Quick cleaning of mushrooms before cooking

Collecting a good harvest of honey mushrooms in the forest is only half the battle. The main problem awaits lovers of "silent hunting" already at home. Cleaning and cooking mushrooms is what can ultimately confuse even the most patient and calm mushroom picker. The fact is that this type of fruiting bodies grows in the forest by large families, and each fungus is mainly small in size. In addition, honey agaric is a perishable product and is not subject to long transportation, so their primary processing should take place immediately upon arrival home. And if the crop is large, then cleaning each mushroom from dirt and debris will take a significant amount of time and effort.

Cleaning mushrooms before drying

Is there any way to facilitate my work in such an important matter? We hasten to reassure you, because there are ways that will make cleaning and cooking honey mushrooms a pleasure.

So, the initial stage of preparation of honey mushrooms consists of sorting. It is necessary to disassemble the fruiting bodies by size and discard all wormy and damaged specimens. If only the leg is damaged, then do not discard the whole fungus, but leave the hats. The further process of cleaning honey mushrooms will depend on exactly how you plan to process them. So, if you want to dry the mushrooms, then soaking is contraindicated in this case. It is best to take a dry sponge and wipe the hat of each fruiting body. You should also remove the film under the hat and remove the "skirt" from the leg. If you suddenly found bugs on the plates of honey mushrooms under a hat, don’t be afraid, this isn’t scary. Just take a dry kitchen knife and remove them.

I must say that large and slightly damaged honey mushrooms are suitable for drying, but in this situation, you need to cut off all damaged places with a knife. Then put the mushrooms on paper in a warm, ventilated place.

Cleaning mushrooms before pickling, pickling, freezing, braising and frying

As for the cleaning of honey mushrooms before pickling, pickling, freezing, stewing, frying, etc., here the performance technique is fundamentally different from the previous one. So, for pickling and pickling, it is recommended to choose small mushrooms - they are tastier, and in addition, have a more appetizing appearance. Therefore, cleaning mushrooms of small mushrooms is not a task for the faint of heart. However, there is a way out of this situation, which will be useful for all fans to collect mushrooms to know about. So, all the mushrooms need to be soaked in warm water for 1 hour. In this case, add to it sea or table salt at the rate of 1 tbsp. l on 1 liter of water. The fact is that salt perfectly opens the pores of the fungus, so dirt and sand will come out even from hard to reach places. Moreover, if there are worms in the fruiting body, then thanks to the saline solution they will appear on the surface in a few minutes. But do not overdo it, because a long stay in the water (more than 1 hour) will make the mushrooms lose their taste.

After the set time has passed, honey mushrooms are transferred to a colander and washed under running water. Then it is recommended that the fungi again look for strong contaminants and remove them with a knife, if any. Thus sort through all fruiting bodies and rinse with water. However, be sure to cut off the bottom of the legs before soaking, as they are very stiff.This is one of the most popular and effective ways to quickly clean mushrooms.

After cleaning, honey mushrooms need to be boiled in salted water, and only then proceed to cooking. The boiling time is 15-20 minutes, while the resulting foam is removed in the process.

As you can see, if you take into account some tips for the proper cleaning of honey mushrooms, you can successfully cope with it without making much effort.