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hands, then pour mushrooms and water into a waiting colander to drain. In 10 seconds the
mushrooms are clean and have absorbed very little water. You can test this, as I did, by weighing
the mushrooms before and after washing on an accurate laboratory scale. Any increased weight, of
course, is absorbed water. If you are quick, the amount is negligible.
Storing mushrooms
Mushrooms spoil quickly, much more so if you don't know how to store them. Many
cookbooks suggest not keeping them more than a few days. That is overly conservative. If you buy
them fresh, they will keep fine for a week, even longer, though eventually they start drying out and
darkening.
The best way to store mushrooms is in a paper bag. They will keep well on an open tray
covered with a paper towel or dishtowel, too. They need to have air circulation or they'll suffocate
(fresh mushrooms are alive). If you keep them in an airtight plastic bag, they will turn mushy and
moldy quickly. You may even have some unwanted fungus growing on your original valued fungus.
If you have bought or harvested too many mushrooms and want to preserve them for later
use, freeze an extras. Cut them up and blanch them first in boiling water for 2 minutes to stop the
enzymatic action that continues to mature them. Then place them in the freezer in a single layer on a
baking sheet until they are solid. Now transfer the individually frozen pieces into plastic bags for
storage. Don’t forget to label them. Once defrosted, they are perfectly fine for soups, sauces and
cooked dishes. They will no longer produce beautiful garnishes or visual impact, of course.
Mushrooms also dry very well. Thinly slice any extra mushrooms before placing in a
dehydrator. If the weather is dry, you can also string them on a strong thread with a needle and hang
in an airy place to dry. Store them in a jar once they are absolutely dry. Keep the jar on your counter
for a few weeks so you remember to recheck and make sure all the mushroom pieces were fully dry
or they may start getting moldy.
Rehydrating dry mushrooms, whether your own or commercial, is a quick process. A few
minutes in hot water, at most a half an hour, fully reconstitutes all but the toughest varieties.
The moisture content of rehydrated mushroom is higher than fresh mushrooms’. This won't
affect using them in soups, sauces, stews or any other liquidy dish, but you cannot easily sauté or fry
rehydrated mushrooms unless you drive the extra moisture out with high heat first.
You can also pulverize dried mushroom to make mushroom powder. It is an easy, ready
food material to add to any dish that benefits from a mushroom flavor and in an airtight container it
has a very long shelflife, probably years.
Duxelles is a mushroom extract or paste, a French invention. It is easy to make when fresh
mushrooms are available at a low price or when you have plenty of leftover stems when the recipe
calls for caps only. Chop the mushrooms fine (you may also add reconstituted dried mushroom),
sauté with onion, then season with thyme and nutmeg. Cook off the moisture and add generous
amount of parsley. You can either freeze or refrigerate the resulting paste in small packets. It is good
in any meat, poultry or fish dish, gravies, soups or stuffing, virtually in any food that you want to
add a mushroom flavor to.
OUR VEGETABLE SCENE
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