Mushroom is a simple form of plant life which is a rich source of proteins, vitamins and minerals. Among various preservation and processing methods, pickling and drying are the most common method of preserving mushroom at home. Before preserving and processing any food commodities, general cleanliness is very important. Washing and removing all the dirt and unwanted materials from the food is the basic necessary steps before preservation and processing method. Cleaning should be strictly followed as dust particles adhering to the raw materials contains micro-organisms and by doing so the number of organisms can be reduced considerably.
Mushroom pickle making process:
is a processing and preservation methods that involve use of spices, salt and oil in order to preserve the food material. Methods of mushroom pickle making are given as follows:
Ingredients:
Mushroom – 1kilogram
Salt – 100gram
Vinegar – 100 ml
Red chilli powder – 5 kilogram
Turmeric powder – 10 gram
Coriander powder – 15 gram
Aniseed powder – 5 gram
Cumin powder – 5 gram
Fenugreek powder – 2 gram
Black pepper powder – 2 gram
Cinnamon powder – 1 gram
Clove – 5 numbers
Garlic paste – 20 gram
Chopped onion – 100 gram
Tamarind paste – 50 gram
Mustard oil – 350 ml
Method
Mushrooms are sorted, washed, trimmed and fried with spices in a little oil (except salt and vinegar) till mushrooms become almost dry. This is followed by cooling of the product and addition of salt and vinegar. Content is then filled in a glass jar. The remaining oil is heated and cool when it’s cool it is then added to the content sufficiently to cover the pieces. The glass jar is then sealed properly and stored in ambient temperature.
Drying of Mushrooms
Mushroom can also be process by drying or dehydration. Microorganisms need moisture to grow, so when the concentration of water in the food is brought down below a certain level, Microorganisms are unable to grow. Moisture can be removed by application of heat as in sun – drying or by mechanical drying. Sun – drying is the most popular and oldest method of preservation or processing. With the advancement of technology, different kinds of dehydration processes have been developed e.g. Sun drying, mechanical drying, air drying, micro-wave oven drying, etc. Among these the microwave oven drying is the best method. Vacuum drying process is followed in reduced pressure. In this process, the produce is subjected to a vacuum drier in which steam is present at about 1.0 to 1.5 bar. A vacuum pump is used to reduce pressure inside the product. The end product is obtained after completion of vacuum drying process.
This is the simplest and most versatile way of preserving mushrooms. The principle is quite simple, by driving off all of the water the mushroom stops metabolizing, and no spoilage organisms can grow. The only problem is that most of the mass of the mushroom is actually water.
• Drying Mushrooms with The String Method: If you only have a few mushrooms to dry, then this is the simplest way of doing it. Slice the mushrooms thinly, and use a needle and cotton to string all of the mushrooms together. If the mushrooms are really thin, such as fairy ring mushrooms or anise caps, you can thread them onto the cotton whole. Use real cotton rather than nylon or polyester as this is less likely to stick or melt during drying. Once you have the mushrooms threaded string them up in the airing cupboard, in the kitchen, or in any similar warm location (a luke warm oven will do). When they're fully dried, and not before, unstring them and pack them away into airtight jars. It can take about 8hours or more in an airing cupboard.
• Drying with The Tray Method: If you have more than a couple of handfuls of mushrooms to dry, use the tray method. Many people use wire or wickerwork trays for this, it is found that ordinary baking trays lined with some newspaper and a sheet of baking parchment work fine. Arrange your slices of mushroom around the tray, making sure that they're not overlapping each other, and discarding any slices that have maggots in them. Dry them in a warm place, as above, and when they're dry (it takes about 8 hours or so in my airing cupboard) pack them away in airtight jars. This Drying works especially well for the boletus mushrooms. Cep in particular is dried as a matter of course by many pickers, who claim it tastes far more intense. You can add a few mixed dried mushrooms to soups, stews and even gravy, and find that this imparts an intense flavour to most things.
