Dried mushrooms are a very useful and versatile product that will complement many dishes. With the onset of autumn, the mushroom season begins, which allows, if desired, to collect a large number of mushrooms. During this period, the question arises before mushroom pickers how to better and properly prepare mushrooms for the winter period - pickle, pickle, dry.

Is it possible to dry chanterelles

Chanterelle mushrooms are distinguished by their beneficial properties and excellent taste characteristics among other representatives of the mushroom kingdom. These mushrooms perfectly tolerate the drying process. They can be used not only in cooking, but also for medical purposes, as a medicine for many ailments. Therefore, it is important to harvest these bright, orange mushrooms as much as possible.

Did you know? One kilogram of raw chanterelles will produce 100 - 140 g of dried product

Training

One of the important stages in the process of harvesting mushrooms is proper preparation. It is necessary to sort through, sort, cut off damaged fragments, clean. Chanterelles are unique in that they have no worms. Pests do not start thanks to the substance quinomannose, which is part of the chanterelles.

The preparation process includes:

• cleaning from pollution, grass, earth, dust;
• processing heavily soiled areas with a napkin, sponge;
• chopping mushrooms (into halves, quarters), and if you dry them on a rope, you don’t need to cut them.

Drying Methods

The following methods exist and are used in everyday life:

• on a rope (string whole mushrooms, collect them in “beads”);
• on a large horizontal surface (on a table, in a closet, on the floor);
• in the oven (gas, electric) with a temperature scale;
• in the microwave;
• in an electric dryer;
• in the fridge.

Also find out how many and in what form the chanterelles are stored in the refrigerator.

In a natural way

The simplest, most economical and practical method is drying mushrooms in vivo. The only drawback of this home method is its dependence on weather conditions. The weather should be sunny, dry, windy . And for Russia in the autumn period rainy, damp days are characteristic.

Drying time naturally takes, on average, two weeks. The first thing to do is to dry the mushrooms, spreading them on a newspaper, gauze. This should be done in a sunny, ventilated space. After that, the fruiting bodies are strung on a strong thread, not very tight, and hung in a sunny place.

You can also put the chanterelles on a wire rack, cover with gauze on top (so that flies and other insects do not sit down), and put in the sun. This method involves constantly turning the product over.

Properly dried, a good mushroom becomes flexible, elastic, it should not crumble, break. Poorly dried mushrooms may soon become moldy and rot. Overdried lose their taste and healthy qualities, poorly boiled.

Important! If you get dried chanterelles, you can grind them on a coffee grinder and use them as a natural seasoning. This method of using dried mushrooms is the most practical.

In the electric dryer

For owners of a modern kitchen appliance - an electric dryer, the process of harvesting mushrooms will not be difficult. Typically, such dryers are used to harvest vegetables, fruits, berries, but mushrooms can also be dried perfectly.

Chanterelles are relatively small mushrooms. The largest mushroom of this species was found in California, its mass reached 0.5 kg.

Stages of the workpiece in an electric dryer:

1. To clear mushrooms of pollution, grass. Remove the black tip of the leg. Do not use water during cleaning.
2. Put chanterelles in a thin layer on the tray.
3. After 2 hours of operation of the electric dryer, the trays must be interchanged, since the lower layers are dried much faster than the upper ones.
4. It will take 5-6 hours to optimally dry the chanterelles.

The practicality of this method lies in the fact that the electric dryer has several tiers of plastic grids (trays) on which you can place a lot of products. To dry faster, large mushrooms must be cut into smaller pieces.

Video: drying chanterelles in an electric dryer

In the oven

An affordable and easy way to cook mushrooms is to use an oven with a temperature scale. To prepare mushrooms in the oven, you need to loosely, in one layer, put them on a grid, a baking sheet. As litter, you can take parchment, foil.

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You can use several baking sheets at the same time. When drying the oven door, it is not necessary to completely close the door (you need to fix the slot with a tack or towel) in order to avoid the accumulation of excess moisture.

At the beginning of drying, you can set the minimum temperature + 40 ° C, after 2 hours, set the maximum allowable temperature + 60 ° C, withstand another 1 hour. Mushrooms need to be monitored, if necessary - turn over, shift, change. If small specimens have already dried, they must be removed earlier.

In the microwave

One of the options for harvesting mushrooms for the winter is microwave drying. Owners of this kitchen equipment can quickly dry chanterelles for the winter. However, choosing this method, it is important to take into account its energy consumption, and impracticality in that a small amount of the finished product is obtained in one cycle.

Microwave Drying Steps:

1. Chanterelles need to be laid out on a special tray, flat plate, dishes intended for a microwave oven.
2. Set the power to 180 watts, time - 20 minutes.
3. Remove the prepared mushrooms, let cool, ventilate the microwave well.
4. Repeat the procedure, setting the required time for another 10–20 minutes.

In the fridge

Drying mushrooms in the refrigerator is an excellent option for those who do not have special equipment (ovens, electric dryers, microwave ovens). You need to dry food on one of the shelves of the refrigerator, pre-coated with paper, parchment. Arrange the chanterelles as tightly as possible and leave them in the cold for 1-2 weeks, depending on the temperature. The recommended value is about + 5 ° C.

We recommend reading our electronic magazine about growing mushrooms at home.

Storage time

Qualitatively dried mushrooms can be stored for more than one year, subject to proper preservation . The most practical storage containers are clean glass, wooden cans with good tightness. An old but proven method is saving in cotton bags, small linen pillowcases.

To extend the shelf life, you need to periodically check the contents of cans, bags, in time to detect poorly dried, moldy mushrooms, and throw them away in time. Before use and cooking, chanterelles should be washed with water and soaked for 1-2 hours.

Useful and healing properties

Chanterelles have beneficial effects on the liver. The substances that make up their composition help fight the manifestations of hepatitis and cleanse the liver tissue. This is important for many diseases, including obesity.

Important! Under the influence of high temperatures, chanterelles lose a part of useful substances, therefore tinctures are more often used for medical purposes.

Fruit bodies are used as a local antibiotic for infectious, viral diseases. They stimulate the body's defenses, enhancing them. Tincture perfectly fights parasites in the digestive tract, treats ulcers.

The use of chanterelles in food favorably affects vision. An important rule is to collect mushrooms in ecologically clean areas. Chanterelles have no contraindications, except when it is necessary to follow a diet for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Chanterelle is a very tasty and healthy mushroom. Harvesting it is very simple at home. And in the winter, such preparations will delight all members of your family.