Today, quick freezing is one of the first places in the organization of product storage. Consider how to freeze porcini mushrooms. Housewives often choose this method, since long-term frozen storage allows you to preserve the natural taste, and all useful substances and trace elements remain almost unchanged.
Purchased or hand-picked mushrooms are thoroughly cleaned of forest debris with a soft brush or washcloth for dishes. Collecting them near the highway is not recommended, as mushrooms absorb harmful substances from engine exhaust.
It is advisable not to wash the gifts of the forest. You should resort to such a procedure if there is too much dirt: the mushrooms are lightly rinsed under a tap or washed in water acidified with vinegar. Should not be soaked long time, as their structure resembles a sponge that quickly absorbs moisture. To freeze porcini mushrooms for the winter, the presence of liquid is highly undesirable, so the product must be dry before freezing.
Storage of fresh frozen
You can freeze porcini mushrooms fresh. Sorting is preliminarily carried out, large specimens are cut into several small slices. From small you can cook interesting festive dishes, and divided into parts add to goulash or cook soup.
Ready mushrooms are laid out in special containers or bags for freezing food. The plastic containers are thoroughly washed and kept over a pot of steam for 2-3 minutes.
If in the process preparatory work mushrooms were rinsed, it is better to spread them out at some distance from each other, otherwise they will freeze. It is advisable to sprinkle them citric acid so that the mushrooms do not lose their color.
After 12 hours of cooling in the refrigerator, they can be transferred into bags of approximately 200-300 g, having previously squeezed out the air, and in this form they can be placed in freezers for storage. Before preparing a dish with mushrooms, you do not need to defrost them: the workpiece is placed directly from the bag in a frying pan or in a soup pot.
Frozen mushrooms are not recommended to be re-frozen. This not only reduces their taste, but in some cases leads to poisoning. If it is necessary to defrost one refrigerator compartment, the packages must be transferred to another for this time. Freezing raw mushrooms should not be in case of frequent power outages.
Small specimens can be thoroughly washed, cut into small pieces of garlic, put everything in a plastic bag and send it to the freezer.
Methods for freezing boiled specimens
In response to the question of how to properly freeze porcini mushrooms for the winter, it is often advised to harvest them in a boiled form. This method has an advantage over fresh frozen storage - such a blank takes up less space. This is especially true for families who use a small refrigerator. In addition, specimens after cutting out wormholes and those that have lost their attractive appearance are also suitable for this option.
Mushrooms are cut into large slices and boiled for 5-10 minutes in lightly salted boiling water. Longer cooking is not recommended. After that, they are thrown back into a colander to glass the liquid. The total volume should decrease by about 3 times.
After complete cooling, you can fill special containers or plastic bags. Mushrooms frozen in this way are added to soups or gravies.
Freezing the broth
The water in which mushrooms were boiled is used for cooking. It is pre-boiled so that the liquid thickens, and then frozen in ice molds.
After cooking, the mushrooms are placed in jars and poured with broth. In this form, frozen porcini mushrooms are stored for about 1 year. When necessary, you can put the contents in a saucepan, and after 10 minutes there will be an almost ready broth.
Cooking in own juice
More useful substances preserve mushrooms when they are boiled in own juice. To do this, they are placed in a saucepan with a thick bottom or a deep frying pan and covered with a lid. When heated over low heat, after a few minutes, the process of evaporating the liquid will begin. It is recommended to heat the dishes not much, only up to +70 degrees.
Gradually, the volume of mushrooms will decrease three times, which will be a signal of readiness. After cooling, the contents of the pan, along with the liquid, are poured into special plastic bags. You can also add chopped greens, ground allspice there, and then tightly close the containers.
So that there are no problems, it is better to put into the bag when freezing the amount of mushrooms that is required to prepare one dish so that you do not have to freeze them again.
fried mushrooms
Before freezing porcini mushrooms for the winter, you can pre-fry them in a pan. Peeled mushrooms are cut into cubes and placed in a frying pan without a lid. Gradually, they begin to release liquid, and after about 20 to 30 minutes, the water should completely evaporate. After that, you can add vegetable oil.
