Italian Marinated Mushrooms

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Funghi sott’olio. So much more than just an Italian version of pickled mushrooms. I’ve eaten

these as part of an antipasti plate since I was a kid. Standard pickled mushrooms, let’s face it, can

be slippery and even rubbery. Not a great texture. But these are meaty, chewy and just a shade

funky — mushroomy in all the best ways.

I never really knew just how the Italians did it until I read Rosetta Costantino’s My Calabria. In

it, Costantino reveals her family’s method for preserving mushrooms in oil, and when I read her

recipe, I was immediately struck by how similar it is to a Sicilian technique I use every year

when I have too much zucchini. Makes sense, as Calabria is only a few miles from Sicily.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Basically you need to remove water from the mushrooms, then boil them in vinegar, then dry

them out a bit before submerging in oil. It is a method I’ve seen done with a lot of foods, even

meat on occasion. What this particular do-si-do of preservation does is first use salt to pull the

existing water from the food. Once the food is reasonably dry, acidify it with vinegar — bad

bugs find it tough to survive in low Ph environments. Finally, keep air (and molds) off the food

by submerging it in olive oil.

You should know there is no official USDA protocol for this method of preservation. Costantino

tried to get the government to give its vaguely papal gesture for her recipe, but they declined.

Suffice to say it works: The Italians have been doing it for centuries, if not millennia.

I tested this method with four kinds of mushrooms: button mushrooms, hedgehog mushrooms,

chanterelles and porcini. You need a meaty mushroom to begin with or this method will not

work. Other mushrooms I might try preserving sott’olio would be blewits, pig’s ears (Gomphus

clavatus), shiitake, matsutake, king trumpet mushrooms, and maybe chicken of the woods.

Bottom line: The ‘shroom’s gotta have heft.

That’s why porcini and their boletus cousins are the ideal. Try this with a leccinum or a birch

bolete and you’ll transform a mediocre mushroom into something special.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

A few pointers to start:

Wash your mushrooms and trim any bad spots. Be sure the shrooms are not wormy.

Use high quality ingredients: Good olive oil, sea salt, quality vinegar, good lemons. You

can definitely taste the difference.

Store your mushrooms in glass containers, in the fridge. It is entirely possible that they

are shelf stable, but I am not a fan of botulism, so I keep mine in the refrigerator.

The recipe that follows is approximate. You may need more or less of the ingredients to fit your

containers. One tip: Start with more mushrooms than you think you need. They shrink a lot in

this process, and are so good you will run out long before you’re tired of eating them.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Italian marinated mushrooms

These may just be the best marinated mushrooms you will ever eat. This method of preserving

them highlights how meaty certain mushrooms can be, and the marinade is a perfect blend of

Italian flavors: lemon, chile, olive oil, oregano. I have found that boletes are the best for this:

porcini, birch boletes, leccinum species and the like. But as you can see from the picture above,

chanterelles work well, as does any other meaty mushroom. For store-bought shrooms, use

crimini, shiitake or king trumpets.

You don’t need any special equipment to make these mushrooms, but you need time. It takes a

day to make them. But it is more than worth it. First of all, they will keep in the fridge for 6

months — if you can keep yourself from eating them all. I guarantee that if you set a bowl of

these out on an appetizer tray, they will be gone in minutes.

1 pint.

Prep Time: 24 hours, most of it passive

Cook Time: 5 minutes

3-4 pounds small, meaty mushrooms

2 pints white vinegar or cider vinegar

Kosher salt or pure sea salt

Zest of a lemon, sliced into wide strips

4 dried hot chiles, split lengthwise

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

__________

Cut the mushrooms into reasonable pieces. With small mushrooms, like a button mushroom, you

need only cut them in half, and you can leave the smaller ones whole. With large chanterelles

and porcini, cut them into 1/2 inch thick slices. They will shrink a lot in this process, and they

will be pliable, so they can be a little larger than you’d think they ought to be.

Photo by Hank Shaw

Salt them well. Lay down a layer of salt on a sheet tray and place the mushrooms on it. If the

mushroom has a flat side, i.e., a button mushroom sliced in half, lay the flat side down against

the salt. Sprinkle a heavy layer of salt over the tops of all the mushrooms. Let this stand at room

temperature for 1-2 hours. You will notice a lot of water coming out of the mushrooms. This is

good.

Put the mushrooms between paper towels and gently squeeze them a bit to remove a little more

water.

Photo by Hank Shaw

Boil them in the vinegar for five minutes. The mushrooms will want to float. Use tongs or

something to submerge them as much as you can. Fish out the mushrooms and put them between

paper towels again and gently squeeze them to remove some of the vinegar.

Lay the mushrooms on a clean cloth to dry. Let them air dry until they are no longer damp, but

still pliable. Don’t let them dry out into leather. Turn the mushrooms once or twice during this

time. This will take between 12-24 hours, depending on how dry it is in your house and how

much air circulation you have going.

Put the oil, lemon zest, oregano and chile in a bowl and toss the mushrooms in them. Pack this

into glass jars. Use a chopstick or some other kind of clean stick to poke around the jar — you

want to find and remove as many air bubbles as possible. Make sure the mushrooms are

submerged in the oil.

Photo by Hank Shaw

Refrigerate and wait at least a week before eating. These mushrooms will keep in the fridge for 6

months.