Jul-1-2017
How to dry mushrooms at home?
Drying mushrooms is perhaps the most ancient and simplest way to preserve mushrooms for a long time. Porcini mushrooms are undoubtedly the best for drying. Fried or pickled porcini mushroom is very good, but, hand on heart, we admit that similarly prepared oak boletus, aspen boletus and some others are not far behind it in terms of taste. Dried white mushrooms are an order of magnitude superior to other mushrooms. Firstly, it does not darken when dried, which is why it is nicknamed white. Broths and soups from it turn out light and beautiful. Secondly, and this is the main thing, it acquires such a unique, strong, unimaginably alluring aroma that you understand: this is why it is called the king of all mushrooms. And since the number of whites found comes in pieces, it is best to let them dry.
The so-called black mushrooms – boletus and aspen mushrooms – are also good for drying. When dry, they turn black, and the broth made from them, although tasty, is dark. But they are indispensable for preparing mushroom caviar, which tastes no worse than fish caviar. Dried morels have a very piquant, specific aroma, and dried champignons are not bad.
You can also dry moss mushrooms, honey mushrooms, and umbrellas. Meadow mushrooms are very tasty. They easily dry to almost weightless petals, but if you want fresh mushrooms in winter, you should soak them in water - and you're welcome! They swell and become like freshly picked, all that remains is to invite them into the frying pan. Umbrella mushrooms are easy to dry and make delicious pie fillings in winter. Dried raincoats acquire a good strong aroma, but only perfectly young specimens should be taken for drying. You can dry mushrooms and russula from lamellar mushrooms. The chanterelles turn out to be very tough; the chanterelles are not suitable for drying.
Almost all edible tubular mushrooms are suitable for drying, but the best are:
- White mushrooms
- Boletus
- boletus
- Butter (all types)
- Polish mushroom
- Mokhoviki
- Kozlyaki
- Duboviki
In agaric mushrooms, under the cap there are radial stripes of densely spaced plates with spores. Most lamellar mushrooms contain milky juice, which imparts bitterness to dried mushrooms.
The following varieties are suitable for drying:
- Honey mushrooms summer, winter and autumn
- Champignon
- Variegated umbrella mushroom
- Deer mushrooms
- Podvishenniki
- Fleecy scales
You should not dry russula, most of them will taste bitter. The same applies to milk mushrooms and tremors.
How to dry mushrooms correctly?
To properly dry mushrooms, you should follow simple rules:
- collect mushrooms for drying on a sunny and dry day (late summer or autumn);
- You cannot wash mushrooms before drying - they will lose their smell and darken; instead of washing, it is better to clean the mushrooms with a brush or a piece of soft cloth from pine needles and soil (wash the mushrooms already dried before using);
- It is not recommended to cut mushrooms for soups and hot dishes, but if the mushrooms are very large, then cut them like this: into 2 or 4 parts, i.e. on the caps and legs and cut them in half again;
- for seasoning, cut the mushrooms very finely;
- Whole large mushrooms are dried separately from small ones, and the caps are dried separately from the stems of the mushrooms.
For drying, you need to select non-worm-proof, strong mushrooms, then they will turn out to be a high-quality product. But overgrown ones that are not suitable for pickling can also be dried, and then made into powder.
Mushrooms intended for drying should be cut into slices 0.8–1 cm thick. Mushrooms can be dried in stoves, ovens, or in the sun. Mushroom slices are threaded using a needle onto a strong thread, trying to ensure that the slices do not touch. Then the bundles are hung in the sun, stretching them so that the mushrooms do not bunch up.
When drying in air with high humidity, for example in the mountains, the mushrooms are brought indoors at night so that moisture does not condense on them. We won’t talk in detail about drying in Russian ovens: there are practically none left. The mushrooms were dried in them on baking sheets covered with straw; After the stove was heated, the temperature was regulated by a damper.
The fastest and most common modern drying method is oven drying. You can dry mushrooms in them on nets and sieves. You can string mushrooms onto wooden splinters or metal knitting needles, which are stuck vertically into a pan filled with sand. Mushrooms can also be dried on special dryers installed above gas burners. The main thing you need to remember is the principle: first, the mushrooms are dried at a temperature of 50 ° C, and then dried at 60–70 °, and drying should take place with the oven slightly open for air circulation. The process is considered complete when the mushrooms bend slightly, break, but do not crumble. The yield of dried mushrooms, depending on the type, is 15–25% of the original mass.
