Drying autumn mushrooms: recipes for the winter
Today in our article we will talk specifically about drying mushrooms. I must say that this option is very easy to prepare. Even a novice housewife will be able to cope with it. Drying honey mushrooms for the winter will make the workpiece in demand for a wide variety of dishes. From dried fruit bodies, you can cook soup and mushroom borscht, they can be boiled and fried with potatoes, make an excellent sauce for meat dishes or even marinated at the arrival of guests.
Content
- Do mushrooms need to be washed before drying?
- The recipe for drying mushrooms in the oven on a baking sheet
- Drying process of honey mushrooms in the dryer
- Drying honey mushrooms in the microwave at home (with video)
- Drying autumn mushrooms in the oven with convection
- Harvesting honey mushrooms for the winter: drying in the bath
- Drying honey agarics for the winter
- The recipe for drying mushrooms in el. dryer
Do mushrooms need to be washed before drying?
Recipes for drying honey mushrooms for the winter allow all beneficial substances and nutrients to be stored in fruit bodies: iron, manganese, potassium, iodine. However, honey agarics undergo pre-treatment before the drying process. It is worth saying that for drying mushrooms you always need to choose healthy, strong and not wormy specimens. Then the mushrooms are cleaned of forest debris, the remains of grass and leaves are removed from the hats, the lower part of the leg is cut. Note that it is best to make slices with a stainless steel knife blade so that there is no darkening of the incised areas.
Many housewives ask whether mushrooms should be washed before drying. Here we note immediately that there are different opinions on this matter. However, experienced mushroom pickers are advised to wash only those mushrooms that will be used for pickling or pickling. Before the drying process, mushrooms are not washed, as they have the ability to quickly absorb liquid. In the future, this will badly affect the shelf life, and mushrooms can quickly deteriorate. It will be enough to simply clean them with a dry sponge and remove forest debris from the hats. But if the impurities are too large, you should still rinse them under running water, and then put them on a towel to remove unnecessary moisture. After the initial preparation, honey mushrooms can be started to dry in several available ways.
The recipe for drying mushrooms in the oven on a baking sheet
Honey agarics are usually dried whole, but if they are royal honey agarics or large specimens, then they are cut into pieces. Drying honey agarics at home is carried out in the oven. This method is considered the most simple and convenient for many housewives.
Drying honey mushrooms in the oven is carried out on a baking sheet at a temperature of 60-70 ° C. The fruit bodies are distributed in a thin layer on the wire rack or baking sheets, they heat the kitchen appliance and put the mushrooms. The door is left slightly ajar so that evaporation comes out, and there was also free access for air circulation. Drying lasts approximately 45-48 hours, depending on the size of honey agarics. To check the finished product, you need to bend a piece of the mushroom, if it bends and breaks easily, the workpiece is ready.Honey mushrooms dried in this way are an unusual element for the first and second courses, because they contain trace elements useful for the human body.
Drying process of honey mushrooms in the dryer
Honey mushrooms can be dried in home-made dryers that use boxes and free access to drafts. Boxes are made of plywood, and instead of the bottom, nets with cells no more than 12 mm are installed. The number of boxes should not exceed 8-10 pcs., And the whole structure is placed at a level of 40 cm. The upper part is covered with a lid that will provide shadow to the workpiece.
The dryer is located in a draft, however, to speed up the process of drying the mushrooms, it is equipped with an air collector. The drying process of honey mushrooms in the dryer is as follows: mushrooms are cleaned of sand, grass and leaves, legs are cut, laid out on the size of the grid in one layer. Due to air circulation throughout the structure, honey agarics are dried. The result of the product obtained depends on weather conditions and drafts. If the weather is sunny, then boxes of mushrooms can be put for 2-3 hours in the sun, which will allow the mushrooms to dry.
Drawers from the dryer can be removed quite easily, so it’s very easy to see how honey agarics are dried. The time for drying honey mushrooms in the dryer can vary from 1 to 2 weeks. However, you are not required to turn over the mesh with mushrooms or periodically remove them.
