Rules for Drying Mushrooms

It is extremely pleasant to walk through the woods and return with a basket full of mushrooms. And to keep the aroma of these forest gifts for a long time, there are some tricks.

That way in winter you will be able to enjoy the rich aroma of mushrooms, which will smell like freshly picked. For this purpose, they must be well dried.

One of the ways to dry is to pierce each mushroom with a threaded needle. This results in a long string of precleaned mushrooms. However, they are not washed, but only cleaned of debris and the excessively damaged areas are cut out.

The mushrooms are not strung whole, but cut into slices, that are not too thin, but by no means thick. This allows them to dry evenly.

The stringing should be done, so that the mushrooms do not touch each other and air circulates between them. Find a convenient place to hang the mushroom strings and just wait for them to dry.

Another option for drying mushrooms is to scatter them in a tray and dry them in the oven. For this purpose, they are heated for about an hour at a temperature of 100°F (40°C).

Image: Hrana za Dushata

Then they need to dry completely outdoors, otherwise you risk drying them out. Then the mushrooms will lose their aroma and valuable substances.

Dried mushrooms are best stored in a packet made of gauze or cloth, in a ventilated place and away from products with a saturated odor, as mushrooms can absorb it.

Avoid keeping them in a humid place, because they will spoil. Note that properly dried mushrooms bend and dried mushrooms break.

If your mushrooms are still dry, make mushroom powder from them. Grind them in a coffee grinder, add as much salt as you like and some dried green spices. This powder is an ideal spice for meat, a base for sauces and makes the omelette an incredible delight for the palate.

Mushroom powder is best stored in glass jars with tight-fitting lids. Its shelf life is about ten months. This way, mushrooms are absorbed even better by our body than fresh ones.

If you love mushrooms, we recommend you try our recipes for:

- mushroom soup;

- risotto with mushrooms;

- or steaks with mushrooms;