How to store dried mushrooms?
- The mushrooms are placed in a linen bag, previously boiled in a very strong saline solution, tied tightly and stored in a dry place.
- You can pour mushrooms into glass containers, tightly closing them with plastic or screw caps.
- You can wrap bunches of mushrooms in several layers of gauze and hang them in a warm, dry room. It’s good to pour a tablespoon of baking soda into containers and bags of dried mushrooms.
- Mushrooms in powder form are stored for a long time. Raincoats, as well as overdried or not very dense dried mushrooms, are suitable for its production. They need to be crushed in a mortar or ground in a coffee grinder, close the powder in glass containers and store in a dark place.
- Mushrooms, especially white ones, are of very high quality when dried in the refrigerator. To do this, they should be cut into slices no thicker than 0.5 cm, wrapped in small portions in paper bags and placed in any free places in the refrigerator (not in the freezer!). The mushrooms will dry out within a few days and should be stored outside the refrigerator.
Dried mushrooms must be checked periodically; if suddenly they become damp, they are dried in the oven. Mushrooms in gauze and bags should be stored away from strong-smelling foods and substances.
Each experienced mushroom picker has his own secrets for harvesting mushrooms. It’s not enough to just pick mushrooms; you need to know which ones should be dried, and which ones are only suitable for pickling or cooked fresh. There are general rules for drying mushrooms, and we will discuss them. I hope that a newly minted mushroom picker will be able to learn a lot of new things, and an experienced one, perhaps, will also learn something interesting for themselves.
First, let's decide whether it is necessary to wash the mushrooms before drying. There are different opinions on this matter, but I will say that my grandmother (a mushroom picker with more than 20 years of experience) never washed mushrooms specifically for drying, unlike those intended for pickling, salting and cooking. She cleaned them of dirt with a soft, slightly damp cloth. Although some recommend not moisturizing mushrooms at all.
Next, you need to select only strong, elastic mushrooms without massive damage; overripe, soft and wormy mushrooms are not suitable for drying. The legs of honey mushrooms, chanterelles, and boletus are usually cut off.
2. In the oven
Spread the mushrooms in a thin layer on the wire rack. I have it often, so I don’t have to come up with devices to prevent the mushrooms from falling out of the grill. Drying on a baking sheet is dangerous because the mushrooms can burn or become very burnt, but if there are no wire racks, then place baking paper on the baking sheet and place the mushrooms so that they do not touch each other.
You should start drying at a temperature of 45 °C, to avoid darkening, when the mushrooms wilt, raise to 60-70 °C. The door should be opened a palm width for best air circulation. During the drying process, the grates are swapped in order to dry the raw materials evenly.
3. Microwave
Peel the mushrooms, cut into thin pieces about 5 mm thick, place on a plate or wire rack and set the power to 100 W, run for 20 minutes, then open the door and ventilate for about 7 minutes, then repeat the operation 4-5 times. It is quite possible to receive finished raw materials or semi-finished products for further processing immediately, but this is quite troublesome and time-consuming.
4. In a Russian oven
Many people wonder what the fundamental difference between an oven and a stove is. Those who have both will understand me immediately. The oven is like a separate “state”. Everything seems to be the same, but the air supply technology and drying quality, in my opinion, are somewhat higher than other methods.
My grandmother always dried mushrooms in the oven. She placed bricks under the bars. This was necessary so that the mushrooms were at some distance from the hot oven hearth.
Prepared mushrooms can be strung on knitting needles (or thin skewers) or placed cap-side down on a wire rack. You can lay them on straw, the old fashioned way. The raw materials are laid out when the temperature in the oven drops to 60 °C. Drying at a higher temperature risks spoiling the mushrooms (they can burn, turn black, or steam). But even at temperatures below 50 °C they begin to sour, which also leads to their deterioration.
To ensure that moisture is removed well, the damper is opened slightly to allow air circulation. Another feature is the opening of the chimney: at the very beginning of drying, the pipe is opened a little more than 0.75 valves; during the drying process, the pipe is gradually closed, and by the end of drying it is closed.
Due to the different size of the cap, the mushrooms dry unevenly, so it is necessary to remove ready-made, dried mushrooms and dry the remaining ones. Over-dried raw materials are poorly processed; under-dried raw materials quickly deteriorate.
