Mushrooms are perishable products, they can not be stored for a long time. Therefore, these gifts of the forest must be processed on the day of collection.
Mushrooms are cleaned of debris, legs are cut off, damaged areas are cut out. To prevent the mushrooms from turning black, stainless steel knives are used for these purposes.
The main ways to preserve mushroom gifts are: drying, salting, pickling and canning by sterilization in glass jars, hermetically sealed.
Mushroom harvesting
Due to the presence of significant amounts of moisture, protein compounds, carbohydrates and other soluble nutrients, food products of plant and animal origin are quickly exposed to various enzymes and microbes during storage and become unusable. Therefore, people have long been looking for ways to preserve various products for a long time.
Existing methods of storing mushrooms and other products are based on creating conditions for microbes under which they cannot develop, and products subjected to canning do not lose their nutritional and taste qualities inherent in fresh form and can be stored for a long time without spoiling.
The main methods of preservation are: drying, salting, marinating and canning by sterilization in glass jars sealed hermetically. Many microbes and bacteria are detrimental to heating. Some of them die at a temperature of 60 °, others - at 60-100 °. However, spores of some bacteria can tolerate temperatures of 100-110 and even 120 ° and remain viable.
Later, under normal temperature conditions, they begin to develop and multiply. Botulinus bacteria are especially dangerous in canned foods. They produce a potent poison that causes human poisoning, sometimes even fatal. Due to the fact that botulinus is found in the soil, when harvesting products for the future, they must be washed, cleaned very carefully, and damaged and stale fruits should not be used.
It has been established that when products are stored in an acidic environment (acetic or citric acid), botulinum does not develop. Therefore, food preservation with the use of acetic and citric acids is used quite often.
The main methods of processing and storing mushrooms:
Drying mushrooms
mushroom powder
mushroom extract
Freezing
Salting
Pickling
Preservation in hermetically sealed containers
Drying mushrooms
Drying is one of the most affordable and easiest ways to process mushrooms. Without much reduction in their taste and nutritional qualities, dried mushrooms are stored for quite a long time.
From marsupials: - white truffle, morel cap, morels.
From tinder fungi: - branched and variegated tinder fungus and ram mushroom.
From lamellar: - summer, autumn and winter, variegated umbrella mushroom, champignon, fenugreek, fleecy flake, deer mushroom, etc.
Mushrooms with a bitter taste are not suitable for drying (all types of milk mushrooms, lactifers, valui, volnushki), since bitterness does not disappear during the drying process.
Fresh, strong, not wormy mushrooms are selected for drying. They are cleaned of forest debris and wiped with a slightly damp cloth. It is not recommended to crush mushrooms before drying. In large specimens, the hat is cut off from the stem. If the skin is removed from the cap, then it is better to remove it.
Small mushrooms are dried whole, large ones are cut into pieces. To avoid contamination, mushrooms are dried on special devices: gratings, sieves strung on a thread or knitting needles. Mushrooms are dried in the sun and in the oven. In the air, mushrooms can be dried only in hot and dry times, on clear sunny days. In cloudy weather, drying mushrooms in the open air is not recommended - they may deteriorate.
In any case, the mushrooms are first dried at a temperature of 40–50°C for 2–4 hours, and then, increasing the temperature to 60–70°C, they are dried for 8–12 hours. Dried mushrooms are very hygroscopic, that is, they have the ability to absorb moisture from the air, so dried mushrooms are stored in closed glass jars in rooms with a temperature of 8–10 ° C.
mushroom powder
Mushroom powder can be obtained from dried mushrooms. Mushroom powder is prepared from those mushrooms that, when dry, have a strong mushroom aroma and pleasant taste.
For the preparation of mushroom powder, the following are used: ceps, boletus, umbrella mushrooms, morels, mushrooms, chanterelles, truffles, boletus, boletus, winter mushroom, etc. The powder is prepared from one type of mushroom, or from several. Mushrooms are prepared for drying, and then dried as described above. For the manufacture of mushroom powder, dried mushrooms with a moisture content of not more than 12% are used. They are ground in a coffee grinder, pepper mill or ground in a porcelain or metal mortar.
The resulting powder is sifted through a fine sieve, the remaining large particles are dried and ground a little more, because the finer the mushroom powder particles, the better they are absorbed by the body.
Mushroom powder is even more hygroscopic than dried mushrooms, and if left uncovered, it will spoil quickly. Therefore, mushroom powder should be stored in tightly closed jars in a dry place.
