How to dry russula at home. Dried oyster mushrooms and recipes for dishes made from them

Everything about drying mushrooms, what types are used, how the raw materials are prepared, existing drying methods, how to preserve the product and make powder with seasonings from it.

Contents of the article:

Drying mushrooms is one of the ways to prepare them for future use. But unlike salting or pickling, it preserves all the beneficial properties of the product, its deep aroma in dishes and promotes better absorption by the body. However, not all varieties are suitable for drying; some of them contain bitterness and therefore are prepared fresh or subject to pickling. Appropriate processing removes the unpleasant taste from them. Today we will talk about those mushrooms that can be dried.

What mushrooms to take for drying

• Tubular mushrooms. Boletus, boletus, boletus of all kinds, boletus, oak boletus, Polish mushroom, moss mushroom and porcini mushroom. All of them have a spongy layer under their caps, consisting of tiny tubes.
• Lamellar. Champignons, variegated umbrella mushroom, autumn, winter and summer honey mushrooms, deer mushrooms, fleecy scales and honey mushrooms. Under the cap of these mushrooms, thin plates are densely located in the radial direction. It is not recommended to dry milk mushrooms, milk mushrooms and russula; their milky juice contains a lot of bitterness.
• Marsupials. These are morels and white truffles. They have a shapeless, wrinkled body and spores located in special bags. White truffle is an expensive delicacy and quite a rarity, so its preparation by an ordinary summer resident is hardly possible. Morels are classified as conditionally edible mushrooms and require drying in the open air for at least two months. During this time, toxins from the product disappear and it becomes safe for consumption.
• Polypores. These are branched and variegated tinder fungi, as well as ram mushrooms.
• Chanterelles. This mushroom belongs to a separate family. At first glance, chanterelles look like lamellar mushrooms, but instead of lamellar mushrooms they have folds of flesh. The dried product has a slight bitterness.

How to prepare mushrooms for drying

For drying, you need to select elastic, healthy and strong mushrooms that are not damaged. The legs of boletus, chanterelles and honey mushrooms are usually cut off.

You can dry mushrooms whole or chopped. In the first case, they should be sorted by size, then they will dry evenly. In the second, the mushrooms are cut into thick slices or quarters as desired. The stems of boletus, boletus and porcini mushrooms can be cut into columns 3-4 cm long or into cylinders 2 cm thick.

For chanterelles, boletus, honey mushrooms and moss mushrooms, only the caps are usually used for drying. Morels are dried in their entirety.

Advice! Drying of chopped mushrooms should begin immediately, in this case the product will retain its quality and color.

How to dry mushrooms at home

Mushrooms can be considered dry if they appear light in weight, bend slightly and break with little force. Dry mushrooms should resemble fresh ones in taste and aroma. 10 kg of fresh mushrooms usually yield 1-1.5 kg of dried product. You can dry mushrooms in different ways, the main ones are described below.

How to properly dry mushrooms in the sun

If the weather deteriorates and becomes cloudy, the process should be temporarily suspended, since the product may pick up moisture, which it does not need. To dry in the sun, mushrooms need to be strung on fishing line, twine or a strong strong thread so that they do not touch each other, and then hung, covered with gauze from flies and dust.

For such “beads” you can make special convenient stands from wooden blocks or boards.

Natural drying in sunny weather lasts 5-7 days. Sliced ​​mushrooms should be dried for no more than two days. In this case, their natural color will be preserved.

How to dry mushrooms in the oven

When the mushrooms have dried a little, the temperature can be raised to 60–70°C; the oven door should be kept slightly open to ensure air exchange. If there are several grates, they need to be swapped periodically to ensure uniform drying of the product.

If there are no grates, and you also don’t want to make them, the drying procedure can be done on a baking sheet, after covering it with baking paper. Mushrooms should be selected according to size and arranged so that they do not touch. Otherwise, the drying process is similar to the method described above.

If the mushroom plates and caps are the same size, they take the same amount of time to dry. Ready dried mushrooms should be removed from the oven, and the rest should be brought to the desired state, turning them over from time to time.

How to dry mushrooms in a dryer

The boxes are made of plywood and planks 50 mm wide. They use a mesh with a cell size of no more than 15 mm as the bottom. The bottom drawer is made a little larger than the others, since guides are attached to it, along which the upper drawers slide.

Their number usually does not exceed 10 pieces, and the entire structure is located at a level of 30-40 cm. Its upper part is equipped with a plywood roof that provides shade. The gap between the roof and the top drawer is 10 cm.

