar is an improvement, and some add a glass of port-wine or of ale to every bottle. Care should be taken that the spice is not so abundant as to overpower the true flavor of the mushrooms.
34 Dried Mushrooms
It will often happen in a normal fungus season that the production will exceed the possibility of consumption, and thousands of pounds of delicious mushrooms will thus be left to decay in their haunts.
The process of drying mushrooms for winter use is in most extensive practice by the peasantry of Europe and Britain, who thus find an all-the-year-round dependence upon mushroom diet.
With most species this process of desiccation is so simple that it is recommended, in the confident belief that, once tried, the winter mushroom will hereafter afford a frequent relish upon many a board and will well repay the slight trouble in their summer preparation.
In most of the Agarics—notably the Campestris, Procerus, Champignon, Russula, Chantarelle—simply threading on strings and hanging in the sun and wind, or festooned above the kitchen range, will be sufficient to reduce them to complete dryness in a few hours. Indeed, some of these, such as the Procerus and Champignon, dry spontaneously in their haunts, and may be thus gathered.
In the instances of more fleshy fungi, such as the Boleti, Polyporei, and Coprinus, more rapid desiccation is necessary. By exposing them in the sun on a tin roof or absorbent paper the moisture is rapidly evaporated. They might also be suspended above the kitchen range in a wire basket and thus quickly dried. In Boleti the drying is facilitated by the removal of the whole pore layer, which is easily separated from the cap.
The Clavaria and Morel are very simply dried, even in ordinary house temperature. Strung upon threads and suspended in the sun or near the fire they would very quickly be reduced to absolute dryness.