Mushroom powder is used in cooking for the preparation of mushroom puree, as a seasoning for soups, borscht, sauces, meat, fish and vegetable dishes. Before use, a small amount of warm water is added to the mushroom powder, in which it swells for 20–30 minutes. Then this mass is added to the prepared dish and boiled for 10-15 minutes.
mushroom extract
Mushroom extract can be prepared at home from mushrooms. Mushrooms without a bitter taste are used for this, but it is better to take mushrooms with a strong mushroom aroma for these purposes, from cultivated ones these include: champignons, oyster mushrooms, honey mushrooms, from wild mushrooms, mushrooms, boletus, boletus and other mushrooms that have a pleasant taste and strong aroma.
Mushrooms are thoroughly cleaned and washed, then they are cut and passed through a meat grinder. The resulting mass is boiled for half an hour in its own juice over low heat in an enamel pan. The resulting mushroom juice is filtered through gauze pre-sterilized by boiling, and the mushroom mass is again put in a saucepan, a little water is added and boiled again so that all the juice comes out, it is filtered in the same way as for the first time.
The resulting liquid is salted at the rate of 20 g of salt per 1 liter and boiled over low heat in a wide saucepan without a lid, allowing the water to evaporate. Boil until part of the water evaporates and the broth thickens, like a syrup, which, in fact, is a mushroom extract.
The extract is poured hot into small sterilized bottles, tightly closed and quickly cooled. In this form, the mushroom extract can be stored in a cool place for 2-3 years.
Mushroom extract has a pleasant mushroom taste and aroma and is used as flavor additives for soups, meat and fish dishes, sauces, gravies. Before use, the extract is diluted with water.
Freezing
Recently, in connection with the advent of large freezers, it has become possible to store the mushroom product frozen. Although this method of storing mushrooms is more energy-intensive than canning, but with the right process, freezing allows you to save all the valuable nutritional components in the fruiting bodies.
For freezing, medium-sized young mushrooms are used that are not damaged by pests, do not contain bitterness and an unpleasant odor. They are thoroughly washed, changing the water several times. Then they are lightly dried. The quality of freezing is affected by the speed of freezing. It is best to freeze mushrooms at -30°C for 2–3 hours.
Frozen mushrooms are stored at a temperature of -18 ° C and an air humidity of 95%. At home, mushrooms are frozen in metal molds 5–6 cm high. For these purposes, herring tin boxes or plastic bags can be used. Other products cannot be stored in the same refrigerator with mushrooms, as mushrooms can absorb odors.
Defrost the mushrooms immediately before preparing the mushroom dish at a temperature of +20°C for 2–3 hours, which ensures the gradual melting of ice crystals in the cells of the mushrooms. Thawed mushrooms are a favorable environment for various microorganisms, therefore, after thawing, mushrooms should be immediately used for cooking mushroom dishes.
Frozen mushrooms are stored at -18°C for up to a year. You can freeze boiled and fried mushrooms. Peeled and washed mushrooms are cut and boiled for 15-20 minutes (or until tender). Then the mushrooms are taken out of the broth, cooled, laid out in plastic bags and placed in the freezer. You can freeze fried and stewed mushrooms - they are stored for no more than three months.
Salting
A very common method of harvesting mushrooms. Almost all types of mushrooms can be salted, but usually only agaric mushrooms with a sharp bitter taste are salted: milk mushrooms, valui, volnushki, mushrooms, russula, rowings, talkers.
High-quality mushrooms with a specific taste and aroma (mushrooms, mushrooms) are salted separately, lower-grade mushrooms are mixed.
Mushrooms are salted in wooden barrels, glass and enameled containers with intact enamel. Containers for salting mushrooms should be very clean and free of foreign odors. You can not use earthenware for salting mushrooms, as under the influence of salts and acids it becomes unsuitable for further use.
In addition, the glaze covering earthenware may contain lead, which, when dissolved in brine, poisons mushrooms. It is also impossible to salt mushrooms in galvanized tin dishes.
There is a cold and hot salting method.
The cold method is different in that mushrooms are not boiled before salting. Mushrooms are cleaned and washed. Volnushki, valui, milk mushrooms, bitters and other mushrooms with a pungent taste are soaked in lightly salted water for 1-3 days. Mushrooms that do not contain bitterness should not be soaked.
Salt is poured onto the bottom of the container, then a 6-8 cm layer of mushrooms, again salt and a layer of mushrooms, and so on until the container is filled. For 1 kg of mushrooms put 40-60 g of salt.
High-quality mushrooms are salted without any additives to preserve their specific taste and aroma. A little garlic is added to real milk mushrooms during salting. Sometimes, when salting, pepper, garlic, dill, blackcurrant leaves, cherries, bay leaves are added to mushrooms. From above, salted mushrooms are pressed down with a wooden circle, on which oppression is placed. Bricks, lime stones and metal objects cannot be used as oppression. After a couple of days, the mushrooms release juice and settle.
The mushrooms are also salted in a dry way, in which the mushrooms are not washed. They are cleaned, wiped with a damp cloth and placed in a container, sprinkled with salt. It is claimed that dry-salted mushrooms are tastier and more aromatic.