The assembled structure must be placed in a draft. To speed up the drying of mushrooms, it can be equipped with an air collector. It is made from two sheets of plywood attached to the structure at different angles. After this, the dryer can be installed with the façade facing the wind.

Mushrooms, laid in a thin layer on the mesh of all boxes, must be sorted by size. Thanks to air circulation through the structure, they are dried.

How to dry mushrooms in an electric dryer

Mushroom pieces should be placed in one even layer on each tier of the dryer. After setting the temperature to 55°C and a time of two to six hours, you can do other things while the device is working.

The duration of drying mushrooms in this way depends on the thickness of their slices. Thin plates dry faster, and so do small quantities. Therefore, when installing not five or six pallets in an electric dryer, but two or three, the readiness of the product should be checked after a couple of hours, otherwise it can be overdried.

If the mushroom plates spring slightly when bent and look dry, the device can be turned off.

How to dry mushrooms in the microwave

When the time is up, the oven door should be opened for 5-10 minutes to ventilate. During this time, intensive evaporation of excess moisture released by the mushrooms will occur. This procedure must be repeated 3-4 more times.

The result of the work can be dried mushrooms or their semi-finished product, subject to further drying. It depends on the type of mushroom. The process of such drying is quite long and tedious, especially if the oven has a small volume.

How to dry mushrooms in a Russian oven

Mushrooms prepared for drying should be placed on racks with their caps down or strung on knitting needles. When, after firing, the temperature in the oven drops to 70°C, the laid or strung product can be loaded into it. A higher temperature in the oven is not recommended - the mushrooms can burn, and at temperatures below 50°C they dry out slowly and can sour and spoil.

An important factor in the process of drying mushrooms in an oven is the removal of moisture that evaporates from the raw materials. In order to ensure this process, the furnace damper must be placed on two bricks, between which there must be a gap for air flow.

At the beginning of drying, the chimney must be opened? valves As the mushrooms dry out, it should be gradually closed.

The product dries unevenly. Large mushroom caps dry more slowly, small mushroom caps dry faster. Therefore, dried mushrooms must be removed in time, otherwise they may lose their aroma and taste, and under-dried mushrooms begin to mold from the slightest dampness.

How to make mushroom powder

For preservation during grinding, fine salt is added to the mushroom powder in an amount of 5-10% of its total weight. To emphasize and improve the taste of the product, you can add various ground spices to it: cumin, allspice, dried parsley leaves, celery, etc.

Mushroom powder is added to hot food at the end of cooking no more than one minute before turning off the stove. In addition, it is used as a common seasoning for salads, main courses and soups.

To prepare flavorful omelettes, mushroom powder is added when beating eggs. The product should be stored in a tightly closed glass container placed in a dark place. Without reducing its quality, mushroom powder can be stored in such conditions for up to 1 year.

Rules for storing dried mushrooms

Linen and gauze bags are also suitable for this purpose, but in this case, the mushrooms must be separated from products that have strong odors. If for any reason the mushrooms have absorbed moisture, they should be promptly sorted and dried again.

For long-term storage of the product, while the mushrooms retain their warmth and fragility after drying, they can be immediately placed in sterile and sealed glass jars. The containers are sterilized at T=90°C: liter jars - for 50 minutes, half-liter jars - 40 minutes.

You can remove air from a jar using this method: pour a little alcohol into its lid, set it on fire, and immediately close the jar. In this case, all the oxygen in the container is spent on fuel combustion, so an airless space is formed in the container. Thanks to it, the mushrooms will not become moldy even if they have some residual moisture.

How to dry mushrooms - watch the video:

Oyster mushrooms, like other mushrooms, spoil quickly, but they can be salted, dried, pickled and frozen. You will learn in this article how to store them at home so that they retain their pleasant taste and beneficial properties for a long time.

In order for the shelf life of oyster mushrooms to be long, it is necessary not only to properly prepare the product for freezing or drying, but also to follow a certain technology to preserve the freshness, taste and aroma of the product.

How to store oyster mushrooms at home in various ways will be described below. In fact, they can be stored in the same way as any other: frozen, dried, pickled and salted.

Regardless of what mushrooms you have: wild mushrooms or home-grown mushrooms, they need to be properly prepared for further storage.

Preparation for storage

It is better to process the crop on the first day after harvest. Before freezing or other processing, the product must be inspected. The caps and stems should be free of dry or yellow spots, rot, or holes made by insects (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Inspection and preparation of crops for storage

Good specimens have a pronounced aroma, without any admixture of the smell of rot or mustiness.

