SC - mushrooms

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/22/00 4:06:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, cjvt at hotmail.com 
writes:

<< s there any good culinary reason why some recipes in the mediaeval corpus 
 say to peel mushrooms?  Or is it merely to give you time and opportunity to 
 spot which ones go yellow (which we don't need if we buy cultivated ones 
 these days)? >>

There are a few reasons that I can think of. First, there are many edible 
mushrooms. The white kind most commonly available in the USA is one type. 

Some wild edible fungus have thick rubbery skins which are best removed 
because the texture is objectionable to some people.

Second, if a poisonous mushroom is accidentally included in the batch, 
removing the poison laden peel results in less poison to be ingested.

Third, wild mushrooms are notorious for housing all manner of creepy crawlys. 
For instance maggots, beetles, slugs and many other house guests. Peeling the 
mushroom would offer a better chance to notice these creatures and remove 
them.

Fourth, The peel is often a different color than the flesh. If presentation 
depends on sight then removing the peel would result in a far different 
appearance of the dish.

I see no reason to peel the most commonly available commercial mushrooms. 
Just my guess.

Ras