Kira Stoletova
Champignons are one of the most popular mushrooms in the world. They are used in recipes different countries, they are suitable for artificial cultivation. In winter, it is easier to use frozen champignons: they do not lose useful properties and easy to prepare.
Beneficial features
These mushrooms are pleasant taste and a delicate aroma that persists at any cooking are recognized as a delicacy. Even if you freeze fresh chopped mushrooms, it will not worsen them. taste qualities. They are a storehouse of protein, vitamins and microelements: zinc, potassium, iron, phosphorus, and also contain 20 types of amino acids.
90% consist of water, calorie content per 100 g does not exceed 27 kcal, for which this product is valued in vegetarian cuisine and diet food especially on a salt-free diet.
Beneficial features:
- lower the level of cholesterol and glucose in the blood;
- improve memory and mental abilities of a person;
- strengthen immunity and increase resistance to diseases;
- reduce weight and improve metabolism;
- treat migraine and headache attacks;
- oil extract well heals wounds, treats psoriasis and other skin defects.
You can freeze fresh mushrooms at home. Freezing mushrooms is one of the most popular ways to extend their freshness and use them throughout the winter.
How to choose mushrooms for freezing
Freezing champignons at home begins with their purchase. You should choose fresh specimens, small champignons are tastier and more convenient to process. Large mushrooms are chosen if they plan to stuff their hats with stuffing.
When choosing, be guided by such signs of freshness:
- fresh mushrooms have a white color, sometimes with a pinkish tinge, and in overripe it is brownish and after cooking they will be hard;
- dark spots or dents on the hats are a sign of depravity and improper storage;
- the film between the stem and the cap in small ones is intact, without damage, in medium ones it may have small tears, and in large ones it may be absent;
- the aroma is rich, pleasant, intensifies when cut, without the smell of dampness;
- the surface of fresh matte, smooth, elastic; in stale ones, it is sticky, the consistency resembles a sponge.
It is necessary to approach the choice of this product for harvesting responsibly so as not to spoil the cooked dish later.
Storage at a temperature of 2°C to 4°C allows you to keep them fresh for up to 5 days, while storage at room temperature will reduce this period to 6 hours.
Freezing methods
It is possible to freeze champignons correctly, following all the stages of their preparation for this process. They must be washed under running water at room temperature, then allowed to drain and dry thoroughly. The next step in preparing for freezing champignons for the winter is to inspect them and remove dirty and damaged places, the remains of the root system. It is better to separate the hat from the stem - it will be easier to pack and avoid breaking. After that, they decide whether this product will be subjected to heat treatment and in what form the champignons will be frozen: whole or cut.
Before you freeze champignon mushrooms at home, it is important to prepare a storage room. In the freezer section of the refrigerator next to the vegetables should not be meat or fish.
To freeze whole mushrooms, they are laid out in containers or small plastic bags and tightly closed. Then you can freeze the mushrooms in the freezer in the quick freeze mode. In the future, when using, they should not be thawed so as not to darken.
The advantage of frozen sliced champignons will be their compactness and time savings during subsequent preparation for use. To do this, they are cut into plates, laid out on a flat surface and sent to freezer, after that, the frozen sliced \u200b\u200bchampignons are poured into bags and put back in the freezer. In this form, it is convenient to cook soup from them, add them when cooking potatoes or meat.
You can freeze raw champignons for the winter, as well as boil, fry in a pan or dry. They are boiled for 10-15 minutes in salted water, then cooled, laid out in a container and sent to the refrigerator directly to the freezer.
These mushrooms are also frozen in the freezer, after frying. To do this, prepared mushrooms are fried over low heat with the addition of vegetable oil until moisture evaporates, cool, pack and store in a refrigerator at a low temperature. As a result, after defrosting, such semi-finished products do not require additional heat treatment and reduce cooking time.
Defrost Rules
Mushrooms frozen in the freezer or fresh are popular among cooks. So that frozen champignons do not lose their taste, it is important not to exceed the shelf life and defrost them correctly. In the freezer in raw form, they are stored at a temperature of -18 ° C for no more than 8 months, at -20 ° C - up to one year. The shelf life of fried or boiled is much less - no more than three months.
Frozen mushrooms should be thawed gradually in a natural way or using the appropriate mode. microwave oven, in small portions, so as not to freeze again. This makes them hard and lose their taste. And when preparing some dishes (soups, casseroles and other hot snacks), they should not be thawed to avoid moisture loss.
FREEZING MUSHROOMS, MUSHROOMS | Irina Belaja
Frozen mushrooms. How to freeze mushrooms
Conclusion
Freezing champignons at home is quite simple. The process allows you to save their taste and useful properties.