Mushrooms become ready for use in a month and a half. Non-bitter types of russula and mushrooms can be used after 5-10 days.
Salted mushrooms are stored at low positive temperatures (not higher than + 6–8 ° С), making sure that they are covered with brine on top. If the brine disappears, add cold salt water (50 g of salt per 1 liter of water). The mold that has appeared is removed, the lid is washed in hot water, and the edges of the container are wiped with a clean cloth.
The hot salting method is used for salting mushrooms with a bitter taste: all types of milk mushrooms, milkers, valui, volushki.
Peeled and washed mushrooms are boiled in salted water for half an hour or blanched (dipped in boiling water for 5-15 minutes). Then they are thrown into a colander so that they dry a little. Then they fill the containers, pouring salt in layers, just as with the cold method. Hot-salted mushrooms can be eaten after 2-3 weeks.
Pickling
Mushrooms are usually marinated with better taste than those used for salting. When marinating champignons, mushrooms are selected, the caps of which do not exceed 15–35 cm in diameter. The mushrooms are cleaned, the legs are cut, thoroughly washed with cold water and, having thrown it into a colander, the water is allowed to drain.
In order to pickle a kilogram of mushrooms, you will need a marinade prepared from 0.5 liters of water, 50–60 g of 30% acetic acid, 10–12 peppercorns, 2–3 bay leaves, 10 g of salt; cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg are added to taste. The marinade is prepared as follows: acetic acid is poured into the water, spices are added and brought to a boil.
Mushrooms are boiled for 5 minutes in lightly salted water, then they are taken out with a slotted spoon, allowing the water to drain. For a few more minutes, the mushrooms are boiled in the marinade, then transferred to prepared jars and immediately closed.
When marinating, mushrooms can be boiled immediately directly in the marinade. To pickle 1 kg of mushrooms, take 1/3 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of salt, 2/3 cup of 8% vinegar. The marinade is brought to a boil in an enamel pan, then washed and peeled mushrooms are placed in it.
The cooking time of mushrooms depends on their type: for example, for oyster mushrooms it is 30 minutes, for champignons - 20. The foam formed during cooking is removed with a slotted spoon, after the foam stops appearing, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 5–6 peas are added to the boiling marinade pepper, 2 bay leaves, 2 g of cloves, a little cinnamon and citric acid (on the tip of a knife). After boiling, the mushrooms are transferred to jars, poured with marinade and closed.
Preservation in hermetically sealed containers
Currently, glass jars with tin and glass lids are used to preserve various products at home. Cans are closed with tin lids using seamers, glass lids are held with special tin clamps.
Mushrooms are placed in hot jars. Then, a pre-prepared hot (boiling) filling is poured into the jar. The degree of filling of the cans should be as high as possible so that as little air remains as possible. You can sterilize jars in a tank or pan, on the bottom of which a wooden grate, a metal mesh or a piece of linen folded 3-4 times is placed (it is important that the jars do not touch the bottom and walls).
The poured water is heated to 50-60 °, then jars filled with mushrooms and covered with lids are placed there. The amount of water in the tank should be such that its level reaches the neck of the cans or is slightly lower.
After that, the water is brought to a boil and kept half-liter jars 20-25, liter - 25 - 30 minutes from the moment the water boils. At the end of sterilization, the jars are removed, while making sure that the lids do not rise or move, and quickly cork with a seamer.
In the manufacture of marinades, jars are sealed before pasteurization (in order to prevent acetic acid from volatilizing). In such cases, there may be a breakdown of the lids during heating (due to a significant increase in pressure inside the jar). To avoid this, special steel clamps (screw or spring) are preliminarily put on the covers.
Closed jars must be completely immersed in water. Jars with glass lids are also sealed prior to sterilization. When sterilized, they are immersed in water with a lid. After sterilization is completed, the jars are cooled, and the clamps are removed (but you can not remove them).
Mid-July is the beginning of the “silent hunting” season, as fans of this type of recreation call mushroom picking. Mushroom places are kept secret, and mushroom pickers talk about their prey with no less enthusiasm than fishermen. But between the excitement of collecting and the pleasure of the treat, there is a difficult and not very pleasant stage for processing and harvesting the collected mushrooms. We tell you how to make this process more comfortable.
Immediately upon returning home, mushrooms need sort and prepare for further processing. Need to get fromorzhinki mushrooms and carefully spread on the table. At this stage it is important againevaluate their edibility . For any doubtthrow out suspicious mushrooms, without hesitation!
Mushrooms should be sorted not only depending on the type, but also on intended type of processing. Set aside the ones you are going to dry. Usually noble mushrooms fall into this category: white, young boletus and boletus. These mushrooms should never be washed. You just need to clean them with your hands from the remnants of the earth, leaves, and throw away the worms.
