In winter, any family will enjoy a dish of mushrooms. To cook it, you need to take care of the ingredients in advance. What are the ways to prepare mushrooms for the season? Here are some simple and understandable recipes that even an inexperienced mistress will cope with.
Drying
The main thing to remember is that not all types of mushrooms can be dried. Experienced mushroom pickers are considered ideal for this process, white, aspen and boletus. Drying adds a strong aroma to mushrooms, so soups, salads and dishes for the second are simply magical!
To preserve all the nutritional properties, do not wash the mushrooms before harvesting. They can lose their shape and appearance, as well as absorb a lot of moisture, which interferes with drying. For this, a conventional oven or sunbeams is suitable.
Arrange the mushrooms on paper or cloth. If this method seems unreliable to you, then take wooden skewers and carefully string the pieces on them. Leave the canvases or skewers in a dry, sunny, well-ventilated place. It can be a balcony, a loggia or a window sill. In a few days, the mushrooms will be ready for storage.
You can finish the dish in the oven at a temperature of about 50 degrees. Arrange the mushrooms upside down in one layer. Do not close the oven door tightly. In the drying process, the raw materials will decrease in size several times, so it does not take up much space in your kitchen. Store cooked mushrooms in a dark place in tightly closed glass jars.
Boiling
This method is suitable for those who want to save the product, but are not going to use vinegar. Peel the mushrooms and boil. Add salt to the water. It should be a lot, about 500 g for every 10 kg of mushrooms. Do not add spices, this is the main rule. Store the finished dish in glass jars in the refrigerator.
Freezing
Sort and clear the mushrooms from the ground. If you washed the food, you need to dry it. For freezing, young and solid specimens are suitable. As for the variety, honey mushrooms, chanterelles, brown boletus or champignons are especially good.
Many people mistakenly think that for freezing you just need to load the mushrooms in the freezer, but this is not enough. To protect yourself, you must first boil them thoroughly. Put the mushrooms in boiling water for 5-7 minutes. After this, drain the excess water. Now wrap in plastic bags, tie them tight and send them to the freezer.
The number of products in one bag should be suitable for cooking one dish. This is necessary so that thawed mushrooms are not stored for a long time, bacteria can appear in them.
Pickling
First, mushrooms need to be peeled and cut into medium sized pieces. Then they must be washed through a colander and lowered into boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain the water, scald the pieces with boiling water and proceed to the preparation of the marinade.
Boil a liter of water per kilogram of mushrooms, add bay leaf, peppercorns, 2 tablespoons of sugar and salt. Boil for 3-5 minutes. Pour in apple cider vinegar, dip the prepared mushrooms in the marinade and cook until they settle. In time, this process takes about half an hour. Then pour the resulting dish into glass jars, close and cool.
Cans with nylon caps can only be stored in the refrigerator. They beat metal seals because mushrooms better retain their taste and aroma. In the next few months you can delight yourself with fresh products, you just need to get a jar from the refrigerator. Well, if you plan to eat mushrooms in the winter, then it is better to roll them in jars and put them in the cellar.
Pickling
Here you are best suited for mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms and russula. There are two ways to salting: cold and hot. Cold salting does not require preliminary boiling. Mushrooms just need to be soaked in salt water for several days. Then prepare the barrels. Cover the bottom with available spices: leaves of currant, oak, cherry, bay leaves, black and allspice, cloves. Lay the mushrooms with their legs up. Add salt at a rate of 40 g per kilogram of food. Close the barrels with a wooden circle and press down. After a few days, a pickle will appear over the mushrooms, this is normal.
For hot salting, mushrooms need to be boiled for 20 minutes in water with salt and spices. After this, it is necessary to drain the brine, dry the mushrooms and do the same as with the cold method. Such mushrooms can only be stored in wooden tubs in a room where the air temperature does not exceed five degrees of heat.
In order to taste mushroom dishes in winter, you need to take care of this in advance. Freeze or dry mushrooms, and then at any time you will have at your fingertips ingredients for tasty and healthy soups, salads and main dishes.