Like any other mushrooms, they should be used with caution by people who have problems with digestive system suffering from pancreatitis, ulcers, liver dysfunction.
Mushrooms are harvested and stored different ways. They are pickled, salted, dried, but they remain the most delicious when frozen (more precisely, after it). Many housewives prefer this method, as it is very simple and mushrooms preserved in this way are great for cooking any dish.
How to prepare mushrooms for freezing?
Only fresh mushrooms are suitable for freezing. They should be tight, without stains or damage. Mushrooms are washed, everything superfluous is removed (remains of the root system and darkened places). Then blot each fungus with a paper towel.
It's important to know! Mushrooms are washed in running water, but do not keep in the liquid for a long time. When soaked, champignons absorb excess water, and this harms the quality of the product when frozen.
Mushrooms can be frozen raw, boiled and even fried.
Whole raw
Everything is simple here. Prepared mushrooms are laid out in bags and sent to the freezer. Excess air from cellophane must be released.
Whole, you can harvest both small mushrooms and rather large hats that are well suited for stuffing.
Raw pieces
This method is used more often, because. sliced champignons are more convenient to use.
- For freezing, prepared (washed and dried) mushrooms are cut into slices of the same thickness.
- Then they are laid out on a flat hard surface in a thin layer in one row. This condition is necessary, since frozen plates are very fragile and break easily.
- When the mushrooms are frozen, they are carefully separated from the surface, poured into bags and put away for storage in the freezer.
It's important to know! Such mushrooms do not need to be thawed before cooking - they will darken - you must immediately start cooking them.
Boiled frozen champignons
In case you want to freeze already ready mushrooms, you need to do the following:
- Rinse, put them in a saucepan, cover with water and boil for 10-15 minutes.
- Then drain in a colander and let the water drain completely.
- After that, the champignons are packaged in bags or containers and put in the freezer.
Fried mushrooms for freezing - Sliced \u200b\u200bmushrooms are laid out in a pan and fried until all the liquid has evaporated.
- After that, they are cooled and transferred to a container in which they will be stored.
- Everything, now you can send it to the freezer.
Freeze mushroom broth
If you save the mushrooms along with the broth, then you will get excellent workpiece for soup.
To do this, the mushroom broth with champignons in it is cooled, poured into a solid container (for example, a plastic food container) and sent to the freezer. After the liquid has frozen, the ice can be removed with a whole briquette and put into a bag. In this form, it will take up less space in the freezer and will last for a long time.
Important to know: mushrooms cannot be re-frozen! Therefore, they should be immediately laid out in portions with the expectation of one preparation.
Fresh frozen mushrooms are stored for a long time - until next year. But boiled or fried for more than six months in the freezer is better not to keep.
Mushrooms are frequent guests in any kitchen. This is due to the availability of this species - you can buy them in almost every store at any time of the year, and in summer and autumn they grow in abundance in forests. But in fresh they only last a few days. And if you know how to freeze champignons, then there is an opportunity to save them for more long term and enjoy them winter period, especially if the mushrooms were collected independently in the forest.
Before freezing fresh champignons, you should start preparing them for this process. Collected in the forest or grown on your own, you need to sort it out, sorting them by size and quality, and throw away spoiled ones. Fruit bodies from the store are usually sold already sorted, and those bought at spontaneous markets also need to be examined. It is best to use fruiting bodies of the same size for freezing, light, neat, without spots and dents.
Self-collected fruiting bodies are cleaned of debris and soil residues, wiped with a damp cloth, bought in a store or on the market, it is advisable to rinse well with running water. After that, they are dried, laying out on a paper or waffle towel.
Once again, the fruiting bodies of mushrooms should not be washed with running water before freezing, since they themselves contain a lot of water, and they do not remove their skin at all.
Also, for convenience, you can separate the caps from the legs - in this case, the mushrooms will break less, and it will be more convenient to use them.
Frozen champignons packed in containers are stored in the freezer at a temperature of at least -18 degrees for about a year if they were not subjected to any special treatment before being placed in the freezer.
Fried and boiled fruit bodies in a frozen state are stored for about 8 months. However, they cannot be defrosted and frozen again. It is best to decompose them in portions in separate bags or containers. In order not to violate the shelf life, a sticker with the date of freezing is stuck on each package.
It is convenient to use as a packaging for champignons plastic bags with zippers or small plastic containers. They must be washed clean.
Mushrooms can be frozen raw cut into pieces or whole. They also make blanks and processed fruit bodies. In this case, it is best to prepare various options for the winter.
It is also important to remember that after freezing, mushrooms must be cooked before eating.