The rest of the mushrooms are also needed clear from dirt, leaves and moss, assess their condition and throw out the spoiled and wormy ones, after which you need to put them in a container with water. Tubular mushrooms (those in which the inside of the cap is like a “sponge” of the smallest tubes) instantly absorb moisture, so it is better to reduce their soaking to 1-2 minutes, and it is best to just wash it under running water. Lamellar fungi (these include cargo d and, chanterelles, russula) tolerate well even prolonged soaking for a couple of hours. In water, by the way, you can add a spoonful of table salt. The salty environment will cause the death of worms, which can remain in the body of the fungus unnoticed by the human eye.
For any type of preparation (except for drying), mushrooms cost boil. Honey mushrooms are boiled for 45-50 minutes and it is better to do this in two waters, first bring to a boil in one water, then drain it yo and pour a new one, then cook for 45 minutes.Cooking oil takes 30 minutes, white - at least 40 minutes, l chanterelles will require 25 minutes, milk mushrooms, waves and russula - 20-30 minutes. Milk mushrooms must first be soaked in salt water for 2 hours. ATDuring cooking, you need to periodically remove the foam that forms on the surface.
After cooking, the mushrooms need to be thrown into a colander, let the water drain and move on to the next step: frying or canning.
Now let's talk about another version of the workpiece. Dry mushrooms can be done in several ways:
1) in the sun - it is important that the cut pieces do not touch each other;
2) in the oven at a temperature of 45-70 degrees with the door ajar for ventilation;
3) in the microwave - for this you will need to run the cycle at least three times for 20 minutes with five-minute airing pauses.
Cool the dried mushrooms, transfer to a tightly closed jar and store in a closet. Little secret: before cooking sushi dishes yo soak mushrooms in warm milk and add a sprig of rosemary to it. Mushrooms will acquire a unique taste and aroma.
Harvested mushrooms should be cleaned and processed as soon as possible. This is usually done on the day of collection or, in extreme cases, the next day, but then the mushrooms must be removed from the container and, spread out in a loose layer, stored in a cool place. When cleaning, they are sorted depending on the method of further processing.
The most common mushroom processing methods are drying, salting and pickling.
You can dry all tubular mushrooms, and not just white mushrooms, birch and aspen. Drying is the main way of processing spring mushrooms - lines and morels. This method is good for autumn and raincoats.
Milk mushrooms, mushrooms, volnushki, whites, grays, valuis, bitters and russula go to salting. Boletus mushrooms can also be salted, but this method of processing them is rarely used.
For pickling and canning, tubular mushrooms are used, and from lamellar ones - greenfinch, ringed cap, chanterelle, honey mushrooms, pig and champignons.
Young mushrooms are marinated and preserved, and larger specimens are dried and salted. When processing, it is desirable to separate mushrooms by type in order to preserve the taste characteristics of each of them.
DRYING
Drying is the easiest way to process mushrooms, ensuring their preservation for a long time. Peeled mushrooms should not be washed, otherwise they dry worse, and the flesh of the porcini mushroom turns gray. To speed up drying, the caps and legs of large mushrooms are cut into several parts.
Mushrooms are dried in a Russian stove, over a stove and in an oven. You can dry them on kerosene stoves and gas burners.
Mushrooms are planted on wooden sticks, which are placed on the side squares of a gas stove or, when dried on a kerosene stove, placed on the edges of a galvanized basin and put on fire. Drying continues for several hours.
With all drying methods, mushrooms should first be dried at a temperature of 40-50 ° C, and then dried at a temperature of 60-75 °. At a higher drying temperature, the taste, aroma and color of mushrooms deteriorate.
Properly dried mushrooms bend slightly, break well, but do not crumble. Dried, but not burned, mushrooms can be ground into powder and used to make sauces.
Dried mushrooms must be stored in a dry place, away from products containing a large amount of moisture. Store them in closed glass jars or plastic bags. Damp mushrooms are dried again.
Dried mushrooms can be powdered. To do this, they are ground in a coffee mill or crushed in a mortar and sieved. Mushroom powder is used to prepare sauces, gravy, etc. Before use, it is poured with warm water for 20-30 minutes.
SALTING
There are three ways to pickle mushrooms: cold, hot and dry.
The cold method is the most common. First, the mushrooms are soaked in water, changing it at least twice a day. Milk mushrooms, volnushki, mushrooms and russula are enough to soak for a day, and valui and bitters are better for two or three days.
Soaked mushrooms are placed on sieves and washed with cold water. Then the mushrooms are placed with their hats down in layers 3-5 centimeters thick in a washed and steamed barrel, clean enameled or glassware. Each layer of mushrooms is sprinkled with salt at the rate of 3-3.5% by weight of the mushrooms.
