Drying Mushroom

A Lecture

By

Mr.Allah Dad Khan

Drying Mushrooms In The

Oven 1.Clean the mushrooms you are going to

dry. If possible, use a brush or dry paper towel to wipe any dirt off of the mushrooms. You want to avoid getting the mushrooms wet while cleaning them because the water could cause other competing fungi or mold to grow on the mushroom while they are drying or after they have been stored. This extra fungi or mold could, in turn, make you ill if you eat it.[1]If there are renegade spots of dirt that won’t allow themselves to be brushed away, you can use a damp cloth or paper towel to scrub them off. Just make sure to wipe that same spot with a dry cloth or paper towel to absorb any moisture left behind.

2.Cut the mushrooms.

The thicker the mushrooms, the

longer it takes for them to dry out. To

speed up the drying process, cut the

mushrooms into slices approximately

1/8 inch (0.3 cm) thick. They will still

have enough flavor packed into the

slices that they will be an excellent

addition to any dish, but they will dry in

a much shorter amount of time than

whole mushrooms.

3.Place the mushrooms on a

baking sheet. Make sure that the mushrooms lay

flat and side by side. None of the

mushrooms should overlap, as this

could cause them to fuse together

while drying. Lay them out in one

layer.

Do not oil the sheets, as the

mushrooms will absorb the oil,

changing their flavor and causing

them to take longer to dry.

4.Preheat the oven to 150

degrees Fahrenheit (65 Celsius).

Once the oven has reached the

designated temperature, place the

baking sheet with the mushrooms into

the oven. Leave the mushrooms in for

one hour.[2]

5.Take the mushrooms out of

the oven after an hour. When you take them out, flip them

over so that they dry evenly. At this

time, blot any moisture that way have

risen on their surfaces during the

drying process. Use a paper towel or

dry cloth to remove any of the

moisture.

6.Place the mushrooms back

in the oven. Bake the mushrooms for one more

hour or until they are completely

dried.When you pull the mushrooms

out, check to make sure they they do

not have any remaining moisture on

their surface. If they do, turn them

over and dab away any moisture with

a paper towel, then return them to the

oven.

7.Continue to check the mushrooms

until they are fully dry

. Repeat the baking and removing

moisture process until the mushrooms

are totally dry. A properly dehydrated

mushroom should snap apart like a

cracker.[3]

8.Allow the mushrooms to

cool. Once you have taken them out of the

oven, allow the mushrooms to cool on

the baking sheet.Do not place them in

tupperware with a closed lid while they

are still hot as the heat might cause

condensation in the tupperware, thus

ruining all of your efforts

9.Store the dried mushrooms

in air-tight canisters . Once they have cooled completely,

place the mushrooms in canisters with

working seals. Keep the canisters in a

dark, cool location until you are ready

to use your mushrooms in soup, a

baked pasta dish, or a yummy

risotto.[4]

Drying Mushroom Naturally

1.Clean and slice the

mushrooms . As listed above, you should only

clean mushrooms with a brush or a

dry towel. Don’t use water, as water

logging the mushrooms may cause

outside mold or fungi to grow. Cut the

mushrooms into slices 1/2 inch (1.25

cm) thick.

2.Check the weather.

Try this method for preserving

mushrooms only on sunny days with

very low humidity. If there is too much

humidity in the air, it will take much

longer for the mushrooms to dry and

mold may begin to grow.

3.Find a good location for

drying . Possibilities include sunny rooms,

windowsills, or flat rooftops that have

air circulation. Pick a spot where birds,

animals, bugs, and moisture can't

touch the mushrooms.[5]

4.Arrange the mushrooms for

drying. There are two options for this. You can either

lay the mushrooms on a drying rack, or you can string them up with cooking string.[6]On a drying rack: Lay the mushrooms flat in one layer. Make sure that none of them are overlapping as they might get stuck together while drying, or may warp into weird shapes. Cover the mushrooms and drying rack in a ‘net tent’ which you can get at most kitchen supply stores. The net tent will keep the bugs away. If you don’t have a net tent, you can simply use a piece of mesh fabric draped over and under the dry rack and mushrooms.[7]

With cooking string:

Lace the cooking string through the

mushrooms. You can use a sterilized

needle to do this. Simply run the

needle through a flame to sterilize it.

Then string the mushrooms along the

string as if you were making a bead

necklace

5.Place the mushrooms in the site

you selected for the drying area.

If you are using the cooking string method, hang them somewhere dry and in the sun. Allow the mushrooms to dry in the sun for one or two days. Check their progress several times each day.

Consider finishing the mushrooms in the oven if they aren't totally dry after approximately two days in the sun. Read Method One of this article to learn how to do this

Freeze –Drying Mushroom

1.Lay a paper towel on a flat

surface. Place cleaned and sliced mushrooms

on the paper towel. They should only

be in one layer, with none of the

mushrooms overlapping. If they

overlap, the mushrooms may fuse

together. It is very important that the

mushrooms be absolutely dry. If they

have even a little bit of water on them,

that water could turn to ice and spoil

the mushroom.

2.Lay another paper towel down

on top of the mushrooms.

Continue to lay mushrooms down in

single layers, and then placing paper

towels over those layers, until you

have used up all of the mushrooms

you want to dry.

3.Slide these paper towel-mushroom

layers into a paper bag

. It should go without saying that you

should use a large-ish paper bag that

can fit all of the paper towels and

mushrooms. The paper bag will allow

water vapors to pass through it as the

mushrooms dry.

4.Place the paper bag in the

freezer . Overtime, your mushrooms will begin

to dry in the freezer. This is a much

slower process than the other two

methods listed above, but is effective--

particularly if you are not planning on

using your mushrooms immediately.[8]