When are dried mushrooms ready?
Dried mushrooms should bend, but not break, be elastic, dense, but not wet. Well-dried mushrooms are uniform, light in color, without burnt or overheated pieces.
How to store dried mushrooms?
Drying the mushrooms is half the battle, the main thing is to save your efforts for a long time. To do this, stock up on well-tightened jars and containers. Mushrooms easily absorb odors and moisture and become moldy very quickly. Many housewives immediately place well-dried mushrooms in a sterilized glass container and close or screw tightly. If you treat the edges of the jar with alcohol, set it on fire and immediately close the lid, a weak vacuum will form in the jar, which helps preserve dry mushrooms.
So we've figured out how to dry your mushroom harvest. Choose the right mushrooms and the right method. I hope your mushroom reserves will delight you all year with their unique smell.
Autumn is the time to collect and dry mushrooms. This is not only a wonderful pastime in the fresh air, but also relaxation. At the height of the mushroom season, you can pick up a huge basket of mushrooms. An excellent solution for storing them is jars. But sometimes, in winter, you want to taste aromatic mushroom soup that will remind you of the time spent in the forest. Pickles are not suitable for this. You need to dry the mushrooms, but you should know the correct technology for this process.
Experienced housewives always preserve food rather than throwing them away. If there are fresh mushrooms left after cooking, they can be dried in slices or whole. Dried preparations can be used to prepare various dishes.
Knowing the correct way to dry will allow you to understand how to properly dry mushrooms at home. Taking into account the characteristics of a particular type and cooking methods, you can calculate the time which needs to be spent on this process.
What types can be dried at home:
- Tubular ones are the optimal type for drying (butter mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and others). After processing, all edible varieties will remain aromatic and tasty. Under their caps they have a spongy layer of small tubes.
- Marsupials (white truffles, morels). They have an indistinct shape and spores, which are located in bags. White truffle is a very expensive delicacy and is rarely used for drying. Morels are dried in the open air for a couple of months. During this time, toxic substances will evaporate. Consuming before this date can be harmful to health.
- Lamellar (champignons, sorrel mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, honey mushrooms and others). Under the cap they have plates that are located in the radial direction. It is not recommended to choose mushrooms, milk mushrooms or russula for drying, as they contain a lot of bitterness in the milky juice.
- Chanterelles (often confused with lamellar ones). They are characterized by the presence of folds of flesh similar to plates. The dried product has a bitter taste.
- Polypores are distinguished by their branching (rams and other varieties).
In addition to proper drying, you also need to select raw materials for the preparation. It is important not to miss the period when dried mushrooms are ready. An unfinished product spoils very quickly, and an overdried product cannot be cooked. During drying, mushrooms lose 90% of their weight, so a kilogram of raw materials yields about 100 g of the finished product.
An important step is preparation for this procedure. The mushrooms need to be carefully sorted and cleaned. You should choose strong specimens without damage. Next, you need to clean them from dirt, wipe them with a sponge, but do not wash them with water, so that the raw materials do not lose their aroma and taste. Then sort everything by size, cut off the lower part of the stem, separate the caps and cut into slices (1-1.5 cm) or pieces.
- In the sun. For drying in the fresh air, you need to choose sunny, hot days. The raw materials are laid out on a tray and covered with gauze to prevent flies and dust. When the weather changes, the tray must be brought indoors. This method is suitable for drying whole specimens and will allow them to dry before processing in the oven. The duration of the process ranges from 2 days to a week. To prevent mushrooms from losing their natural color, they are removed from the sun after 48 hours.
- In the oven. To dry porcini mushrooms in the oven, you need to sort them out, clean them of dirt, cut off the lower part of the stem and cap, and wipe them with a sponge. Then cut into thin slices. It is most convenient to dry in the oven on a wire rack placed on top of a baking sheet. The oven door is opened to allow moisture to evaporate faster. The temperature should be 40−60 degrees. Drying time up to 48 hours. To check readiness, bend a piece of mushroom. It should bend slightly and break easily.
- In an electric dryer. If you have such a device, you can easily dry porcini mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and champignons for the winter. For uniform drying, it is necessary to place the prepared raw materials on special racks of the device. First, dry at 40-50 degrees, then raise the temperature to 80 degrees. Drying takes 4-6 hours depending on the type of raw material.
