You’ve come home from a fruitful mushroom hunt with a full basket, but what’s next?
You need to sort your finds, clean, and prepare them for storage. While this may sound like a lot of work, you’ll be surprised how easy it is after reading this article! To help you navigate through different types of mushroom preservation, the Plantum team has compiled a short list of recommendations that’ll help you keep your fungi fresh and tasty for a while!
First Things First
When you come home with a large basket of freshly picked mushrooms, your first step is cleaning:
- Take a close look at your mushrooms. Remove any insects like slugs that may have been missed during the forage.
- Gently wash the mushrooms under cold to lukewarm water (pro tip: it’s best to wash them under running water instead of soaking them.)
- Dry the cleaned mushrooms with a paper towel or a kitchen towel.
- Inspect your mushrooms. Do they have any suspicious soft and/or black parts? If yes, cut them off with a clean, sharp knife.
Now, you need to think about how you’d like to store your picks. You can keep fresh, clean mushrooms in the fridge, dry them, cook them, or put them in the freezer. Storing mushrooms at room temperature is not recommended, as they go bad pretty quickly in such conditions, and we don’t want that!
Storing Mushrooms in the Fridge
This is the fastest way to deal with your fresh harvest. Put clean mushrooms in a container (or multiple containers) that are big enough to allow each mushroom to have its own space without overcrowding. You can use a special container for mushrooms with perforated holes in it, a paper bag, or any other type of container as long as it’s breathable.
Attention! Avoid using plastic bags, as they trap moisture and cause mushrooms to spoil.
Drying Mushrooms
If you don’t have enough space in the fridge, consider drying your mushrooms. You can either use a special dehydrator or set your oven to low heat. Good air circulation is important in this process, so we recommend keeping the oven door slightly open. Overall, it’ll take you about 24 hours to dehydrate your mushrooms.
Attention! Don’t leave mushrooms to dry out naturally, unless you keep them on a radiator or under direct sun. At room temperature, they’re more susceptible to bacteria and spoilage.
Freezing Cooked Mushrooms
Freeze your mushrooms if you want to preserve them for a while. First, fry or steam them. Cool off your cooked mushrooms and place them in plastic bags. Once frozen, they’ll stay fresh for 6–12 months.
Attention! Don’t put fresh, uncooked mushrooms in the freezer. They’ll become mushy when defrosted.
General Tips
Regardless of the type of storage you choose, the main rule is to inspect the mushrooms regularly. If you notice any of them become watery or have an unpleasant smell, remove them immediately.
Avoid these common mistakes:
- Don’t store wet mushrooms.
- Don’t use plastic bags for uncooked mushrooms.
- Don’t overcrowd the storage container.
- Don’t store mushrooms near strong-smelling foods.
- Don’t store them for over a year.
We hope that this article has shown you that keeping mushrooms isn’t as hard as you might’ve anticipated. Follow Plantum’s advice and get full use of your mushroom harvest!