Dry mushrooms: What do you use dry mushrooms for?

Dry mushrooms; how properly dry? Everything about drying mushrooms, which types are used, how the raw materials are processed, current drying methods, and how to preserve the product and make a powder with spices. Drying mushrooms is one of the ways to prepare them for future use. But unlike salting or pickling, it retains all the valuable 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 contain bitterness and are processed or salted. Proper processing removes unpleasant aftertastes from them. The mushrooms that can dry will be discussed today.

What do you use dry mushrooms for?

Mushrooms are lamellar, spore, and tubular. In addition to them, there are two additional species – tinder mushrooms and chanterelles.

At home, you can dry:

• Tubular mushrooms … Boletus, goat, Boletus of all kinds, Boletus, oak, Polish mushroom, moss, and porcini mushrooms. They all have a spongy layer under the valves, consisting of the most miniature tubes.
• Lamellar … Champignons, variegated umbrella mushrooms, autumn, winter, and summer honeydew, deer mushrooms, giggling scales, and hangings. Thin plates are densely arranged in a radial direction under the cap of these mushrooms. It is not recommended to dry VOLUSHKI, milk mushrooms, and russula; their milky juice contains a lot of bitterness.
• Marsupials … These are morels and white truffles. They have shapeless, wrinkled bodies and spores in special pouches. White truffle is an expensive delicacy and quite rare, so its preparation by an ordinary summer resident is impossible. Morells are conditionally edible mushrooms and must be dried in the open air for at least two months. During this time, the toxins disappear from the product, and it becomes safe for consumption.
• Polypores … These are branched and multivariate pinnate mushrooms and sheep mushrooms.
• Chanterelles … This mushroom belongs to a particular family. At first glance, chanterelles look like lamellar mushrooms, but instead of lamellae, they have pulp. The dried product has a slight bitterness.

How to prepare mushrooms for drying

Opinions differ on whether they should them before drying. But mushroom timers with solid experience only wash those mushrooms used for cooking, pickling, or pickling. It is enough to clean them of sand, earth, moss, leaves, and needles and wipe them with a slightly damp nylon cloth.

For drying, you must choose resilient, healthy, and firm mushrooms that do not spoil. The legs are usually cut off in Boletus, chanterelles, and honeysuckle.

Mushrooms can be dried whole and sliced. In the first case, they should be sorted by size and dry evenly. Second, the mushrooms are cut into thick slices or quarters as desired. Put pieces of Boletus and porcini mushrooms into 3-4 cm long columns or 2 cm wide cylinders.

For chanterelles, Boletus, honeydew, and fly worms. Usually, only caps are used for drying. Morels are dried whole.

Advice! Start drying sliced ​​mushrooms 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, bend slightly and break with little effort. Dry mushrooms should resemble fresh ones in taste and aroma. 10 kg of fresh mushrooms usually yields 1-1.5 kg of dried product. You can dry mushrooms differently; the main ones are described below.

How to properly dry mushrooms in the sun

Such drying is possible on sunny, clear days in an open, wind-blown place, protected from dust and rain. The mushrooms can be completely dried or only dried in the air and then brought to a dry state in the oven or stove. If the weather worsens and becomes cloudy, stop the process temporarily as the product may absorb moisture it does not need. To dry in the sun, the mushrooms need to be strung on a fishing line, yarn, or robust thread so that they do not touch each other and hang and are covered with gauze from flies and dust. For such “beads,” you can make unique, comfortable stands from wooden blocks or boards.

Natural drying in sunny weather lasts 5-7 days. Mushrooms, cut into slices, should be dried for no more than two days. In this case, they will preserve their natural color.

How to dry mushrooms in the oven

For this purpose, a “standard” or custom-made grid is used instead of a baking sheet installed in place. Lay the mushrooms on it in a thin layer and start drying them at an oven temperature of 45 ° C. In this case, they will not cover.

When the mushrooms have dried a little, you can raise the temperature to 60–70 ° C; the oven door should be slightly open to ensure air exchange. If there are several racks, must change them regularly to dry the product evenly.

Suppose there are no racks and you are also reluctant to make one. In that case, the drying method can be performed on a baking sheet previously covered with baking paper. The mushrooms should be sized and arranged so that they do not touch. The rest of the drying process is similar to the above method.

If the plates and caps of the mushrooms are the exact sizes, they dry simultaneously. Remove artificially dried mushrooms from the oven and the rest in a suitable condition, turning them from time to time.

How to dry mushrooms in a dehydrator

You can make your mushroom dryer with homemade boxes, drafts, or forced airflow.

The boxes are made of plywood and boards 50 mm wide. They use a mesh with no more than 15 mm cells as a base. The lower drawer is slightly larger than the others, as guides are attached to it, along which the upper drawers slide. Their number is usually not more than 10 pieces, and the whole structure is located on 30-40 cm. Its upper part has a plywood roof that provides shade. The space between the ceiling and the top drawer is 10 cm.

