Drying autumn mushrooms: recipes for the winter

To prepare mushrooms for the winter at home, there are several ways: pickling, pickling, pickling and freezing. All of them are in great demand and are always appreciated for their taste. However, there is another popular type of harvesting mushrooms for the winter.

Today in our article we will talk about drying mushrooms. I must say that this option is very easy to prepare. Even a novice hostess will be able to cope with it. Drying mushrooms for the winter will make harvesting in demand for a wide variety of dishes. Dried fruit bodies can be used to make soup and mushroom borscht, they can be boiled and fried with potatoes, made an excellent sauce for meat dishes, or even marinated for the arrival of guests.

Do mushrooms need to be washed before drying?

Drying recipes for the winter allow you to save all useful substances and nutrients to the fruiting bodies: iron, manganese, potassium, iodine. However, before the drying process, mushrooms undergo pre-treatment. It is worth saying that for drying mushrooms, you should always choose healthy, strong and not wormy specimens. Next, the mushrooms are cleaned of forest debris, the remnants of grass and leaves are removed from the hats, and the lower part of the leg is cut off. Note that it is best to make cuts with a stainless steel knife blade so that there is no darkening of the incised areas.

Many housewives ask if mushrooms should be washed before drying? Here we note immediately that there are different opinions on this matter. However, experienced mushroom pickers advise washing 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 adversely affect the shelf life, and the 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 pollution is too large, then you should still rinse them under running water, and then put them on a towel to remove unnecessary moisture. After the initial preparation, mushrooms can be dried in several available ways.

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Recipe for drying mushrooms in the oven on a baking sheet

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Dry mushrooms are usually dried whole, but if they are royal mushrooms or large specimens, then they are cut into pieces. Drying mushrooms at home is carried out in the oven. This method is considered the simplest and most convenient for many housewives.

Drying mushrooms in the oven is carried out on a baking sheet at a temperature of 60-70 ° C. The fruiting bodies are distributed in a thin layer on the grills or baking sheets, the kitchen appliance is heated and the mushrooms are placed. The door is left slightly ajar so that evaporation can escape, and there is also free access for air circulation. Drying lasts approximately 45-48 hours, depending on the size of mushrooms. To check the finished product, you need to bend a piece of the mushroom; if it bends and breaks easily, the workpiece is ready. Mushrooms dried in this way are an unusual element for first and second courses, because they contain trace elements useful for the human body.

Drying process again in the dryer

Honey mushrooms can be dried in homemade dryers that use boxes and free access to drafts. The boxes are made of plywood, and instead of the bottom, meshes with cells of no more than 12 mm are installed. The number of boxes should not exceed 8-10 pieces, and the entire structure is placed at a level of 40 cm. The upper part is covered with a lid, which will provide shade for the workpiece.

The dryer is located in a draft, however, in order to speed up the process of drying mushrooms, it is supplied with an air collector. The drying process of mushrooms in the dryer is as follows: the mushrooms are cleaned of sand, grass and leaves, the legs are cut off, laid out in size on the grates in one layer. Due to air circulation throughout the structure, drying of honey mushrooms occurs. The result of the resulting product depends on weather conditions and drafts. If the weather is sunny outside, then boxes with mushrooms can be placed in the sun for 2-3 hours, which will allow the mushrooms to dry.

The boxes are taken out of the dryer quite easily, so it’s very easy to see how mushrooms are dried. The time for drying mushrooms in the dryer can vary from 1 to 2 weeks. However, you are not required to turn over the mushroom nets or take them out periodically.

