How To Dry Mushrooms Properly

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Dried mushrooms are known to be healthier than pickled, salted and frozen mushrooms. With large fees, we try to make blanks for future use. Dried mushrooms retain their beneficial properties and aroma for a long time. If you don't have an electric dryer, you can use other methods to dry mushrooms

How to prepare mushrooms for drying

Almost all mushrooms can be dried, except for milk mushrooms, nigella and others that have bitter milk. Most often, they choose tubular: white, flywheels, aspen mushrooms, kids, birch trees, podduboviki.

You can dry well a young, non-wormy and dense mushroom. Thin legs of boletus, honey agarics, chanterelles, kids are too tough, so they are cut off to the caps and removed. Often doubts arise about washing. Experienced mushroom pickers never wash the harvested "crop", this procedure is relevant for salting and pickling. Dry cleaning is sufficient for drying. Removing sand, needles and earth is excellent by wiping it down with a clean cloth.

It is not recommended to grind and make scanty, thin pieces. Of course, they will dry up faster, but during storage they will break and turn into dust. The body of a small mushroom is dried whole. Medium-sized hats are cut into halves, large hats into thick slices-plates.

The legs need to be cut across, into 3-4 cm cylindrical posts. In boletus mushrooms, the shape of the leg is often rounded, like a thick barrel, then they are made of two centimeter transverse slices, which are sometimes divided into semicircles. It is always best to sort by size, so the shrinkage process will be more even. In tall chanterelles, mushrooms, honey agarics, boletus, only the caps are dried.

Drying methods for mushrooms

A properly dried mushroom is light, aromatic. From 1 kg it turns out 100-150 g. Drying takes place in different ways, let's talk about five methods.

In the sun

The drying process in the sun is quite complicated, requiring good weather and special preparation. Mushrooms are strung on a fishing line, a strong thread and suspended in a ventilated place, it is necessary to exclude contact with flies, dust (gauze wrapping) and touching the "bundles" with each other. The process is delayed for 5-7 days. Thin plates - 2 days. In any case, you need to bring it into the house every day at night.

In a homemade dryer

The harvested crop will dry out quickly under a fan, in a draft. You will need low boxes made of planks or mesh (50 mm). The top and bottom are made of a small chain-link (15 mm). The structure can consist of several boxes, the top one must have a plywood roof, for protection from the sun, with a gap of 30 cm.

The structure is installed outdoors in a well-ventilated place. To enhance air circulation, you can make two side air collectors out of plywood, which are placed at different angles. The mushroom organizer is facing the wind.

This dryer is very easy to use. You just need to cut the mushrooms and put them on an iron mesh. To protect against insects, you can cover with gauze and fix it on the bottom of the bottom drawer, or make a frame from a mosquito net. By the way, a homemade dryer can be used for herbs, apples, pears, etc.

In the Russian stove

This drying method requires a wire rack. Bricks are placed on the cooling plate, on which mushrooms are laid on a baking sheet. The process takes place quickly: they dry up within an hour, they are completely ready after the oven has cooled down. If the product still remains moist, then it can be repeated or spread out to dry it indoors.

There is a second option - a firebox. It is important that it cools down to +70, only after that you can load the mushrooms. At a low temperature, the process will require repetition, at a higher temperature, the mushrooms will burn.

You need to take care of the release of moisture. At the beginning of the loading of raw materials, open the valve on the pipe (three quarters), then gradually push it in. The bottom blower is always half open.

Mushrooms in the oven

An ordinary baking sheet is replaced with a mesh one, on which prepared mushrooms are laid out in one layer. To start drying, it is recommended to maintain +45, with this option the slices will not darken and will not change the natural taste. After drying, it can be increased to + 60 … + 70. The doors are constantly ajar. For even cooking, you need to turn over, swap, and ready to clean, leaving only moist.

Advice. If there is no wire rack, then a regular baking sheet is covered with baking paper.

Drying mushrooms in the microwave

Mushrooms, cut into slices (half a centimeter), are laid out on a wire rack / plate. At a power of 100-180, turn it on for 15 minutes. After stopping the microwave, you need to release moisture, that is, leave it with the door open for 10 minutes. Repeat until completely dry 2-4 times. After the end of the process, you need to lay out for final shrinkage on paper or natural fabric.

The microwave option is suitable for a small amount of mushrooms, it is considered tedious and time-consuming.