How to process and store mushrooms at home?

Full baskets can be admired in the hands of passionate mushroom pickers during autumn days on the way home from the forest and on social media. Mushroom season is in full swing, and for lovers of fresh mushrooms, the smell of home becomes literally intoxicating at this time of year. Mushrooms are food like any other. A substantial part of them will certainly be enjoyed in many ways soon after you clean and slice them. But what about all those remaining porcini? Read on to find out how to process and then store mushrooms so they do not spoil and retain their original nutritional values for a long time!

Use drying nets

If you dry mushrooms properly, they will not lose any of their nutritional value. Practical aids for mushroom pickers therefore already include drying nets. Depending on the diameter or number of tiers, you can simply choose from a wide range of options according to how much your fragrant autumn finds have started to pile up at home. The individual tiers together create a considerable drying area, which means that you can easily dry a large quantity of carefully cleaned and sliced porcini at home without them taking up too much space indoors, as drying nets are by their nature very space-saving. And because the sliced mushrooms will not be everywhere you look, you can focus only on the ideal places for drying mushrooms, which are shady and airy.

Quality drying nets for mushrooms are also useful all year round for indoor growing (see separate article: Home mushroom growing). In addition to mushrooms, they are also intended, for example, for drying herbs grown in a grow tent.

Airtight containers are the answer

Once the mushrooms are properly dried, it is worth not underestimating their storage. And by that we do not mean only the classic advice such as: “Put the mushrooms into jars and store them somewhere dark.” A much more sophisticated solution is available, which, like drying nets, also allows for universal use in the future beyond storing mushrooms. TightVac airtight containers are excellent for smart storage of practically all kinds of food you can think of! Transparent or opaque storage containers of various sizes will not let through even strong aromas, which are inseparably linked with some types of produce, yet you do not want them to be smelled all over the flat.

The airtight food containers shown in the picture work on the principle of vacuum. They will protect your food long-term from external moisture and at the same time will not allow unwanted odours accumulated inside the storage container to escape. They are made of health-safe plastic that is also durable. This is, after all, another unobtrusive but major advantage over ordinary jars, which must be handled carefully every time so that, before long, you do not end up sorting shards and dried produce from the floor with your knees, Cinderella-style, because of a moment’s inattention. And cheap plastic substitutes are hardly worth mentioning.

Maintaining optimal humidity inside the storage container is key to preserving mushrooms

And it really takes very little! Storing mushrooms in such a way that they remain a source of distinctive flavour and part of a healthy diet even after a longer time requires one more handy trick. It is small, inexpensive, and yet it will take care of maintaining ideal humidity inside the storage container, preventing sad scenarios in the form of over-dried mushrooms or, even worse, mould caused by excessive moisture, which means the final loss of the stored porcini. In terms of preventing mould, it is generally not recommended to rinse picked mushrooms with water, but only to clean them thoroughly with a knife before drying (see above). You are probably already wondering what this simple and popular tool for perfectly balanced humidity is. We will not keep you in suspense. They are sachets with the patented Integra Boost technology, which we have already mentioned several times on our blog. The detailed description of each variant explains how easy they are to use.

The picture also shows which pack size you should use depending on the size, or rather the weight, of your harvest. For the third time, it also applies that Integra Boost two-way humidity control is useful not only for storing mushrooms, but also dried herbs and other foods, from fruit and vegetables to favourite coffee or tea. And what does two-way humidity control actually mean in practice? The patented technology either releases or absorbs moisture. This achieves optimal humidity in a sealed environment, which the Integra Boost sachets then maintain until the smart, easy-to-read indicator card clearly signals in blue that it is time to use a fresh sachet again.

Now it is up to you whether you save time and hassle with the above-mentioned tricks, or whether you stick with the oven, radiators and jars. Finally, let us briefly summarise all our recommendations for processing and storing mushrooms for greater clarity:

1. Do not rinse freshly picked mushrooms with water, but clean them carefully with a knife.
2. Then place the sliced mushrooms into the individual tiers of the drying net.
3. For hanging the mushroom drying net, always choose a shady and airy place if possible.
4. Move well-dried mushrooms into an airtight container made of health-safe plastic. Not only for practical reasons, but above all to preserve their original properties and health-beneficial nutrients for a long time.
5. Maintain optimal humidity inside the storage container so that your mushrooms remain in perfect condition for the whole year or even longer by using sachets with the patented Integra Boost technology.

Do not forget that if you would like to ask us anything about storing your harvest, we are here for you at the well-known e-mail address info@higarden.cz.

We also recommend these products:

• Biotabs Starterpack
• PLANT!T GEMINI - Hydroponic circulation system
• Plant Success Mycorrhizae Great White Granular 1

Wha