- In the microwave. If there is no electric dryer, and it is not possible to decompose the raw materials in the air, then you can use a microwave. Drying mushrooms in this way has its own characteristics. First you need to cut the mushrooms into 5 mm slices, place them on a plate, and turn on the timer for twenty minutes. Then open the door for ten minutes to allow excess moisture to evaporate. After which the session is repeated 4-5 times.
- On a thread or fishing line. This method is an ancient method of harvesting mushrooms for the winter. Use whole or chopped mushrooms. The prepared raw material is threaded onto a needle with canvas or nylon thread. You can dry it in any ventilated area protected from dust and rain. You can cover it with gauze to keep insects away.
- In the oven. When drying porcini mushrooms in a Russian oven, you need to avoid burning. To prevent this from happening, and also to prevent the raw materials from getting dirty and getting rid of the unpleasant taste, after heating the stove, it is necessary to clean it of ash and coals with a damp broom. After some time, cover it with a thin layer of rye straw and place the mushrooms on it, caps down.
- Iron baking sheets are also used for drying. They also need to be covered with a layer of straw, and the mushrooms should be placed on top of it, caps down, so that they do not touch each other. Dry at a temperature of 40−60 degrees.
To dry raw materials in a Russian oven, you need to cut it lengthwise along the stem and the cap in half.
There is another way to dry it in an oven. You can string mushrooms through the middle of the cap onto thin wire knitting needles. They need to be stuck into wooden planks, which are placed edge-on in the oven (in the form of a gable roof). This way the mushrooms are dried without touching the hearth. The heat covers the raw material on the knitting needles evenly from all sides. On the first day, the raw materials are only dried, and on the second day they are dried.
Champignons are the most popular type of mushroom, which is sold year-round in fresh and frozen form, and therefore they are dried very rarely.
Purified raw materials must be sorted by size and cut into pieces. Next, string it on a thread so that the pieces do not touch. These “beads” must be hung indoors. Dry for a couple of days until ready.
Before drying the butter, it is necessary to remove the skin; it is not eaten. You can dry boletus using any method..
It must be remembered that mushrooms very easily absorb foreign odors, so you should not store them with odorous substances. By following the instructions, you can easily dry mushrooms and enjoy their wonderful taste and aroma in the winter season.
Attention, TODAY only!
Nature has presented us with priceless gifts in the form of natural and healthy plants growing in the forest - berries, mushrooms and medicinal herbs. Of all the gifts, the most valued are, without a doubt, porcini mushrooms. How to dry and prepare them in different ways is described in this article. The knowledge gained will also be useful when processing products grown on your own plot or in a greenhouse.
What methods and how to properly dry porcini mushrooms?
They try to prepare any “live”, that is, natural forest products (berries or mushrooms) without heat treatment (cooking, pickling, sterilization). Therefore, it is more advisable to dry or freeze them. What is the best way to process porcini mushrooms for storage? How to dry them in different ways? It is important to take care of this in order to preserve all the beneficial substances, and also to minimize the time spent. The most natural, but at the same time the longest method of drying is heating in the open air under the influence of solar heat. Other options are much faster and involve the use of ovens and microwaves. The processing time is also affected by the size of the raw materials prepared for drying. The smaller the pieces, the sooner they will “reach” the desired state.
how to drythem outdoors
Sort through the fruits, carefully cutting off any damage with a sharp knife and scraping off any remaining soil. Under no circumstances should they be washed before drying. For a more thorough cleaning, use a brush, with which you can easily remove stuck needles and sand from the surface of the mushrooms. Then cut large specimens into several pieces, separating the stem. The smallest mushrooms are dried whole or divided lengthwise. The stem remains on the cap. If you want to dry the mushrooms very quickly, then chop them into strips. Then string all the prepared pieces onto a thick thread and hang them in a place with good air circulation - in a draft, under the roof. The sun's rays should not fall on the mushrooms. You can also dry them by spreading them in a thin layer on large, flat surfaces covered with paper. In hot weather, the mushrooms will be completely ready in 4-5 days.