Must put the structure in a draft. To speed up the drying of mushrooms, it can be equipped with an air collector. It comprises two plywood panels attached to the structure at different angles. Can then install the dryer with a winder.

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

How to dry mushrooms in an electric dryer

The thoughtful design of this device saves a lot of time when drying mushrooms and does not require constant supervision and presence. The electric dryer has several steps in the form of a board, each filled with natural chopped gifts.

Should stack pieces of mushrooms in one even layer on each stage of the dryer. After setting the temperature to 55 ° C and the time from two to six hours, you can do other things while the device is working.

The length of drying mushrooms in this way depends on the thickness of the slice. Thin sheets dry faster, and small numbers do too. Therefore, when installing not five or six pallets in an electric dryer but should check two or three the product’s readiness after a few hours; otherwise, it may be over-dried. Switch off the device if the mushroom plates are slightly springy when bent and look dry.

How to dry mushrooms in the microwave

To dry mushrooms in this way, peel them and cut them into plates 5 mm thick, then put them on a wire rack or plate and put the microwave control with the product on a power of 100-180 W for 20 minutes. When the time is up, should open the oven door for 5-10 minutes to ventilate. During this time, there will be a lot of evaporation of the excess moisture that the mushrooms get rid of. Must repeat this procedure 3-4 more times. The result of the work can be dry mushrooms or their semi-finished product, subject to further shrinkage. It depends on the type of mushrooms. The drying process is quite long and tedious, especially if the oven has a small volume.

How to dry mushrooms in a Europe oven

Before drying the mushrooms, sweep under the stove to remove ash and remove containers of water or food from the fireplace. When drying, the mushrooms should not come into contact with the stove in the oven. Therefore, if the braids or grids have no legs, bricks must be placed under them in an “on edge” position.

Mushrooms ready for drying should be placed on the racks with the caps down or strung on the pins. When the temperature in the oven after the oven goes down to 70 ° C, the stacked or tensioned product can be loaded into it. Higher temperatures in the range are not recommended – mushrooms can burn. They slowly dry out at temperatures below 50 ° C and can sour and deteriorate.

An essential part of drying mushrooms in the oven is to remove moisture, which evaporates from the raw material. To ensure this process, must place the oven pad on two bricks, between which there must be a space for air circulation.

At the beginning of the drying process, open the chimney for? Side valves. In the process of drying out the fungus, it should be closed gradually.

The drying of the product is uneven. Large mushroom caps dry more slowly, small ones faster. Therefore, they must remove dried mushrooms in time. Otherwise, they can lose their aroma and taste, and dehydrated mushrooms start to mold at the slightest moisture.

How to make mushroom powder

You can use over-dried mushrooms to prepare this product. Break them into pieces and grind them in a coffee grinder. During the milling process, the films of fungal fibers are destroyed, and the product acquires new properties: it is more easily absorbed by the body and has a better aroma and taste. Porcini mushrooms are delicious when crushed.

For safety during grinding, acceptable salt is added to the mushroom powder in 5-10% of its total weight. To emphasize and improve the taste of the product, various spices can be added to it: cumin, pepper, dried parsley, celery leaves, etc.

The mushroom powder is added to hot food at the end of cooking for no more than one minute before turning off the stove. In addition, it is used as a common seasoning for salads, main dishes, and soups. The mushroom powder is added while eggs are beaten to make a fragrant omelet. Store the product in a tightly closed glass container in a dark place. Without reducing its quality, it can store the mushroom powder under such conditions for up to 1 year.

Rules for storing dried mushrooms

Dried mushrooms, especially in powdered form, are very hygroscopic. They quickly absorb moisture from the air and various foreign smells. Therefore, such a product should be stored in a well-ventilated place. You can use airtight bags and metal or glass jars with lids as containers. Linen and gauze bags are also suitable for this purpose, but in this case, we must separate the mushrooms from products that have a strong smell. If the mushrooms have absorbed moisture for some reason, they should be sorted quickly and dried again.

To store the product for a long time, while the mushrooms retain their warmth and delicacy after drying, they can be immediately placed in sterile and closed glass jars. Containers are sterilized at T = 90 ° C: liter cans – within 50 minutes, half a liter – 40 minutes.

You can remove air from the jar in this way: Pour a little alcohol at the end of the pot, light it and close the jar immediately. In this case, all the oxygen in the container is consumed for burning the fuel, so an airless space is created in the container. Thanks to him, the mushrooms will not be covered with mold, even if they have some residual moisture.

Conclusion

Before cooking, dry mushrooms should be washed and left to soak in water for several hours to swell. The product is boiled in the resulting infusion. Bon appetite, everyone!