SC - Le Menagier's Mushr

[LrdRas]

In a message dated 1/23/98 12:08:44 PM Eastern Standard Time,
marisa_herzog at macmail.ucsc.edu writes:

<< but I hadn't seen peeling
 recommended before... >>

I do not think that the modern corpus recommends peeling mushrooms, however,
my mother and grandmother always peeled theirs.  I would venture to guess that
due to modern methods of commercial mushrooms growing there is little or no
need to do so nowadays.  When gathered from a wild setting mushrooms can
contain many nasties including maggots and beetles.  It would seem prudent to
both wash and peel them.  Alternatively, cultured mushrooms were grown in
horsemanure previously necessitating some cleaning also.  Add all this to the
fact that an occasional toxic 'shroom may have been mistakenly added to the
collection, IMHO, it makes perfect sense to parboil and peel them from a
medieval perspective.

Be that as it may, the modern cultivated mushrooms grow wild even today and
were not unavailable in the MA. In regards to the red in mushrooms, I must
disagree with the poster who said modern mushrooms are not red when the
buttons are cut in cross section. The gills certainly are not fire-engine red
but the color of the gills , at least on the one, laying beside me at this
moment are a nice reddish brown. I would go so far as to say that it could be
described as red by a less colr oriented person.

Ras

Ras
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