Most mushrooms can be dried, but some are harder to dry than others. Anything picked on a wet day has more moisture to drive off, so drying takes longer and the mushrooms may be more likely to spoil during the process. Drying slices of giant puffball takes skill, patience, and more than a little bit of luck. Chicken of the woods and other edible polypores also dry very badly, produces something more like wood than fungus. But other than that this simple technique will allow you to enjoy the fruit of your autumn expeditions well into the next season. If you haven't got an airing cupboard, or if you need to dry more mushrooms than you have space for, then you might want to consider building or buying a drying cabinet. I've never had need of one myself, but the principle is very simple, and involves rigging up a small, low power lamp at the bottom of a cabinet with shelves for drying off the mushrooms on. Despite its simplicity this kind of rig is normally only used by the real fanatic! Another option is to use a food dehydrator; I've used one, and while it works well, it's not significantly better than the airing cupboard or a low oven.
Canning mushroom
Due to highly perishable nature preservation of mushrooms is necessary to minimize the post harvest losses,. For this, the processing techniques such as Canning, Individual Quick Freezing (I.Q.F.), Vacuum Freeze Drying (VFD), Drying, Vacuum Drying, Pickling, Steeping Preservation, Radiation Preservation etc. have been developed. These are used on the basis of their merits per se market demand and end use.
Canning is an established process of preserving mushroom pieces in brine, butter, oil, vinegar etc. It involves six basic operations like cleaning, blanching, can filling, sterilization, cooling and labeling. Through all these operations, mushrooms are graded, cleaned, blanched (pre-cooked), filled in brine solution of cans and ultimately sterilized with heat and cooled through water spray and labeled for storage. Canned mushrooms form major share of world trade.
Individual quick freezing is another popular processing method followed in large industrial units. In this process, raw materials are washed at processing units after receipt from farms, and then the mushrooms are inspected, sliced and graded according to quality. After that, blanched and water cooled mushrooms are subjected to tunnel freezing stage. At this stage, these are cooled in a system having temp - 40oC and the core areas of mushroom pieces acquire a temp around –18oC. Subsequently, packed in multi-layer polybags and stored in a cold storage having temp–20O to –25oC. Vacuum freeze drying (V.F.D.) is a further development in mushroom processing technology. In this process the original shape, quality, colour size, texture, freshness properties of 4 thermal sensitive produce are retained. This processing technique involves the cooling of mushroom much below the freezing point i.e. –40oC where moisture present in mushroom is converted to tiny ice molecules which further directly sublime into vapour when subjected to vacuum with a slight rise in temperature resultin g in a dried end product.
Freezing Mushrooms
Depending on what you plan to do with your stored mushrooms, freezing might be your best option. This is not going to keep the flavour as well as drying, and it doesn't intensify the flavour of the mushrooms in the same way, but if Downsizer: for a sustainable & ethical future you plan to make pates or sautees with your mushrooms then this is the way for you. Many mushrooms will require some kind of pre-cooking. I recommend slicing them, and frying them in a little olive oil with some chopped browned onion and garlic, and just a little black pepper. Freeze them in small portions, and when you're ready to use your mushrooms just melt a portion in a pan. That said, when I have an excess of chicken of the woods or blewits, I freeze them as is with no more pre-treatment than a quick wipe, and they seem none the worse for it. Boletus also seems to cope well with freezing raw, if you're only storing them for a short while.
You can take pre-cooking a step further by producing a duxelles. This is a paste produced by chopping the mushrooms and onions very finely and frying with some butter or olive oil over a low heat for a long time (an hour or so) until you has a crumbly, dryish mixture. Again, freeze in small lots so you can defrost what you need when you need it. There are innumerable variations of this, incorporating different herbs and flavours, and if you have the time the duxelles is unsurpassed for richness and intensity. Alternatively you can prepare your mushrooms for freezing by blanching, a brief boiling or steaming will do. Give the mushrooms a wash to remove any grit or dirt, and drop them into boiling water. Bring back to the boil and cook for two minutes, before draining and refreshing in cold water. This isn't the tastiest way of preserving mushrooms, and you lose a lot of texture, but if you're in a hurry and you’ve got a huge haul it's better than nothing. A slightly better result can be obtained by steaming rather than boiling the mushrooms.