One of the most important preparatory stages is proper preparation, namely cleaning. This stage is mandatory and does not depend on how you plan to store the crop.

Proper cleaning

Before storing, be sure to clean it. Otherwise, the fruiting bodies will become watery and lose their taste. They do not need to be soaked in water before cleaning. Because they grow on trees, they are almost always free of any layer of dirt or dust.

Figure 2. Proper cleaning

All mushrooms are sorted to remove any worms, rotten or dry ones. This will determine how long the crop can be stored, since even one spoiled specimen can cause the rest to rot.

The peel is very easy to remove. To do this, just put some of the mushrooms in a colander and rinse under a powerful stream of water (Figure 2). After this, the product is placed on a wire rack or sieve to drain off excess water, and further preparation for storage begins.

How to store oyster mushrooms in the refrigerator

The success of refrigerated storage largely depends on the correct preparation. Under no circumstances should they be soaked in water, as they lose their taste when they gain excess moisture.

Note: These gifts of the forest can be frozen fresh, without cutting them into pieces. In this case, they will remain in their original form.

How to store them in the refrigerator so that after defrosting they look the same as mushrooms just picked from the forest? To do this, each copy must be wrapped in paper or carefully placed in a plastic food container. The packaging must be airtight, and to prevent the mushrooms from losing moisture, place a damp towel on the shelf under the container. In this case, storage will last no more than five days, but if a stable temperature is maintained in the refrigerator at -2 degrees, and the crop is packed in sealed containers, this period will be 3 weeks (9Figure 3).

How long can oyster mushrooms be stored in the refrigerator?

Fresh mushrooms are not intended for long-term storage. Let's try to determine how long fresh produce can be stored in the refrigerator.

Figure 3. Refrigerated storage at home

Even if you pack the crops in plastic containers and maintain stable temperature and humidity in the refrigerator, the shelf life will not exceed five days. However, if you have the opportunity to reduce the temperature to -2 degrees, the shelf life can be extended to three weeks. But in this case, each mushroom must be wrapped in parchment paper or packaged in plastic containers with an airtight lid.

To extend the shelf life, it is better to place them not in the refrigerator, but in the freezer.

How to store oyster mushrooms in the freezer

Freezing is a little different from refrigerating. When properly frozen, mushrooms will retain their beneficial properties and taste for five months if they are placed in the freezer fresh.

Read also: How to make mycelium and substrate for oyster mushrooms at home

Boiled mushrooms last even longer after freezing. The main thing is to properly prepare the product and ensure optimal temperature conditions in the freezer.

Boiled

To store boiled products in the freezer, they are first inspected, all rotten or damaged specimens are removed, and the selected ones are washed under running water.

Figure 4. Freezer storage

After this, they need to be placed in a pan and cooked in boiling salted water for 15 minutes. After this, they are cooled, allowed to sit a little to get rid of excess liquid, placed in bags or containers, and sent to the freezer. It will be better if you cut them into small pieces before cooking. In this case, the shelf life will be up to 8 months (Figure 4).

Fresh

Mushrooms can be stored in the freezer not only boiled, but also fresh. But in this case, preparing the mushrooms will be a little different.

To keep fresh raw materials longer in the freezer, you need to follow these recommendations:

• It is better not to wash the mushrooms, but to clean them dry from debris and dust;
• The harvest is inspected, damaged specimens are removed, and the stems of suitable specimens are cut off;
• Place the mushrooms on a large plate or tray in a single layer and place in the freezer for several hours. When they are frozen, they are transferred to airtight containers.

It is advisable to immediately distribute the harvest in small portions, so that one container or bag is enough for one dish or several servings. The storage duration in this case can be up to 12 months, but the freezer must have a stable temperature of at least -18 degrees, and the mushrooms themselves cannot be re-frozen.

The video shows how to properly prepare and freeze mushrooms for storage.

Storing oyster mushrooms in plastic containers

Plastic containers are the most suitable container for storing boiled or fresh mushrooms both in the refrigerator and freezer. In such containers they retain their integrity and are practically not damaged.

It is better to choose small containers with airtight lids. Since oyster mushrooms do not tolerate re-freezing well, it will be better if a batch intended for preparing one dish is stored in one container.

Drying

Drying is an inexpensive but effective way to preserve taste and beneficial properties. They can be dried either in the oven or in the fresh air (Figure 5).