Drying mushrooms in the microwave at home (with video)

In today’s world, almost every kitchen has a microwave oven. Thanks to this device, you can not only warm up “yesterday’s pies”. Drying mushrooms in the microwave allows the mushrooms not to lose their beneficial substances. Fruit bodies are cleaned, part of the stem is cut off, placed on a plate and the regulator is set to a power of 100 to 150 W for 20 minutes. After this time, open the microwave door for 10 minutes to air out. Thanks 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 mushrooms in the microwave is quite laborious and lengthy, especially if the oven has a small volume. It is better to harvest mushrooms in such conditions if their number does not exceed 3 kg. For large batches, it would be good to use special equipment for drying products. We offer you to watch a visual video of drying mushrooms, carried out at home:

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Drying autumn mushrooms in a convection oven

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It is common for a conventional gas oven to have one or two lower burners. Baking takes place on one or more levels on which a baking sheet is placed. In this case, only the bottom receives heating, and the top is browned due to convection, i.e., the random 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 mushrooms in a convection oven involves several processes, the first of which is drying.

The oven is heated to 50 ° C and the peeled mushrooms are laid in one layer on a baking sheet for drying. If the temperature is raised higher, the mushrooms begin to release protein droplets, which makes drying difficult, and this, in turn, will worsen the final quality of the product: mushrooms will lose their taste, aroma and color. It is worth saying that the convection mode should be turned on with the oven. However, the door must be kept open throughout the process so that there is continuity of air circulation. If the door is closed, the mushrooms in the oven do not dry out, but begin to bake.

After drying, the main drying process begins. When the mushrooms stop sticking to your hands, increase the oven temperature to 80°C. They don’t raise the temperature anymore so that the aroma, color and taste of mushrooms do not suffer. It is impossible to determine the exact drying time, because mushrooms of different sizes dry at different speeds. To do this, honey mushrooms are checked by touch, turned over and removed those that have dried. The rest of the mushrooms are left in the oven to dry.

Harvesting mushrooms for the winter: drying in the bath

Drying mushrooms in the bath helps to carry out the process in a dry, warm and well-ventilated area. The quality of drying again will depend on how your bath is heated. The best option would be drying in an oven with an open damper. Mushrooms must be placed on heating grates so that dry air is supplied and excess moisture is removed from the mushrooms. The main conditions for drying mushrooms at home in the bath remain the same: clean, cut off the legs, do not wash and do not let them touch on the grate. With such drying, the mushrooms turn out to be dry and light, with pressure they bend a little, and with strong pressure they break. During the drying process, the water content in mushrooms is reduced from 80% to 15%, and the aroma is enhanced several times.

Drying mushrooms for the winter in an air grill

Drying in an air grill is considered another popular way of harvesting mushrooms. This option is designed for a small amount of mushrooms. The process is quite simple, but requires compliance with a certain regimen. It takes place similarly to the traditional method of drying mushrooms. Be sure to leave an opening between the lid and the working container of the device. In addition, you need to take out the grills with mushrooms several times so that they cool down, 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. The fruit bodies are laid out on the grills of the air grill and the drying mode is selected. The advantage of this process is that mushrooms do not darken and do not bake, as in the oven. The whole process of drying the fruiting bodies is prepared in hot air currents. Thanks to the program mode and the timer, drying mushrooms in the air grill is considered convenient and does not take much time. And mushrooms retain their flavor and valuable nutrients. Soups and sauces are obtained from mushrooms dried in an air grill, especially delicious dishes.

The recipe for drying mushrooms in email. dryer

The proposed recipe for drying mushrooms in an electric dryer is the best option that saves a lot of your time. In addition, the temperature in the apartment does not rise, and the mushrooms are beautiful and durable.

Drying again in el. dryer is as follows: after preliminary cleaning, mushrooms are laid out on special trays and placed in a dryer. Mode III is switched on at 60°C, which is designed specifically for drying mushrooms. Already after 7-10 hours you get the desired result – an excellent preparation for the winter from dried mushrooms.

If, as a result of any ongoing process, honey mushrooms have dried out, then mushroom powder can be made from them. Such a product gives the dishes a rich mushroom aroma and taste. In addition, it is very simple to make it: grind mushrooms with a blender and put them in a glass jar or paper bag for storage.