Preserving Mushrooms

My humble collection of mushrooms (plus a few nuts in a jar) 

Okay, so you've spent eight hours getting whacked in the face with branches, spider webs, and maybe you have poison ivy. It was all worth it though, because you found your precious mushrooms! You hauled them back, by the pound, or maybe, just three or four specimens to your dwelling. Then, you realize, OMG, how am I going to eat all of this in the next three days?

One solution is to go out to the highways and the byways, to invite everyone you know over to a mushroom feast. Well, what if you've never tried the mushroom before? You certainly can't have people over to eat it. Or, let's suppose just for the sake of an argument, you don't want everyone eating your hard found mushrooms. Not that you or I would ever be that greedy, but hey, it could happen.

In that case, you will need to preserve them. How? Well, it depends.

Meaty Mushrooms

Meaty mushrooms can be dehydrated and reconstitute well. What are meaty mushrooms? Anything that has a thicker consistency. Examples could be morels, lobster mushrooms, varieties of Lactarius, like the indigo milky, ect. A lot of these benefit from the drying process and it is said that the drying process can concentrate the flavors of the mushroom. I've heard it said to never dry chicken of the woods. I haven't tried it, so before you do, make sure to check out the blog of someone more experienced than yours dearest.

You can also dry Woods Ear, but be thee wary. It is only really useful for boiling into stocks. It's a squishy, tasteless creature of its own accord.

Wood's Ear before it's dried

Drying in a dehydrator is the best way. You can dry in an oven, but it's more difficult. My dehydrator preserves mushrooms at 125 degrees F and it usually takes 9-10 hours. So, set your dehydrator in the evening and put the dried stuffs in sealed canning jars in the morning. Make sure, however, they are completely cooled so condensation doesn't form in the jar.

Other Mushrooms

Mushrooms like Oysters and Chanterelles are best preserved by lightly sautéing them in butter and freezing them. When I first heard of this method, I was skeptical. That being said, I preserved some oyster mushrooms with that method and they reconstituted quite well. Just make sure they are in an airtight bag with plenty of butter so they don't get freezer burn.

Pickling

I don't know how to do this. Sorry. However, I can recommend a site. HonestFood (google it) has a number of recipes for preserving mushrooms with this method. If I'm not mistaken, it's more practiced in Eastern Europe and can be an alternate method of preservation for non-meaty mushrooms like trumpets and chanterelles.

Indigo Milky before preservation. May work well as a pickled mushroom

https://honest-food.net/pickled-chanterelle-mushrooms-recipe/

If you know of a way to preserve a species that I didn't list here, please comment below! I'm still learning. Hopefully you'll have enough mushrooms to last the winter and make tons of yummy soups, stocks, and the likes! As always, stay nerdy!