Drying is carried out as follows:

• The mushrooms are cleaned of dirt, washed under running water, laid out in one layer on a baking sheet and dried in the oven at a temperature of no more than +50 degrees for 8 hours;
• After this, the raw materials are transferred to a dry, ventilated room and left for another two days. It is important that the mushrooms have enough air, as they will quickly deteriorate in a musty room.
• Next, they are placed in the oven again and dried again at a temperature of +70 degrees for 6 hours.

Figure 5. Storing dried oyster mushrooms at home

Ready mushrooms should easily break into pieces, but not turn into powder at the first touch. To avoid over-drying them, it is recommended to check them periodically during the last stage of drying in the oven.

For further storage, cool them slightly and place them in glass jars with lids. If you accidentally dry them out, you can always make mushroom powder from them by grinding the mushrooms in a coffee grinder or mortar.

Salting

Salting can be done hot or cold. When cold salting, mushrooms are washed and soaked in a salt water solution for 6 days (Figure 6). The water needs to be changed every day, otherwise they will become bitter.

Figure 6. Salting at home

When hot salting, the product is first boiled in salted water for 15 minutes, after which it is placed in jars, sealed with nylon lids and stored in a cool place with a temperature of no more than +8 degrees.

The salting process is shown in detail in the video.

Pickling

There are two ways to marinate mushrooms. In any case, you will need a pan for marinating and jars in which ready-made dishes will be stored (Figure 7).

In the first method, vinegar, allspice, garlic or other spices are mixed in a saucepan. Bring the marinade to a boil, add mushrooms to it and cook for half an hour. After that, they are transferred to jars, filled with the remaining marinade and rolled up.

Figure 7. Pickling oyster mushrooms for winter storage

For the second method of pickling, mushrooms are first boiled in salted water, placed in jars, and then the marinade is prepared and poured with boiling liquid.

The difference between these methods is only in the duration of storage. The first method allows you to store mushrooms for a year, while with the second this period is no more than 6 months.

How to store oyster mushrooms for sale

If you are growing oyster mushrooms for further sale, you need to prepare in advance a cool room in which the mushrooms will be stored. It is better to sell them fresh, and within 3 days after harvesting.

The storage area should be cool and well ventilated. The collected mushrooms are carefully placed in boxes until they are sold. You can also sell mushrooms frozen, in vacuum bags.

Mushrooms have long been considered one of the favorite delicacies of most Russian families. And in order to extend the pleasure of eating mushrooms throughout the whole winter, many housewives make various preparations from them: salted, frozen and dried. The latter option allows you to preserve the fruiting bodies for as long as possible.

Despite the fact that oyster mushrooms dried for the winter at home are not a popular and sought-after preparation, this option is still quite appropriate, as it has certain benefits. Firstly, a big advantage is the long shelf life, and secondly, at any time you can prepare a lot of delicious dishes from dried mushrooms.

Before you find out what dishes are prepared from dried oyster mushrooms, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with what, strictly speaking, the drying process itself consists of. Below is the simplest and most common recipe that allows you to successfully prepare mushrooms for the whole winter.

We will need the following products and equipment:

• oyster mushroom;
• dry thick fabric;
• cutting board;
• newspaper;
• long thick thread or wire.

It must be said that the recipe for dried oyster mushrooms does not imply the use of water and pre-boiling - everything is done “dry”.

Using a knife, carefully scrape off the adhering dirt from the oyster mushrooms and separate the stems from the caps.

We wipe each mushroom with a piece of cloth and place it evenly on newspaper. The fruiting bodies should be left for 2-3 hours in a sunny, well-ventilated place.

Then we take a thick thread or wire and string the mushrooms. If you are using thread, for convenience, thread it through the eye of the needle.

We hang the strung mushrooms in a warm, dry place, for example over a gas stove in the kitchen. On average, it takes 10-12 hours for oyster mushrooms to dry. However, look at the condition of the mushrooms: if they bend and break well, then the process can be considered complete.

Important: before using dried oyster mushrooms in cooking, you need to immerse them in a container with hot water or milk for about 1.5 hours.

How to make soup from dried oyster mushrooms

You already know how to cook dried oyster mushrooms. Now we can discuss in which dishes this preparation can be used. It must be said that the variety of recipes in this case is huge: first courses, appetizers, pates, sauces, etc.

We suggest you prepare soup from dried oyster mushrooms. This recipe is considered one of the most common, and it is also quite easy to make.

• Water – 2 l;
• Dried oyster mushroom – 60 g;
• Potatoes – 500 g;
• Carrots, onions – 1 pc.;
• Garlic – 1 clove;
• Bay leaf – 2 pcs.;
• Salt, pepper;
• Sour cream and fresh herbs - for serving.