Mushroom pickle making process:
is a processing and preservation methods that involve use of spices, salt and oil in order to preserve the food material. Methods of mushroom pickle making are given as follows:
Ingredients:
Mushroom – 1kilogram
Salt – 100gram
Vinegar – 100 ml
Red chilli powder – 5 kilogram
Turmeric powder – 10 gram
Coriander powder – 15 gram
Aniseed powder – 5 gram
Cumin powder – 5 gram
Fenugreek powder – 2 gram
Black pepper powder – 2 gram
Cinnamon powder – 1 gram
Clove – 5 numbers
Garlic paste – 20 gram
Chopped onion – 100 gram
Tamarind paste – 50 gram
Mustard oil – 350 ml
Method
Mushrooms are sorted, washed, trimmed and fried with spices in a little oil (except salt and vinegar) till mushrooms become almost dry. This is followed by cooling of the product and addition of salt and vinegar. Content is then filled in a glass jar. The remaining oil is heated and cool when it’s cool it is then added to the content sufficiently to cover the pieces. The glass jar is then sealed properly and stored in ambient temperature.
Drying of Mushrooms
Mushroom can also be process by drying or dehydration. Microorganisms need moisture to grow, so when the concentration of water in the food is brought down below a certain level, Microorganisms are unable to grow. Moisture can be removed by application of heat as in sun – drying or by mechanical drying. Sun – drying is the most popular and oldest method of preservation or processing. With the advancement of technology, different kinds of dehydration processes have been developed e.g. Sun drying, mechanical drying, air drying, micro-wave oven drying, etc. Among these the microwave oven drying is the best method. Vacuum drying process is followed in reduced pressure. In this process, the produce is subjected to a vacuum drier in which steam is present at about 1.0 to 1.5 bar. A vacuum pump is used to reduce pressure inside the product. The end product is obtained after completion of vacuum drying process.
This is the simplest and most versatile way of preserving mushrooms. The principle is quite simple, by driving off all of the water the mushroom stops metabolizing, and no spoilage organisms can grow. The only problem is that most of the mass of the mushroom is actually water.
• Drying Mushrooms with The String Method: If you only have a few mushrooms to dry, then this is the simplest way of doing it. Slice the mushrooms thinly, and use a needle and cotton to string all of the mushrooms together. If the mushrooms are really thin, such as fairy ring mushrooms or anise caps, you can thread them onto the cotton whole. Use real cotton rather than nylon or polyester as this is less likely to stick or melt during drying. Once you have the mushrooms threaded string them up in the airing cupboard, in the kitchen, or in any similar warm location (a luke warm oven will do). When they're fully dried, and not before, unstring them and pack them away into airtight jars. It can take about 8hours or more in an airing cupboard.
• Drying with The Tray Method: If you have more than a couple of handfuls of mushrooms to dry, use the tray method. Many people use wire or wickerwork trays for this, it is found that ordinary baking trays lined with some newspaper and a sheet of baking parchment work fine. Arrange your slices of mushroom around the tray, making sure that they're not overlapping each other, and discarding any slices that have maggots in them. Dry them in a warm place, as above, and when they're dry (it takes about 8 hours or so in my airing cupboard) pack them away in airtight jars. This Drying works especially well for the boletus mushrooms. Cep in particular is dried as a matter of course by many pickers, who claim it tastes far more intense. You can add a few mixed dried mushrooms to soups, stews and even gravy, and find that this imparts an intense flavour to most things.