To give the mushrooms a flavor, blackcurrant leaves, garlic, bay leaves, allspice, etc. are added in small quantities.
With cold salting, mushrooms are ready for food no earlier than a month later.
In a hot way, you can salt all tubular and agaric mushrooms. Peeled mushrooms are placed in an enamel bowl, poured with water and put on fire. With the onset of boiling, the mushrooms are gently stirred and the foam is removed.
The duration of cooking, from the moment of boiling, is 10, and the openings and chanterelles are 25-30 minutes. Then the mushrooms are laid out on a sieve and the water is allowed to drain, after which they are placed in layers of 3-5 centimeters in a clean container and sprinkled with salt at the rate of 300 - 350 grams of salt per 10 kilograms of raw mushrooms. The last layer of mushrooms is sprinkled with salt more thickly. Mushrooms containing caustic milky juice, after boiling, are washed on a sieve with cold water. Spices are placed on the bottom and on top.
The advantage of hot pickling over cold pickling is that the mushrooms are ready to eat in a few days.
Instead of boiling before pickling, blanching mushrooms can be used.
Peeled and washed mushrooms are placed on a sieve and poured with plenty of boiling water, kept over steam or dipped in boiling water. Then they are quickly cooled by pouring cold boiled water and kept in a draft. Salt, like raw mushrooms. Blanched mushrooms are ready to eat in 4-5 days.
The dry salting method is rarely used and only when harvesting mushrooms. Mushrooms are not washed, but only wiped with a rag and sprinkled with salt. You can use them no earlier than a month later.
From above, the mushrooms are covered with a clean white cloth or gauze, and then with a wooden circle, on which a load is placed. (oppression). Mushrooms should always be covered with brine. They should be stored in a cool place, at a temperature not lower than 0 and not higher than +5°C. If mold appears, it is necessary to rinse the fabric, circle and container walls with hot water.
PICKLING
Porcini, aspen, boletus, birch mushrooms are most suitable for pickling, and from lamellar mushrooms - mushrooms, chanterelles, annular cap, etc. It is advisable to marinate each type of mushroom separately. Young, strong mushrooms are selected for pickling. The roots are marinated separately.
Before cooking, aspen and birch trees should be poured over with boiling water and soaked in this water for 7-10 minutes, then rinsed with cold water. This marinade is protected from blackening.
There are two ways to pickle mushrooms: boil them in a marinade or, after boiling them in salt water, pour the marinade over them.
First way
Pour 1/3 cup of water, 2/3 cup of vinegar per 1 kilogram of fresh mushrooms into an enamel pan and add a tablespoon of salt. After the solution boils, mushrooms are placed in it and boiled over low heat, stirring gently and removing the foam. The duration of cooking hats - 8-10 minutes, legs - 15-20 minutes. Chanterelles and mushrooms are boiled for 25-30 minutes.
When the mushrooms begin to settle to the bottom, boiling is completed. Before the end of cooking, add a teaspoon of granulated sugar, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and citric acid on the tip of a knife.
The cooled mushrooms are transferred to jars and poured to the top with the cooled marinade.
Second way
Mushrooms are boiled in salted water (2 tablespoons per 1 liter of water), after which they are laid out on a sieve to drain water, and laid out in jars. Banks are filled with chilled marinade at the rate of 250-300 grams of marinade per 1 kilogram of mushrooms.
To prepare the marinade, pour 0.4 liters of water into the pan, put an incomplete teaspoon of salt, 6 peppercorns, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and citric acid on the tip of a knife. All this is boiled over low heat for 20-30 minutes, cooled a little and add 1/3 cup of vinegar.
To protect the mushrooms from mold, a thin layer of vegetable oil is poured on top. The product should be stored in a cool place at a temperature of about +5°C.
Pickled mushrooms are ready to eat immediately after cooking.
BOILING
This method of processing mushrooms is used in cases where it is desirable to cook and store mushrooms without the use of acetic acid.
Mushrooms are cooked and boiled in the same way as for pickling, but the amount of salt is increased to 6% (0.6 kilograms of salt per 10 kilograms of mushrooms), and spices are not added.
In this way, all mushrooms suitable for pickling can be processed.
CANNING
Salted and pickled mushrooms can be canned. Such processing allows you to keep them longer in the absence of a cold room.
For long-term storage, mushrooms are salted, dried, pickled, rolled into jars. There are many ways to preserve. Some housewives soak the mushrooms before salting, others pour boiling water over them, others boil them, and still others consider it unnecessary.
Each housewife proceeds from her experience, her tastes and uses her own methods of processing mushrooms.
