Drying or dehydrating fresh mushrooms is a common practice among mushroom farmers and a vital way or preserving them. If you grow mushrooms at home in small quantities, whether in buckets, coffee grounds or other surface, you can afford to eat your mushroom fresh and not worry about How to dry mushrooms. However, the story is not the same for people who cultivate mushrooms in large scale and for commercial purpose.
In this article, we’ll explain easy ways to dry your mushrooms conveniently without any special equipment. Yes, even without a dehydrator!
Why dry mushrooms?
There is nothing as heart-breaking as having to let go of your precious mushrooms simply because they are rotten and no longer good for consumption. Someone might then ask, what about leaving them in the refrigerator? Yes, you can put them there, but it only takes a few days before they go slimy and unattractive. This is why dehydrating mushrooms is the best approach to preserving them for as long time as possible.
Moreover, mushrooms are seasonal, which means they are not around all year long. Hence, drying them will help preserve this delicious edible all round the year. Dried mushrooms have good shelf lives and you can easily find them in pantries around you.
The process of dehydrating mushrooms also helps to lock in nutrients and flavours – hence they can be used just like fresh mushrooms. However, if you find buying dry mushrooms from the store pricey, you can always buy fresh mushrooms when they are in season and dry them yourself.
The next question will then be how to dry mushrooms? Not to worry, we have listed the simple ways to them below. Drying mushrooms is easy, while there are some methods that require you have certain appliances at home, others do not. So from the list below you can select the method most suitable for you.
Drying Mushrooms: The Processes
It is important to know that all varieties of edible mushrooms can be dried, including chanterelle, porcini, crimini, oyster, shiitake, bella and several others.
When selecting mushrooms for drying, they must be the freshest of them. Mushrooms that have been harvested for a long time may not turn out well if you dry them. Also, avoid drying mushrooms that have been left in the refrigerator for some time. If you are unsure whether a mushroom is fresh or not, breaks the cap from the stem and if you hear the ‘snap’ sound, they are fresh, if otherwise, you should source fresher ones.
After selecting mushrooms for drying, you need to prepare them so they are free from dirt and are neatly dried for consumption. Some of the steps to prepare your mushroom for drying include cleaning them, trimming the stems and slicing them into pieces.
If you have a dehydrator to dry your mushroom, all good. But even without a dehydrator, you can dry your mushroom in an open container that allows fresh air to dry out the water or moist in them.
You can also dry mushrooms in the oven if you have one. Depending on the quantity of mushrooms you need to try, using the over might take a longer time as you need to do them in small batches. The size of the oven also determines what amount of mushroom you can put in it at a time.
Final Words
Drying mushrooms neatly is important for its preservation. Dried mushrooms are nutritious and have a lot of health benefits. Drying mushrooms is also an effective way to make this delicious food available all round the year without losing its nutrients. You can dry mushrooms on a small-scale or for commercial purpose.
