How to Preserve and Store Fresh Mushrooms
Posted by Justin, September 15, 2011 
Trackback |  Email This Post
 |
Buying fresh mushrooms in bulk and preserving them yourself is a cost-effective way to ensure you have wild mushrooms in your pantry all year long. Below are the methods we prefer for preserving and storing leftover mushrooms: How to Dehydrate Fresh Mushrooms In a pinch you can spread mushrooms on a sheet tray covered with parchment paper in your oven, and bake them at 140 degrees (as low as many ovens will go) until they’ve dried out. However, this isn’t a perfect method because you’re likely to partially-bake your mushrooms while drying them. How to Prepare Fresh Mushrooms For Drying: Thicker, meatier mushrooms like lobster mushrooms, portabellos, porcinis, and shitakes should be sliced before drying. We recommend slices that are about 1/4″ thick. How to Dry Mushrooms in a Dehydrator: Once you’ve established a baseline for your dehydrator, mushroom type & area, you likely won’t need to check as often in the future. If during your checks you notice some of the smaller mushrooms have finished drying ahead of the larger ones, go ahead and remove the dried mushrooms from the trays early, leaving them in can damage their quality. Store your dried mushrooms in an air-tight container in a cool, dry cupboard. Read How to Rehydrate Dried Mushrooms for tips on making them soft again. Note: Chanterelles often reconstitute woody, so we prefer to puree them for delicious soups and sauces rather than serving them as whole mushrooms.
How to Freeze Fresh Mushrooms 1. Most varieties you can simply brush off the clinging dirt, but for mushrooms with a lot of nooks and crannies, you might want to give them a gentle rinse, and then carefully dry them as thoroughly as possible. 2. Whether to cut your mushrooms into smaller pieces depends on the size of the mushrooms and your future plans for them. In general, when freezing something the smaller the pieces the better…but if you need them whole or in larger pieces you can freeze them that way. 3. Put a sheet pan in your freezer until it’s good and cold. 4. Place the mushrooms/pieces on the sheet pan in a single layer so they don’t touch each other. Freeze them solid, uncovered. 5. For storage, move the frozen mushrooms to a freezer bag or (even better) a vacuum pack bag. Get as much air out as possible, seal, and keep them frozen until you’re ready to use them. 6. Only thaw mushrooms when you’re ready to use them, as refreezing can damage their flavor/texture. Note: You can also partially cook (sauté) fresh mushrooms in oil and then freeze them, which will save cooking time later on. For more info, read How to Freeze Better at Home. How to Can Fresh Mushrooms If anyone has other techniques, please add them in a comment below, or link to your content. ___________ Browse More: Post your recipe or comment here:15 Responses to “How to Preserve and Store Fresh Mushrooms” |
 Culinary Techniques Meat Poultry Seafood Produce Pantry Ingredients Pasta Desserts Cocktails & Beverages More |
 All Products Gifts Organic Products Wild & Free Range Products Press |
 Shipping Info Contact Us FAQs Returns About Us Testimonials Press Special Requests |
 Address & Hours More Info |
 Sign up for our Newsletter
| ||||||
| © 2013 Marx Companies, LLC, dba MarxFoods.com. All Rights Reserved • Log in | ||||||||||
Would like to know how to preserve mushrooms in their natural state without cooking?
December 7th, 2008 at 11:16 amVery interesting. I don’t know a thing about how to cook or store mushrooms. This is good for me. I can learn and not ruin anything by seeing what you do and then the recipes people post. And then maybe someday I can make a mushroom dish. Lynn A.
April 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pmChanterelles.
I prefer to never dehydrate Chanterelles because they are rather leathery and bland when reconstituted. Instead, clean, slice and then saute the Chanterelles over high heat in butter until they just begin to soften, then remove from heat. When cool, store in weighted portions using food-saver bags and then put them into the freezer. I find 8 oz portions to be an ideal size.
-cheers
August 28th, 2009 at 1:29 pmwhen freezing the miataki mushroom, do you rinse/wash, cut/keep whole??
