How to dry mushrooms?

Drying mushrooms is one of the oldest methods of preserving them. As a result of technical treatment, the activity of harmful microorganisms is depressed, which spoil the product during storage. This process significantly prolongs the shelf life of fungi in a usable form, due to the fact that it minimizes the activity of water, depriving bacteria of a favorable environment for their dwelling and reproduction. The required effect is achieved by removing moisture. The preservation process can be carried out outdoors, under the influence of wind and sunlight, or in the oven. Mushrooms can also be dried using a fan that artificially creates a warm air stream and gently blows the product.

Usually dried tubular mushrooms: moss, white, podberezoviki, oily, and boletus. Since it is difficult to remove moisture from the lamellar - red, russula, freckles, champignons, chanterelles and others - they are less likely to be preserved by this method. Begin with the preparation of wild plants. The mushrooms are brushed, but not washed (you can only wipe with a slightly damp clean cloth), as they absorb the moisture very well, and the process of removing it will be very difficult or impossible. Then the prepared fruit is cut into thin slices, about 3 mm thick. The thicker the pieces, the longer they will dry. Then decide how to dry mushrooms at home: in the oven, under the influence of a fan or over a hot stove. Depending on the chosen method, the fruit plates are laid out in one layer on a leaf with a litter of pure rye straw (it can be made from wooden sticks) or threaded into strings in the form of garlands.

At what temperature and How to dry mushrooms in the oven? A sheet with the decomposed slices is put in the oven, heated to a temperature of 40-45 ° C, and warts them for an hour (the door is left slightly ajar). Then take out and turn each layer on the other side. Continue the process of evaporation of moisture at 60-70 ° C. Drying already at 80 ° C. Fungi collected on a string (the slices are dispersed evenly, they should not touch each other), they are dried over a hot plate. To completely remove moisture in all cases, it takes a long time (more than 6 hours). The use of the sun is another way of drying mushrooms. It is simple, free, since it does not require electricity consumption, of course, takes much longer, but to preserve flavor and taste is more suitable.

There is another way that describes how to dry mushrooms in an oven: prepared and cleaned young specimens thread on thin wooden sticks so that they do not touch and can not stick together. You can use strong twigs from apple or hawthorn. Pour and calcined river sand or large rock salt is poured into ceramic pots or baking dishes . They put twigs with mushrooms. It turns out something like a bouquet of flowers in a vase. All this is installed in a preheated oven and dried under the same temperature regime as on the sheet. The calcined sand or salt is a hygroscopic material that absorbs moisture well, thereby reducing the time it is removed from the fungi.

In any of the described methods, you need to constantly monitor the process. In addition, preparing for this method of conservation, it is necessary to understand not only how to dry mushrooms, but also to calculate how much a finished product from fresh wild plants should be. For this you can operate with the following data:

• In raw water mushrooms about 90% is contained;
• In the dry product it remains about 15%.

Thus, if 5 kilograms of fresh product are prepared for drying, then the yield of dry should be 590 grams.

After drying, the mushrooms are stored in a dark cool place in an airtight container. They can not be left in the open air, in direct sunlight or in a damp room. The dried product should not be stored in a room where there are any foreign smells, as it absorbs them well and spoils them. If during storage mushrooms are a little damp, then again they come back to the question of how to dry mushrooms, since if you do not remove the moisture that has been absorbed from them, mold may appear.