Take, for example, one of the most controversial issues regarding whether or not mushrooms should be soaked and boiled before salting? There can be no single answer here, in each case it is necessary to act differently. So, if we are talking about salting mushrooms, then connoisseurs and connoisseurs not only do not boil or soak mushrooms, but even, if possible, try not to wash them so as not to impair taste and reduce nutritional value. However, as a rule, it is still necessary to wash, since individual specks, needles, grass are tightly glued to the mushroom cap.
Another thing is when you need to prepare aspen, pepper, black and others for salting. In these cases, some mushrooms will have to be not only soaked for a long time (2-3 days), but also boiled.
Therefore, you need to be careful and careful when rolling them into jars with metal lids.
What are we to conclude? Is it necessary to abandon the conservation of mushrooms and stop only at the traditional, centuries-old methods - salting and drying? Of course not. You can use a variety of harvesting methods, if you comply with all the necessary conditions (acidity of the environment, the amount of salt, storage temperature). However, mushrooms salted in tubs and barrels, as well as dried, remain the safest.
Cold salting with pre-soaking. Selected mushrooms are freed from forest debris, washed and poured with cold water. Soaking times are different: mushrooms - 3-4 hours, volushki and whites - 1 day, milk mushrooms and podgruzdkov - from 2 to 5 days, valuev - from 2 to 6 days. Moreover, the water, as a rule, is salted and changed every 3-4 hours. Soaked mushrooms are laid in layers of 5-7 cm and each layer is sprinkled with salt at the rate of 30-50 g per 1 kg of mushrooms. Various leaves and spices are placed on the bottom and on top, pressed down with oppression: a wooden circle is placed on the mushrooms, and a well-washed stone or a jar of water is placed on it. Dill, horseradish leaves, currants, cherries, peppers, bay leaves, mint, and garlic are used as spices. When the mushrooms settle, new portions are added to them and pressed down with oppression. Salted mushrooms are stored in a cold cellar or on a glacier at a temperature of 0 ° C.
Cold salting without soaking. If you do not dwell on the features of the Volga, Vyatka and Ural recipes, then in general terms they boil down to the following. Mushrooms are thoroughly cleaned of forest debris, washed twice in cold water, stacked in layers in barrels, salted at the rate of 30-40 g of salt per 1 kg of mushrooms. The terms of readiness of mushrooms: mushrooms - 5-7 days, milk mushrooms and podgruzdkov - 30 days, volushki and whites - 40 days, valuev - 50 days. It is very important that the mushrooms are stored in a cool place and at a constant temperature. In rural conditions, this is achieved in ordinary cellars. Spices are not used with this salting method.
Hot salting. It is used to speed up the preparation of mushrooms. Mushrooms selected for salting are boiled in an enameled saucepan in salted water for 10 minutes (honey mushrooms, valui, russula, chanterelles - 25-30 minutes). Then they are thrown into a colander, cooled, and mushrooms containing milky juice (milk mushrooms, volushki, putiki) are washed with cold water. After cooling, they are placed in layers 5-7 cm thick in barrels and salted at the rate of 30 g of salt per 1 kg of mushrooms. Spices are placed at the bottom of the barrel and on top, pressed with oppression, put in a cool place or sealed in glass jars. Sometimes onions and citric acid are added.
Pickled autumn mushrooms. Sort autumn mushrooms (honey agarics, volnushki, podorshniks, euphorbia and other bitter mushrooms), cut off the roots, rinse the mushrooms, put them in a barrel and pour water for a week, changing the water daily. Then dip the mushrooms in salted boiling water, boil for 15 minutes, discard, let the water drain and put warm in a tub in dense rows, sprinkling with finely chopped tarragon, garlic and dill. Cover the mushrooms with gauze or a piece of linen cloth, put a circle on top with oppression so that the liquid comes out on top of the circle. After 2 weeks the mushrooms are ready.
Pickling
Marinating is the treatment of cooked mushrooms with acetic or citric acid with the addition of spices. Pickled, as a rule, only young freshly picked mushrooms that can retain their shape in boiling water. First of all, the mushrooms are washed, and then sorted by type. This is necessary, firstly, due to the fact that each species has its own flavors and it is not advisable to confuse them. Secondly, when marinating, for example, boletus and oil in the same bowl, the oil will turn black, and the boletus will be digested and tasteless. To exclude a change in the color of the mushrooms after cleaning and grinding, they are immediately thrown into salted or acidified water.
Prepared mushrooms are placed in a saucepan, spices are added and water is poured at the rate of 1 cup per 1 kg of mushrooms. This water during the cooking process will gradually evaporate and be replaced by mushroom juice. All spices, except for salt and acetic acid, are put into mushrooms before cooking. Salt is added at the end, and acetic acid is recommended to be poured in after removing the mushrooms from the heat. If pickling is done with citric acid, then it is added before cooking. This eliminates the browning of the mushrooms. Caps of porcini mushrooms turn yellowish-orange, legs will be pale white. In addition, citric acid does not adversely affect the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and liver.