December 9th, 2009 at 5:41 pmi don’t quite understand. also, can they be frozen in plastic freezer bags? thank you
Hi Eileen,
For freezing mushrooms raw, we recommend this process:
1. Most varieties you can simply brush off the clinging dirt, but as maitakes have a lot of folds, you might want to give them a gentle rinse, and then carefully dry them as thoroughly as possible.
2. Whether to cut or not cut depends on the size of the mushrooms and your future plans for them. In general, when freezing something the smaller the pieces the better…but if you need them whole/in larger pieces you can freeze them that way.
3. Put a sheet pan in your freezer until it’s good and cold.
4. Place the mushrooms/pieces on the sheet pan in a single layer so they don’t touch each other. Freeze them solid, uncovered.
5. Move the frozen mushrooms to a freezer bag or (even better) a vacuum pack bag. Get as much air out as possible, seal, and keep them frozen until you’re ready to use.
6. Only thaw mushrooms when you’re ready to use them, as refreezing can damage their flavor/texture.
For more info, read How to Freeze Better at Home.
Hope this helps!
Matthew
December 10th, 2009 at 12:31 pmMarx Foods
I have been freezing cutup matsutake mushrooms in water and then vacuum-packing them. Is this okay?
November 29th, 2010 at 9:57 amDear Shiz,
Unfortunately, you’re probably hurting your mushrooms by freezing them that way.
Ice crystals are a major source of freezer damage. The slower food freezes, the bigger the crystals get, poking larger holes in the food’s cell wall. Packing mushrooms in water slows the freezing process and dramatically increases the number of ice crystals.
In addition, the mushrooms will take longer to thaw and likely absorb some of the surrounding water as the ice melts, further damaging their texture and flavor.
Finally, since the purpose of vacuum packing is to prevent the surface of food from coming into contact with air (already being done by the surrounding water) you’re actually wasting your vacuum bags.
Our advice would be to go ahead and chop your mushrooms into smaller pieces, which will help them freeze faster for smaller crystals. Then (ideally) lay the pieces out on asheet tray to freeze before moving to a vacuum bag (for individual pieces that’ll hopefully stand up to the vacuum pressure better). You could also gently vacuum them as a pile of pieces before freezing.
You might even consider trying cooking them or blanching them pre-freeze…which may further improve their thawed texture.
Matthew
November 29th, 2010 at 2:09 pmMarxFoods.com
Great tips. I think I have the same food dehydrator. I have often seen dried mushrooms at the grocery store but I’ve never thought to do it myself.
December 15th, 2010 at 7:38 pmI boil them in 1/2 % water 1/2 % vinegar, add garlic oregano, salt basil, and bottle it, seal tight and refrigerate. I have saved for about 3 months, even though I have not preserved them for longer, they should stay in good shape for longer; this of course, is only for harder consistent mushrooms like champignon mushrooms, creminies, baby portobella, etc…. other mushrooms, I put them in olive oil and use the oil to flavor salads or any cooked foods, and sometimes, desserts.
September 1st, 2011 at 8:02 amHoney mushrooms found here in southwest Michigan. In Spite of a few huindred recipes aqnd post I have found on the internet I just suated several of the ‘buttons’ in butter until crisp and hey are wonderful. Just my experience and opinion. Harry
September 21st, 2011 at 2:50 pmis it wise to can sheepshead mushrooms (maitake)? we’ve frozen them in the past but the process leaves them awfully tough. can you can them? pressure canner,etc.
September 27th, 2011 at 12:58 pmKaryn,
It’s probably ok, but we’ve never done it & don’t know for sure. Let us know how it goes!
Matthew
September 27th, 2011 at 1:53 pmMarxfoods.com
Great tips on freezing fresh mushrooms, as well as cooking them down and freezing them. I wonder how sautéed mushrooms and onions would be frozen and re-heated. that could be a big time saver.
Thanks,
October 16th, 2011 at 1:18 pmSteve.
Hi Steve,
We don’t have any experience freezing sautéed onions, but from what I’ve read it can certainly be done. They’re likely to be a little more limp once thawed, so it’s just a question of whether that’s ok with you or not.
Other than that, freezing sautéed mushrooms & onions should work just fine. If you give it a whirl, let us know how it goes!
Matthew
October 17th, 2011 at 9:28 amMarxFoods.com