Drying honey mushrooms in the microwave at home (with video)
In today's world, almost every kitchen has a microwave. Thanks to this device, you can not only warm up “yesterday’s pies”. Drying mushrooms in the microwave allows mushrooms not to lose their beneficial substances. Fruit bodies are cleaned, part of the leg is cut off, laid on a plate and the regulator is set to power from 100 to 150 W for 20 minutes. After this time, open the microwave door for 10 minutes for ventilation. Due to this, the evaporated moisture released by the mushrooms will come out. This procedure with ventilation is repeated 4-5 times. It is worth saying that the drying process of honey mushrooms in the microwave is quite laborious and lengthy, especially if the furnace has a small volume. Harvesting honey mushrooms in such conditions is better if their number does not exceed 3 kg. For large parties, it would be good to use special equipment for drying products. We offer you to watch a visual video of mushrooms drying at home:
Drying autumn mushrooms in the oven with convection
It is common for a conventional gas oven to have one or two lower burners. Baking takes place at one or more levels on which a baking sheet is set. In this case, only the bottom gets heated, and the top is browned due to convection, i.e., the arbitrary movement of hot air in the oven. It is better to use autumn mushrooms for drying, which are the most popular among fans of mushroom dishes.
Drying honey mushrooms in a convection oven involves several processes, the first of which is drying.
The oven is heated to 50 ° C and put peeled mushrooms in one layer on a baking sheet. If you make the temperature higher, the mushrooms begin to release drops of protein, which makes drying difficult, and this in turn will worsen the final quality of the product: honey agarics will lose their taste, aroma and color. It is worth saying that the convection mode should be included with the oven. However, the door must be kept open throughout the process so that there is continuity of air circulation. If you close the door, the mushrooms in the oven do not dry, but begin to bake.
After drying, the main process of drying mushrooms begins. When the mushrooms stop sticking to their hands, the temperature of the oven is increased to 80 ° C. They do not raise the temperature anymore so that the aroma does not suffer, the color and taste of honey agarics. The exact drying time cannot be determined, because mushrooms of different sizes dry at different speeds. To do this, honey mushrooms are checked by touch, turn over and clean those that have dried. The remaining mushrooms are left in the oven for drying.
Harvesting honey mushrooms for the winter: drying in the bath
Drying honey mushrooms in the bath helps to carry out the process in a dry, warm and well-ventilated room. The quality of drying mushrooms will depend on how your bath is heated. The best option would be oven drying with an open damper. Mushrooms must be placed on the heating grates so that an influx of dry air is ensured, and excess moisture is removed from the mushrooms. The main conditions for drying mushrooms mushrooms at home in the bathhouse remain the same: clean, cut legs, do not wash and do not allow to touch on the wire rack. With such drying, the mushrooms turn out to be dry and light, with a little pressure they bend, and with a strong pressure they break. During the drying process, the water content in honey agarics decreases from 80% to 15%, and the aroma is amplified several times.
Drying honey agarics for the winter
Another popular way of harvesting honey mushrooms is considered to be drying in an air grill. This option is designed for a small number of mushrooms. The process is quite simple, but it requires compliance with a certain regime. It passes similarly to the traditional method of drying mushrooms. Be sure to leave an opening between the cover and the working capacity of the device. In addition, you need to remove the grates with mushrooms several times so that they cool, and then put them back into the air grill.
Honey mushrooms are prepared in the same way as with all other drying processes: they clean the remains of forest debris with a kitchen sponge, cut off part of the leg. Fruit bodies are laid out on the air grill grids and the drying mode is selected. The advantage of this process is that honey mushrooms do not darken and do not bake, as in the oven. The whole drying process, fruiting bodies are prepared in streams of hot air. Thanks to the program mode and timer, drying mushrooms in the air grill is considered convenient and does not take much time. And mushrooms retain their aroma and valuable nutrients. Especially delicious dishes from honey mushrooms, dried in an air grill, make soups and sauces.
The recipe for drying mushrooms in el. dryer
The proposed recipe for drying honey mushrooms in an electric dryer is the best option that saves a ton of your time. In addition, the temperature in the apartment does not increase, and the mushrooms turn out beautiful and durable.
Drying honey agarics in el. The dryer is as follows: after preliminary cleaning honey mushrooms are laid out on special trays and put into the dryer. III mode is activated at 60 ° C, which is designed specifically for drying mushrooms. Already after 7-10 hours you get the desired result - an excellent harvest for the winter from dried honey mushrooms.
If as a result of any ongoing process, honey mushrooms are overdried, then you can make mushroom powder from them. This product gives the dishes a rich mushroom aroma and taste. In addition, it is very simple to make: grind mushrooms with a blender and put them in a glass jar or paper bag for storage.