How to dry porcini mushroomsin the oven
Place the prepared mass on a baking sheet in a thin layer. Preheat the oven to a temperature of 50-60 °C. The door must be kept slightly open at all times for air circulation. After 1-2 hours of drying, remove the baking tray to air for 5-10 minutes. Next, continue the drying process. In total it will take about 5-7 hours, including 2-3 breaks to freshen the air. In this way, you can bring the mushrooms to full readiness after preliminary “withering” in the fresh air.
Porcini mushrooms: how to drythem in the microwave
Place the mixture on a flat dish of the required size. Select power 150-200 W and set time - 18-20 minutes. Dry the mushrooms intermittently, during which you open the oven door for ventilation. Pour the finished cooled product into a glass jar and store it tightly closed with a plastic lid.
Drying mushrooms is the best way to preserve the best that mushrooms give us. If you want to enjoy this wonderful product all year round, then drying is ideal for this purpose.
Mushrooms are a valuable source of protein, iodine, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and vitamins D, C, PP.
It is important to note that only tubular mushrooms and some lamellar mushrooms can be dried (russula and dung beetles, for example, are not suitable for drying). Mushrooms with milky juice are not dried, as they have a very sharp and bitter taste.
For drying, they usually take champignons, boletus mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, autumn honey mushrooms, aspen mushrooms, moss mushrooms, boletus mushrooms and chanterelle mushrooms.
Mushrooms for drying are collected in sunny, dry weather.
Before drying, you need to clean the mushrooms from debris and soil. It is not recommended to wash them: most of the valuable substances and aroma will be lost with water, the mushrooms will darken and may become soggy. You can wash already dried mushrooms.
Large mushrooms should be cut into quarters or in half. Large stems are cut into 1 cm strips. For small and medium-sized mushrooms, the cap should be separated from the stems and dried entirely. There is no need to cut and separate very small mushrooms - they are dried whole. You can also cut all the mushrooms into strips (if there are a lot of mushrooms and you don’t want to bother with them for a long time) - in this case, the drying process will proceed much faster. It is better to cut the mushrooms lengthwise.
You can also separate the mushrooms by type or size to make drying easier.
To dry mushrooms in the oven, you need to prepare a baking sheet. Place the already peeled and cut mushrooms on a baking sheet, lightly greasing it with oil. You also put baking paper on the baking sheet, then you won’t need oil. You can place the mushrooms not on a baking sheet, but on a wire rack. In this case, you will need baking paper to place on the grill and arrange the mushrooms.
The mushrooms need to be laid out so that the caps look up, and there is a little space between the mushrooms (1 mm).
Another way to dry mushrooms in the oven is knitting. If you decide to dry mushrooms using knitting needles, you will need wooden knitting needles that are the same length as the width of the oven. The ends of the knitting needles need to be sharpened and mushrooms strung on them. When the knitting needles are completely filled, they need to be placed in the oven so that the ends lie on the horizontal ribs of the side walls of the oven.
If the oven does not have special ventilation holes, you need to leave the door ajar. If there is a fan, turn it on.
At the beginning of drying, set the temperature to a low temperature of approximately 50 °C. The initial stage of drying mushrooms should take place at a low temperature, because if the temperature is immediately high, white droplets of protein substances will appear on the mushrooms, and the mushrooms will darken. As soon as you notice droplets, you need to lower the temperature and remove the mushrooms from the oven.
After about 1.5 - 2 hours, the temperature is increased to 70-80 °C. At this temperature, the mushrooms should dry for about 2 more hours, after which the temperature in the oven is again lowered to 55 °C and the mushrooms are dried for another 2 hours.
During the drying process, do not forget to stir the mushrooms occasionally.
Dry mushrooms must be selected and the rest dried.
It is difficult to say how long it takes to dry mushrooms in the oven, since the drying time for each mushroom is different.
When dried, approximately 76% of the water in mushrooms is evaporated.
If the mushrooms are not completely dry in the oven, they can be dried in the air or indoors.
It’s easy to check whether the mushroom is dry – you need to break the cap. If the inside of the mushroom is wet, it has not dried yet and drying must be continued.
Dried mushrooms are convenient and easy to store. They are stored for a long time and do not lose their taste and aroma.
You can store dried mushrooms at any temperature, in a dark place. It is good to store mushrooms in glass jars, clay pots, tin, wooden and plastic boxes intended for storing food. The container with dried mushrooms should not be sealed tightly. You can just cover it with foil. Dried mushrooms are also stored in bags, but moths can grow there.
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