How to freeze whole mushrooms
To keep fresh champignons for the winter as a whole, you should choose only small, neat mushrooms. They are packaged in small plastic bags, which must be well tied or containers that are tightly closed. Then the container is removed in the freezer. If it has a quick freeze mode, then it will be activated for 2-3 hours. In order to use frozen champignons, it is not necessary to defrost them if they have been previously washed with water.
Freezing Sliced Raw Mushrooms
To keep the mushroom fruiting bodies in sliced form, you will have to spend more time harvesting. In this case, the mushrooms are pre-washed, dried and cut into plates about 3 mm thick. Then they are laid out in one layer on a baking sheet and put in the freezer for several hours. After they are stacked in containers in layers and cleaned in the freezer.
Do not fold cut raw mushrooms into the bag immediately, as in this case they will turn into a frozen mushroom ball, break and become ugly.
Sliced frozen champignons do not need to be thawed before use. You don't need to wash them.
Freezing boiled and fried champignons
Housewives often wonder if it is possible to freeze champignons in fried or boiled form. The answer is positive: not only is it possible, but even in some cases it is necessary. This will reduce the time spent preparing meals in the future.
To get a preparation of fried champignons, they are cut into pieces in a frying pan, and then, as soon as the mushroom juice sizzles, add a little oil and mix. Mushrooms are fried until the mushroom juice has completely evaporated, after which they are cooled, packaged in bags or containers and placed in the freezer.
To boil mushrooms of this species, they are placed in cold water and put the pot on the fire. After boiling, add a little salt. Boil mushrooms for about 15 minutes, then drain, dry, place in containers or bags and freeze.
It is up to you to decide which freezing method to use, but the main thing to remember is that mushrooms that have been in the refrigerator longer than the expiration dates allow can not be used in this process.
At home, you can freeze fresh champignons bought for future use. This product is stored for a long time in the freezer of the refrigerator, its taste properties are not lost. Mushrooms can be laid whole, chopped, or simply separated from the stem so that the blanks take up less space. But regardless of the form in which the champignons will be frozen, they should be properly prepared for storage in the chamber.
Training
Purchased mushrooms should be thoroughly washed before laying in the freezer. This must be done in warm water which loosens the dirt. After that, the product is cleaned. Cut off the edge of the leg, and also clean the hats from the film.
When the champignons are washed, they must be dried before freezing. To do this, the mushrooms are laid out in a single layer on a paper towel and left at room temperature. Half an hour is enough for excess moisture to go away.
Do not put wet mushrooms in the freezer. The water will freeze, and with it the whole workpiece. It is not recommended to re-freeze the product, as in this case it loses its useful and gustatory qualities.
When preparing mushrooms for freezing, it is better to chop them finely or just separate the caps from the legs. This will greatly facilitate the freezing process, and then the workpiece will take up much less space in the chamber. You can also freeze fresh champignons after frying.
Tara
Containers
In containers, it is better to store whole mushrooms, which are suitable later for stuffing. The container, even if it is brand new and clean, should still be washed warm water and detergent.
Fold the mushrooms only in a dry container, carefully distributing them layer by layer in the container. Then the container is closed and stored in the freezer of the refrigerator.
How to properly store fresh, pickled and dried mushrooms at home?
Plastic bags
- 1. For washed and dried mushrooms, the stem is separated from the cap.
- 2. The hat is cut into plates.
- 3. The blanks are folded into a food bag.
- 4. The bag is tied tightly and put into the freezer.
Freezing fried champignons
Easy to freeze for winter fried champignons, since the output is almost ready meal, which remains only to defrost in the microwave and serve to the table, adding spices.
Mushrooms are used in the preparation of many dishes. They are grown artificially, so they are sold in stores all year round. But there are situations when mushrooms are needed urgently, but you forgot to buy them. This is where the question arises of how to freeze fresh champignons so that you have them at hand all year round.
Freezing fresh mushrooms
Young people will not do such work, as they believe that this semi-finished product can be bought in a supermarket at any time of the year. The only thing they do not take into account is that fresh mushrooms can be bought cheaper and frozen on their own, and not overpay for it.
Make a blank raw champignons very easy at home. The process consists of two stages:
- preparation of raw materials;
- treatment;
- placement in the refrigerator.
Selection of raw materials and preparation
When the product is washed and dried, you need to decide in what form it will be frozen. Since each person has his own habits and preferences, further preparation of blanks will be different for each.
Freezing raw
The great thing about this is that before using such a workpiece, it does not need to be defrosted first.
The use of fried mushrooms in cooking
Now at any time you can cook from this blank:
If you have time to prepare mushroom blanks, then you can boil or fry them before freezing. This will speed up the cooking in the future.
cook fried mushrooms and then freezing them is easy. During cooking, it is advisable not to add spices and onions to them - this will need to be done later, during the preparation of the main dish.
