In The Mushroom Season: How To Choose And Cook Them Properly

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Video: In The Mushroom Season: How To Choose And Cook Them Properly

Video: In The Mushroom Season: How To Choose And Cook Them Properly
Video: Picking The Right Mushroom For Every Recipe - The Big Guide | Epicurious 2024, December
In The Mushroom Season: How To Choose And Cook Them Properly
In The Mushroom Season: How To Choose And Cook Them Properly
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Mushrooms are one of the pleasures of autumn, which is why we manage to swallow saying goodbye to summer and preparing for winter. Returning from a walk in the woods with a basket full of mushrooms and cooking them deliciously is one of the eternal culinary dreams. But improvising mushrooms is forbidden.

Here are some tips on how to choose edible mushrooms and how to cook them best?

How to pick mushrooms without taking risks

It is important to prepare well for picking mushrooms. Going to the forest, relying only on your sense of smell, will not bring you results. First and foremost, make sure you know the most common species - get a good mushroom guide or download an app that lists and recognizes them.

Mushroom picking
Mushroom picking

However, if you are an amateur, it is best to take an expert who is with you during the first mushroom outing. So ask someone close, someone who knows the area well, or an organization that specializes in this. They will be able to best reveal to you the secrets of mushrooms and their picking techniques.

Get the right tools and tools - a wicker basket will give the best conditions for picked mushrooms. Be sure to avoid plastic bags, which will cause rapid fermentation of your mushrooms and even make them toxic.

Also, choose a good day for picking mushrooms - ideally it should be sunny, two or three days after it rained. Do not forget to put on boots and take a raincoat in case of a new downpour.

During picking - be careful

Mushrooms in butter
Mushrooms in butter

The rule is to avoid to pick mushroomswhen you are unsure. If you do not know the mushroom, leave it so that you do not have to throw it away the whole basket. Also avoid areas around roads or contaminated areas, because fungi have the ability to absorb dirt in the soil.

When picking mushrooms to eat cut them at the base of the stem with a knife - this allows you to best recognize them, and leaves the mycelium, the base of the fungus, in the ground and facilitates its reproduction.

Do not collect too many old mushrooms. On the one hand, they can be inedible and even poisonous. On the other hand - they will produce spores that will help the emergence of new fungi.

Once you have picked the mushrooms, you must check them, unless you have been with an expert in the forest. You can go to a pharmacist who should be able to spot poisonous mushrooms or contact a mushroom organization in your area.

Once you are at home, it is important not to keep mushrooms for too long, because they can become toxic as they age. Eat them within 48 hours after picking or freeze them in the refrigerator, dry them or preserve them.

Mushrooms in the kitchen

Bruschetta with mushrooms
Bruschetta with mushrooms

After picking mushrooms must be cleaned. If you have not already done so, remove the remnants of grass or soil from them. You can wash them, but very quickly they absorb water in a flash, which spoils them. Therefore, it is best to clean them with a brush.

To cook them, the easiest way is to put them in a pot with garlic and butter. This will make them an ideal side dish for meat or fish, as well as pasta. A few eggs with them - and an ordinary omelet can become the work of a master chef.

A chicken with mushrooms, garlic and a few sprigs of spices will give you a unique taste and aroma.

And of course - many appetizers, even sandwiches are an ideal place for mushrooms in a variety of delicious and original recipes.

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