GATHERING AND MARKETING MUSHROOMS. This is an important point in the cultivation of this esculent, and should be attended to with painstaking discretion. When mushrooms are fit to pick depends upon several conditions; for instance, whether for market or for home use, and if for the latter, whether they are wanted for soups or stews. For fresh and attractive appearance and best appreciation in the market, pick them when they are plump and fresh and just before the frill connecting the cap with the stem breaks apart. The French mushrooms should always be gathered before the frill bursts; the English mushrooms also look best when gathered at this time, but they are admissible if gathered when the frill begins to burst and before the cap has opened out flat. If the mushrooms display a tendency to produce long stems pick them somewhat earlier, soon enough to get them with short shanks, for long stems are disliked in market; so, too, are dark or discolored or old mushrooms of any sort. Sometimes we Mushrooms for soups should always be gathered before they burst their gills; indeed, they are mostly gathered when in a button state; that is, when they are about the size of marbles. In this condition, when cooked, they retain their white appearance and do not discolor the soup. Immature mushrooms are deficient in flavor. For home use, for baking, stewing, broiling, or for cooking in any way in which the tenderness of the flesh and the delicious aroma of the mushrooms are desirable in their finest condition, let the mushrooms attain their full size and burst their frills, as seen in Fig. 24, and gather them before the caps open out flat, or the gills lose any of their bright pink color. If you let them get old enough for the gills to turn brown before gathering, the mushrooms will become leathery in texture, and lose in flavor and darken sadly in cooking. In picking, always pull the mushrooms out by the The advantages of pulling over cutting are several: It benefits the bed. If we cut over a mushroom and leave its stump in the ground, in a few days decay sets in and a fluffy or spongy substance grows around the old butt, which destroys many of the little mushrooms around it, as well as every thread of mycelium that comes in contact with it. One should be particular to scoop out these stumps with a knife before this condition takes place, and go over the beds every few days to fill up the holes, made in scooping out the old stumps, with fresh loam. Pulled mushrooms always keep fresh longer than do those that have been cut. In the interest of the market grower they have another advantage. Mushrooms are bought and sold by weight, and as the stems are always Gathering Field or Wild Mushrooms.—Go in search of them in the morning before the sunshine gets warm and they become too open or old. If you wish to gather and preserve them in their most perfect condition pull them up by the "roots," carefully remove any soil from them, and then lay them orderly in the basket, the root end down; and by spreading a stout sheet of paper over the layer, another may be arranged above it in the same way, and so on until the basket is full. But if you are not so particular and wish them for immediate use, or for ketchup or drying, the common way of cutting them off and carrying them home in bulk will answer well enough. Marketing Mushrooms.—Most market growers who live immediately around New York City sell direct, and deliver their mushrooms to hotels, restaurants, and fancy fruiterers. But some of them, also most of those who live at a considerable distance from the city, sell their mushrooms through commission merchants in New York; they, in turn, sell in quantities to suit customers. Mushrooms are sold by the pound, and come into market in boxes made of strong undressed paper. Some growers have light wooden boxes made that hold from one to four pounds of mushrooms each, and these make convenient and strong packages for shipping by express. They may be sent singly, or, as is the case with the paper boxes, several packed together in crates or boxes. In sending directly to hotels, cheap baskets, holding one or several pounds—Mr. Gardner's baskets hold twelve pounds—are often used, but in sending to commission The utmost care in gathering and packing of mushrooms for shipping is of primary importance. Gather them the moment they are in best condition, no matter whether or not they are to be packed and shipped the same day; never let them blow open before gathering them; and never cut off short stems. Long stems have to be shortened, but not until everything is ready to pack them. With a very soft hair brush dust off any earth that may stick to the cap of the mushroom, and with a harder brush or the back of a knife rub the earth off of the root end of the stem. Then sort the mushrooms,—the big ones by themselves, the middle-sized by themselves, the small or button-sized ones by themselves, and pack each kind by itself. Pack very firmly without bruising, and so as to show the pretty caps to the best advantage. Never pack mushrooms more than two deep without using plenty of soft paper between the layers, and never put a heavy bulk of them into one box or basket. They discolor so easily that, all things considered, about a pound is enough in a box, if we wish them to carry safely and retain their bright, fresh skin without tarnishing. Mr. Barter, of London, writes me: "The punnets we use for marketing our mushrooms in are the same that are used for strawberries or peaches. These hold just one pound, but it is becoming more customary now to have little boxes made holding from three to five pounds, as these are better for packing in larger cases for long journeys." |