How many days and how to soak the waves: before salting, before cooking, before frying

In deciduous forests, birch groves, along the edges of reservoirs, streams and lakes, you can often find volnushki – attractive-looking mushrooms with flat pink or white caps. The specifics of their preparation is such that before preparing delicious dishes, mushrooms must be processed. You should learn more about how to soak volnushki before salting, frying or cooking on the eve of the “hot” summer season of mushroom preparations.

Do I need to soak the waves

Volzhanka, or volnushka, both pink and white varieties, is most often eaten in salted form. To make the final product tasty, without bitterness, the mushrooms must be soaked before salting. The duration of the process should be 2 – 3 days, with a periodic change of water. Be sure to soak the waves before other methods of cooking: boiling, frying or pickling. This is due to the fact that this type of mushroom family, when cut, releases a bitter whitish juice, which gives an unpleasant aftertaste to the finished dish. Soaking for several days with periodic water changes allows you to get rid of this juice and, as a result, get a high-quality, tasty and healthy product.

How to soak the waves

Before soaking, the waves brought from the forest must:

• sort;
• clear;
• rinse thoroughly.

White and pink species are sorted separately, cleaning and soaking is carried out in different dishes. The legs are cut off by 2/3, the affected areas (eaten by worms or dry) are cut out. With the help of a knife, sand, earth, adhering leaves are removed. A stiff brush is suitable for cleaning, which quickly and well removes dirt. Prepared mushrooms are poured with cold, ideally settled or filtered water and left in a cool place. The waves are soaked for 2-3 days, during which the liquid is changed 5-7 times. If it becomes cloudy, then change the water more often. Salt is added to the soaking water at the rate of 5% of the total weight of the waves. Mushrooms that are ready for further cooking become soft, do not break, but bend: these are signs that the soaking process has come to an end. The mushroom mass is thrown into a colander, washed and the liquid is allowed to drain completely.

In what dish

The best option for dishes in which you need to soak the waves before cooking, frying or salting is an enameled volumetric pan. The dishes are taken in such a way that the water completely covers the mushrooms.

It is not recommended to soak the waves in a plastic bucket, as the saline solution causes the release of toxic substances that are harmful to human health. In an exceptional case, you can soak the Volzhanka in a bucket made of food-grade, not industrial plastic. A special marking on the bottom of the container will indicate the type of material.

The PVC symbol indicates that the cookware is made of polyvinyl chloride, which, in an alkaline environment, releases a significant amount of chemical compounds hazardous to human health. In such buckets, mushrooms are not soaked, and even more so, they are not salted.

In what water to soak the waves before salting

Soaking the waves before pickling or salting is performed in cold, salted water. For 10 kg of purified mushroom mass, 50 g of common, non-iodized salt and a little citric acid are added. Ideally, the water should be filtered, settled.

How to soak the waves so that they do not sour

So that the process of fermentation and souring does not begin in the soaking water, it is regularly changed. For three days, necessary for soaking the waves, the liquid is drained 6-7 times, that is, 3 times a day, while the raw material is poured with a new portion each time. When cloudy, the water is changed more often – up to 5 times a day, which avoids souring. Added salt and citric acid (10 g and 2 g per 1 liter of water) also prevents the development of fermentation. Souring can occur in case of poor cleaning and washing of the waves before soaking.

Do I need oppression when soaking waves

So that the volzhanki do not float up during soaking, they are pressed down with oppression. To do this, use a wooden circle or a glass flat plate, on which strong, flint stones are placed, enriching the mineral composition of the solution. Instead of stones, you can use an ordinary glass jar filled with water. The same oppression is useful for cold salting of representatives of the mushroom family.

How and how much to soak the waves before salting

You can salt the waves in a cold or hot way. In the first case, after soaking, they are placed in a prepared container, sprinkled with salt and spices. After they put oppression and clean for salting in a cool place. In order to completely get rid of the bitter, unpleasant aftertaste, mushroom raw materials should be soaked for 2 to 3 days, with regular water changes. Since the cold salting method does not involve any heat treatment, you should carefully consider cleaning, washing and soaking mushrooms. For hot cooking technology, the product is soaked less, optimally – two days in a cool dark place. After that, for the hot and cold salting method, the caps that have changed their color and structure are re-treated with a soft sponge, thrown into a colander so that the liquid is glass.

How much and how to soak the waves before cooking and frying

In addition to salting, the waves are soaked for a certain time before other cooking methods. To prepare fried and boiled mushroom dishes, the Volzhanka is soaked for a period of 1-2 days, with a periodic change of cold water. After that, the mushroom mass is thoroughly washed, boiled for 15 – 20 minutes, then fried or stewed in sour cream, sauce. Mushroom dishes are eaten immediately, without delay until the next day.

Volnushki are conditionally edible mushrooms that need pre-treatment before eating. It is necessary to soak the mushroom for the recommended time. Otherwise, the product will be unusable, as it can provoke poisoning with toxic poisons.

What do the waves look like after soaking

After soaking, mushroom caps become soft and pliable, completely changing their structure. Unlike raw ones, they do not break, but bend. In addition, in the process of soaking, they lose their crispy qualities. The color of the hats from light pink becomes grayish, darker. In the process of salting or other cooking methods, mushrooms change color even more, darken.

Summing up the rules for processing waves before salting, it is important to highlight the main points:

• mushrooms are sorted by type and size in order to further process each category separately;
• after that, the prepared raw materials are necessarily soaked in cold water with the addition of salt and citric acid for 2-3 days, with a change of liquid 7-8 times for the entire time;
• the liquid should completely cover the mushrooms;
• do not use metal, copper or galvanized utensils;
• hot salting is safer for health, since all bacteria die during heat treatment, and further cold salting allows the product to maintain high taste qualities;
• after soaking, the waves are thrown into a colander and allowed to drain.

A little about soaking mushrooms – in the video:

What to do with waves after soaking

Mushrooms after soaking are thrown into a colander and allowed to drain, after which they are boiled or immediately salted. In the first case, for hot salting, the mushroom mass is boiled from the moment of boiling for 15 minutes, the water is drained and sprinkled with salt. In the second, “cold” salting method, the soaked product is placed in a pre-prepared container – jars or other containers – sprinkled with salt and spices, covered with gauze and put under pressure in a cool place.

Conclusion

It is necessary to soak the waves before salting and pickling in the same way as other representatives of lamellar and tubular varieties containing milky juice. Such pre-treatment will allow you to get a delicious delicacy that you can enjoy with pleasure in the winter.