It is necessary to soak dried oyster mushrooms in boiling water in advance. For the volume of mushrooms indicated in the recipe, 1 tbsp will be enough. liquids.

After 1.5 hours, put a pan of water on the stove and wait until it boils. Then we throw our mushrooms into the pan along with the liquid in which they were soaked and boil for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and cut the vegetables: potatoes into slices, and onions, carrots and garlic into small cubes.

Add the potatoes and carrots to the mushrooms and cook until almost done.

10 minutes before the end of the process, add onion and garlic to the soup, add salt and pepper.

At the very end, add bay leaves, turn off the heat and let the dish brew for a few minutes.

Serve mushroom soup with sour cream and finely chopped fresh herbs.

Potatoes stewed with dried oyster mushrooms

We invite you to familiarize yourself with a recipe that will help you have a good, and most importantly “tasty”, family evening. This is especially true in the cold winter, when there is absolutely no desire to run to the store, but you have a bunch of dried oyster mushrooms at hand.

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 aftertaste, 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!

Dried mushrooms have high nutritional value, rich aroma and taste, and perfectly retain their beneficial properties. Using an electric dryer, you can make a good supply of mushrooms for the winter, spending very little time on it.

To get a quality product, you need to know which mushrooms are suitable for drying, how to properly prepare and dry them, and, of course, how to store them correctly.

Almost all edible mushrooms can be dried, but it is still better to use tubular types for this:

• white;
• boletus;
• boletus;
• boletus;
• flywheels.

When dried, these mushrooms have a very pronounced taste, which cannot be said about the lamellar types. After drying, saffron milk caps or russula, honey mushrooms and chanterelles acquire a slight bitterness, which is quite difficult to get rid of. Dried marsupial species such as white truffles and morels have a very good taste. It should be borne in mind that when dried, mushrooms significantly lose weight, so the output is no more than 10% of the original volume.

Proper preparation

Mushrooms for drying must be freshly picked, without wormholes or rot. Old mushrooms with a dried out cap or wrinkled mushrooms should not be collected, much less dried. It is also not recommended to wash them before drying - this will prolong the drying time and worsen the taste of the finished product. It is enough to remove leaves, remaining soil and other debris from the mushrooms, and cut off the damaged areas with a knife. To prevent the surface from darkening when cutting, the knife should be made of stainless steel.

Whole mushrooms are dried only in air, but for the oven or electric dryer they need to be cut into small flat pieces. The boletus stem is not suitable for drying, so it is cut off right up to the cap; For boletuses and porcini mushrooms, only the bottom of the stem is removed, everything else is dried. Small mushrooms can be left whole or cut in half, but large ones should preferably be divided lengthwise into four to five parts, the thickness of which should not exceed 10 millimeters.

Drying process

An electric dryer is the best option for harvesting forest products. Thanks to a well-thought-out design, drying mushrooms takes little time and does not require constant presence and control. Having set the required temperature and time, you can go about your business while the equipment is working. So, each tier of the electric dryer is filled with chopped mushrooms in one layer, the pieces are straightened and leveled. Set the temperature to 55°C, time - from 2 to 6 hours.

The thinner the plates are cut, the less time it takes to dry the mushrooms in an electric dryer. To speed up the process, you can periodically swap the pallets. It should be borne in mind that a small amount of cuttings dries much faster, so if you put two or three trays in the electric dryer, and not all five or six, you need to check the readiness after two hours, otherwise you can overdry the contents.

It is not difficult to determine the degree of readiness of the forest products: if the pieces spring slightly when bent, do not break, and look completely dry, the electric dryer can be turned off. If the plates bend very easily and look a little damp, they still need to be dried. Mushrooms that are overexposed become very hard, darken, and may fall apart. They are not suitable for cooking, but they are suitable for preparing mushroom powder: grind the dried pieces in a coffee grinder, add 10% regular salt and mix thoroughly. The resulting mixture is poured into a glass container and closed tightly.

Storage rules

It is known that mushrooms easily absorb foreign odors; improper storage can completely ruin this product. So, after drying, the mushrooms need to be cooled to room temperature and placed in glass jars or thick cardboard boxes. The room where they are stored must be dry and ventilated. The permissible air humidity is 70%; in more humid rooms, the workpieces will mold.

Instead of cardboard boxes, you can use gauze bags for storage, hanging them from racks or hooks on the wall. Periodically, dried mushrooms need to be sorted, discarding rotten or moldy pieces. As a rule, they are stored for no more than a year, then the taste decreases and the aroma fades.