Most mushrooms can be dried, but some are harder to dry than others. Anything picked on a wet day has more moisture to drive off, so drying takes longer and the mushrooms may be more likely to spoil during the process. Drying slices of giant puffball takes skill, patience, and more than a little bit of luck. Chicken of the woods and other edible polypores also dry very badly, produces something more like wood than fungus. But other than that this simple technique will allow you to enjoy the fruit of your autumn expeditions well into the next season. If you haven't got an airing cupboard, or if you need to dry more mushrooms than you have space for, then you might want to consider building or buying a drying cabinet. I've never had need of one myself, but the principle is very simple, and involves rigging up a small, low power lamp at the bottom of a cabinet with shelves for drying off the mushrooms on. Despite its simplicity this kind of rig is normally only used by the real fanatic! Another option is to use a food dehydrator; I've used one, and while it works well, it's not significantly better than the airing cupboard or a low oven.
Canning mushroom
Due to highly perishable nature preservation of mushrooms is necessary to minimize the post harvest losses,. For this, the processing techniques such as Canning, Individual Quick Freezing (I.Q.F.), Vacuum Freeze Drying (VFD), Drying, Vacuum Drying, Pickling, Steeping Preservation, Radiation Preservation etc. have been developed. These are used on the basis of their merits per se market demand and end use.
Canning is an established process of preserving mushroom pieces in brine, butter, oil, vinegar etc. It involves six basic operations like cleaning, blanching, can filling, sterilization, cooling and labeling. Through all these operations, mushrooms are graded, cleaned, blanched (pre-cooked), filled in brine solution of cans and ultimately sterilized with heat and cooled through water spray and labeled for storage. Canned mushrooms form major share of world trade.
Individual quick freezing is another popular processing method followed in large industrial units. In this process, raw materials are washed at processing units after receipt from farms, and then the mushrooms are inspected, sliced and graded according to quality. After that, blanched and water cooled mushrooms are subjected to tunnel freezing stage. At this stage, these are cooled in a system having temp - 40oC and the core areas of mushroom pieces acquire a temp around –18oC. Subsequently, packed in multi-layer polybags and stored in a cold storage having temp–20O to –25oC. Vacuum freeze drying (V.F.D.) is a further development in mushroom processing technology. In this process the original shape, quality, colour size, texture, freshness properties of 4 thermal sensitive produce are retained. This processing technique involves the cooling of mushroom much below the freezing point i.e. –40oC where moisture present in mushroom is converted to tiny ice molecules which further directly sublime into vapour when subjected to vacuum with a slight rise in temperature resultin g in a dried end product.
Freezing Mushrooms
Depending on what you plan to do with your stored mushrooms, freezing might be your best option. This is not going to keep the flavour as well as drying, and it doesn't intensify the flavour of the mushrooms in the same way, but if Downsizer: for a sustainable & ethical future you plan to make pates or sautees with your mushrooms then this is the way for you. Many mushrooms will require some kind of pre-cooking. I recommend slicing them, and frying them in a little olive oil with some chopped browned onion and garlic, and just a little black pepper. Freeze them in small portions, and when you're ready to use your mushrooms just melt a portion in a pan. That said, when I have an excess of chicken of the woods or blewits, I freeze them as is with no more pre-treatment than a quick wipe, and they seem none the worse for it. Boletus also seems to cope well with freezing raw, if you're only storing them for a short while.
You can take pre-cooking a step further by producing a duxelles. This is a paste produced by chopping the mushrooms and onions very finely and frying with some butter or olive oil over a low heat for a long time (an hour or so) until you has a crumbly, dryish mixture. Again, freeze in small lots so you can defrost what you need when you need it. There are innumerable variations of this, incorporating different herbs and flavours, and if you have the time the duxelles is unsurpassed for richness and intensity. Alternatively you can prepare your mushrooms for freezing by blanching, a brief boiling or steaming will do. Give the mushrooms a wash to remove any grit or dirt, and drop them into boiling water. Bring back to the boil and cook for two minutes, before draining and refreshing in cold water. This isn't the tastiest way of preserving mushrooms, and you lose a lot of texture, but if you're in a hurry and you’ve got a huge haul it's better than nothing. A slightly better result can be obtained by steaming rather than boiling the mushrooms.
Jessica Dohtdong
Programme Assistant (Home Science)
KVK, Wokha, ICAR, Nagaland centre