During cooking, mushrooms should be stirred all the time with a wooden stirrer, making circular movements. Cooking times for mushrooms vary. So, aspen mushrooms, as the strongest mushrooms, should be cooked longer. The readiness of mushrooms is determined by lowering them into a glass of water: if the mushroom sinks, then cooking can be completed, if it floats, continue.
The amount of spices for butter, boletus and boletus will be somewhat different than for porcini mushrooms. For 1 kg of white, 2 bay leaves, 5 black and allspice peas, 3 carnation flowers, cinnamon on the tip of a knife, up to 50 g of salt and 2 g of 80% vinegar essence are required. For butter, boletus and boletus, you need 50 g of dill (stems and leaves), 10 g of garlic, 3 bay leaves, 20 small leaves of black currant and up to 60 g of salt. Dill is removed after cooking.
Marinated mushrooms without
pre-boiling
For 1 kg of mushrooms, take 1/3 cup of water, 2/3 cup of vinegar, add 1 tablespoon of salt, bring the liquid to a boil, put the mushrooms and cook for 10 to 30 minutes. Mushrooms with a dense tissue, such as boletus, champignons, porcini, need to be boiled for 20-30 minutes. Bitter mushrooms (valui, svinushki) are boiled for about 25 minutes. The foam is removed and continue to cook until the marinade clarifies and the mushrooms settle to the bottom. 2-3 minutes before the end of cooking, add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 5 peas of allspice, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and citric acid at the tip of a knife to the pan. After that, the mushrooms are cooled, laid out in jars and poured with the cooled marinade. Store pickled mushrooms at a temperature of 1-8 ° C.
Mushrooms marinated without hermetic closure
In the Urals, pickled mushrooms are placed in boiled glass jars with a capacity of 1 liter, poured with marinade so that all mushrooms are covered, covered with two layers of parchment paper and tied with twine. Such mushrooms are stored in a vegetable pit or underground, placing jars on the ground so that there is a constant temperature. Long-term observations have shown that mushrooms are well preserved, and there are no cases of spoilage.
If for state preparations it is recommended to dry only tubular mushrooms, then almost all mushrooms that do not have a bitter taste can be dried at home. For drying, fresh, benign, not dried mushrooms are selected. They dry in the oven, in the oven, in the sun, on the river bank in metal barrels and in special ovens, in pits lined with stones. It is important that drying begins gradually so that the mushrooms dry out and do not boil. It is best, of course, to dry in a Russian oven. If you make a simple device that allows you to dry mushrooms in several rows, you can significantly increase the yield of dry mushrooms from the same oven area and improve their quality. And mushrooms with low taste can be used to make very tasty sauces and seasonings.
Dried mushroom processing. Sort dry mushrooms, rinse, soak in cold water for 2-3 hours (2.5 liters of water per 100 g of mushrooms). After that, cook without salt. When the mushrooms are boiled soft and become soft, put them in a colander and rinse with boiled water. Mushrooms cooked in this way are used to prepare various dishes.
Mushroom caviar for long-term storage
For the preparation of caviar, dried boletus, boletus and other mushrooms are taken, which are well soaked. They are boiled for an hour and passed through a meat grinder, salted to taste, mixed with overcooked onions, vegetable oil is added and this whole mixture is stewed in a sealed container for 15 minutes. Stewed caviar is seasoned with citric acid or tomato puree sauce and pepper.
For 200 g of dry mushrooms, 100 g of vegetable oil, 150 g of onions, 200 g of tomato puree, salt to taste are consumed.
For long-term storage, mushroom caviar can be preserved.
Mushrooms fried for future use
Cut the selected and washed mushrooms into pieces, fry in oil. Place hot in glass jars, previously boiled in water and dried over a fire. Close with a capron lid and put in a cool place. For 1 kg of mushrooms take 10-20 g of salt and 50 g of oil.
frozen mushrooms
Mushrooms can be stored in the refrigerator until the new year. Select the hats of white, boletus, boletus. Rinse thoroughly, remove debris and boil. When the mushrooms have cooled, wrap them in cellophane and put them in the freezer. With the onset of cold weather, they can be stored on the balcony. Frozen mushrooms are a good seasoning for first courses, but they are most often fried.
Preservation of boiled mushrooms
Prepared fresh mushrooms are boiled in a 2% salt solution, transferred to sterile jars, filled with the remaining broth to the edges of the jar, rolled up with sterile metal lids and placed upside down until completely cooled (6-12 hours). This position of the jar makes it possible to determine their tightness and excludes the ingress of air during cooling. In winter, mushrooms go to soups and fried dishes.
