Cool down
Mushrooms are great for freezing. But even freezing has its rules. Mushrooms should definitely not be put in the freezer raw. Firstly, they could become bitter, secondly, toxins would multiply in them. As soon as you bring the mushrooms home from the forest, clean them, cut them and steam them for about 3 to 5 minutes. You don’t need to salt or season them during cooking. Then drain them, rinse them with cold water and put them in freezer bags or boxes with lids. Frozen ones can last for several years, but you must not thaw them in the meantime. Use immediately after thawing.
How about the best fried mushroom? Watch the video:
Drying
A very simple way to preserve mushrooms. First, clean and slice the mushrooms. When it comes to cleaning, be sure to cut out the bitten and bruised areas, as well as get rid of maggot fungus (the occasional hole is fine) and mold fungus. Cut the mushrooms into slices about 4 mm thick so that they can be easily dried.
Then spread them at a sufficient distance on a baking sheet on which you have placed baking paper (newspaper is not suitable, after gluing the sponges could absorb the printing ink), you can also use grids in the frames. But there are also plastic or silicone nets. Drying in this way takes about two to three days, until the mushrooms are really dry (they should rattle). You can also dry them in the dryer – you just need to spread the mushrooms on individual floors and you’re done in the morning.
Tip: the slides are not suitable for drying because they are too watery. After drying, put them in jars or resealable jars.
Salting
Mushrooms can also be pickled in salt. The procedure is simple and you can do it twice. Clean the mushrooms, slice them and let them dry. Then put them in the prepared jars and sprinkle each layer of mushrooms with salt. For 1 kg of mushrooms, you will need about a quarter of a kilogram of salt. The last layer in the glass must be salt. Then close the jars tightly and store them in a cool and dark place.
Loading mushrooms
Mushrooms can be pickled in vinegar or fat, such as lard. Melt the lard in a pot and add the diced mushrooms (approximately twice the amount of lard). Sauté over low heat until the mushrooms become crackling. Pepper and sprinkle them. Then pour the mixture into warm and dry jars, cover and freeze for at least one hour. Mushrooms in vinegar also taste good. Smaller mushrooms that you just clean but don’t cut are perfect for this. Better to put them in smaller glasses to be able to consume them.
Cooking in its own juice
Ideal especially for preparing sauces, soups and the like. Clean the mushrooms and cut them into small cubes. It is stewed in a pot with a little cumin in its own juice. Do not add water or fat. When the mushrooms have reduced to about a third of their volume, fill the warmed glasses with them. Never fill them up to the lid, there should be a gap of about 1 cm between the lid and the mushrooms. Then sterilize the jar at 100 °C for about 45 minutes.
Ground or smoked
If you haven’t tried this method yet, you can start this year. Grinding mushrooms is useful if you have a lot of mushrooms broken during drying. It would be a shame to throw them away, wouldn’t it? Then mix them or grind them into powder, mix with ground paprika (paprika protects mushrooms from pests), you can use it as a spice for mushrooms. Mushrooms can also be smoked. In any case, it is good to know that smoked mushrooms are not suitable for long-term storage. Boil them in salted water for ten minutes, then let them drain and spread them on colanders to put in the smokehouse. The mushrooms are smoked with lukewarm smoke for 2 to 3 hours. You can use them perfectly to prepare meatloaf, risotto or vegetable salad.