Preservation of salted mushrooms
If we take into account that salting is also a method of preservation, then in translation it will sound like "preservation of canned mushrooms." The essence of the method lies in the fact that a month after salting, when the mushrooms are ready and lose their bitterness, they are washed with boiled water and pasteurized again. From a hygienic point of view, this harvesting method is inappropriate, since mushrooms lose their nutritional value during additional processing, become less stable during storage and more dangerous when consumed.
Mushroom mushrooms are a true decoration of a mushroom basket and a source of justified pride for the picker. The light, fragrant pulp of porcini mushrooms, which does not change color during heat treatment, has excellent taste, contains a lot of protein and biologically important trace elements. In order for these forest trophies to have maximum nutritional value and appetizing appearance, you need to know how to clean porcini mushrooms carefully and correctly. It is best to prepare for this before going on a “quiet hunt” and clean the collected mushrooms right in the forest.
Before a mushroom trip, you need to stock up on a knife, a small brush and, if you plan to collect for drying, a soft cloth or paper towel.
A large mature porcini mushroom immediately attracts attention and is especially pleasing to the eye. However, if the leg of such a handsome man is thoroughly eaten away by worms, the flesh has become loose, and the tubular layer of the cap has acquired a dark green color, it is unsuitable for collection. It is better to look for young strong relatives nearby - after all, mushrooms usually grow in families.
When collecting porcini mushrooms, they must be carefully unscrewed (cutting off, you will leave a fairly large part of the stem in the forest substrate) and immediately thoroughly clean them from forest debris - needles, fallen leaves and moss. Particular attention should be paid to the stem and its base, since it is here that lumps of soil accumulate, in which dangerous bacteria nest.
Contaminated places need to be scraped off or cut off, and also checked for wormholes in the leg. If there are few passages in the dense pulp, the affected areas must be immediately cut out so that the mushroom worms do not continue their feast and move to other mushrooms as they are collected.
Then the fruiting bodies are cleaned with a stocked brush. Porcini mushrooms intended for drying, after the initial forest processing, will need to be further cleaned by wiping with a cloth or paper towel. As a result, the most time-consuming part of the processing of porcini mushrooms turns out to be done in the forest.
How to properly clean these mushrooms
If mushrooms are brought already peeled, it remains to carefully sort them out and clean them a little, eliminating the remaining errors. In the event that the primary processing has not been carried out in advance, you will have to do it at home, and no later than 5 hours after harvesting - discard old mushrooms eaten by worms, remove areas of pulp with small wormholes, shake off forest litter, scrape off soil pollution.
Further processing depends on what dish or preparation the forest production is intended for. Consider how to properly clean mushrooms with different cooking methods:
- for soup, fruiting bodies will need to be cut so that everything that goes into the pan is approximately the same size - then the pieces will boil evenly and ripen at the same time. The mushroom dressing prepared in this way is washed under running water and loaded into a saucepan with boiling water, which will turn into a rich broth with a magical aroma;
- for frying, mushrooms are also cut evenly and, if they are perfectly cleaned without rinsing, they are sent to a pan with heated vegetable oil. If there are still doubts about the quality of cleaning, chopped mushrooms are washed quickly so that they do not have time to absorb a lot of water. Then they dry it on a paper or regular towel and start frying;
- for pickling, in which it is especially important to completely remove the slightest traces of forest soil, the legs are treated especially carefully, scraping and brushing them under a stream of cool water. Well-peeled fruiting bodies are cut if necessary, washed and marinated according to the chosen recipe;
- for freezing mushrooms, after a thorough primary cleaning, they only wipe it with a soft and slightly damp cloth. Excess water increases the weight and volume of the frozen workpiece, and also worsens its taste;
- for drying, well-cleaned fruiting bodies are only rubbed, but in no case washed - moisture easily saturates the porous pulp, but leaves it with difficulty, so that the prepared raw material will deteriorate and not dry. Peeled fruiting bodies, wiped with a soft cloth, are cut into layers about a centimeter thick and, under suitable conditions, dried until tender.
The texture of the legs and caps of porcini mushrooms varies markedly - the legs, as a rule, are denser and tougher. Therefore, when cleaning, the leg and hat parts are often separated, and then they are prepared separately.
If porcini mushrooms are picked shortly after rain and are heavily soiled, they are briefly soaked in salted cold water and then washed. They do the same if a few wormholes still remain in the pulp. Soaked and then washed mushrooms can be used without hesitation for boiling and pickling, they are less suitable for frying, and they definitely should not be frozen and dried.
Porcini mushrooms are not without reason considered a particularly valuable mushroom raw material - in their multicomponent composition, in addition to aromatic and nutritious ingredients, there are substances with antitumor and tonic properties. The safety of unique biological complexes largely depends on the thorough, correct and timely cleaning of porcini mushrooms before cooking.