Frying is carried out until a golden crust is formed. Then they are laid out in a colander and allowed to drain. excess fat. Packages are placed only after complete cooling. Packed in portions, in an amount sufficient for cooking. Store in the freezer of a conventional refrigerator.
Frozen mushrooms will not lose their taste for 1 year. The temperature in which they should be placed for long-term storage should be around -18 - 20 degrees .
Frozen porcini mushrooms usually do not require defrosting before cooking. But if necessary, they are first kept for 5 - 6 hours in the refrigerator, and then placed for further defrosting in a room with a temperature of +20 - 23 degrees.
How to use
Recipes for freshly frozen mushrooms recommend pre-boiling them before frying. Those specimens that were boiled before being placed in the freezer can be immediately thrown into a frying pan or into a saucepan for making soups.
If the mushrooms were fried before freezing, they can be served with gravy. If cooking with vegetables, fry onions with chopped carrots.
Then add sour cream to the pan and simmer the vegetables until almost cooked, only then add the mushrooms. After a few minutes of stewing, the mushroom sauce will be ready.
Mushrooms contain a lot of valuable protein, they rightfully take their place in the cuisines of different peoples of the world. There are several cooking methods: boiling, frying, freezing, salting, pickling. How to freeze and save porcini mushrooms will be described in this material.
Freezing is used in order to preserve the properties of mushrooms, to save them for the longest possible time. All known species can be subjected to this type of processing - boletus, boletus, chanterelles, mushrooms, and also white ones. Industrial freezing is used to extend the shelf life of oyster mushrooms and champignons, but the taste of mushrooms processed by oneself will be an order of magnitude higher.
Important. Frozen Mushrooms is a long-term DO for cooking delicious soups, zazharok, winter salads. The main thing is to carefully sort the collection before processing, removing spoiled, stale, too saturated with moisture legs and hats.
White mushroom is especially appreciated by connoisseurs for its delicate and rich taste, its fleshy parts rich in protein energy value do not give way to meat. And if you properly preserve such a treasure, freeze it, then you can provide yourself with a tasty and healthy delicacy for a long time.
Selection and preparation of mushrooms before freezing
Experienced chefs place special emphasis on the process of preparing mushrooms for long-term storage. After all, it will depend on this whether they will lie in their original form for a long time or the whole idea with freezing will end in failure. So, for laying in the freezer, you need mushrooms:
- fresh;
- strong;
- clean;
- with minimal liquid content.
If you use mushrooms 2 or more days old, then after defrosting they will almost immediately become unusable. The same applies to heavily soaked in water, caps and legs that have gained moisture. It is imperative to clean the surfaces of mushrooms before cold packaging from debris, twigs, damaged areas. Whole, strong and fresh mushrooms will retain their taste for a long time, and the “old”, rumpled ones will immediately lose their shape after thawing, they will look very unappetizing, gray.
Ways to freeze porcini mushrooms for the winter
There are several classic options freezing porcini mushrooms, the recipes for their preparation are quite simple: cooling in raw form or after preliminary boiling. Which way to choose - everyone decides for himself.
"Raw" saves processing time for direct freezing, "boiled" allows you to quickly prepare a dish from a semi-finished product - soup or roast.
In no case should you mix different mushrooms. Firstly, each type has its own structure: there are mushrooms with a strong stem and a loose hat, very tender, quickly losing their presentation with careless handling, and others.
Secondly, such a "hodgepodge" will affect the taste of the product - you get some kind of average, similar at the same time to everything at once, a mushroom, as if extracted from the farthest refrigerator of an ordinary supermarket.
Such a product has no more advantages than a briquette of frozen champignons of an indefinite taste bought in a hurry. And our goal is to fully preserve all the notes of the exquisite taste coloring of the porcini mushroom.
Raw
This technique allows you to save as much as possible all the taste qualities of the fungus, to keep it in its original form. We need fresh, strong, not wormy and clean hare, so the issue of sorting is approached with all due diligence. All damaged, watery, too soft legs and hats are mercilessly rejected - they are not suitable for freezing.
Next, the fungi are processed whole or, after cutting, into slices - as it is more convenient for anyone. For freezing, it is good to use bags with a fastener made of dense polyethylene: they securely store the contents and are easy to open.
boiled
And this method will require mandatory heat treatment. It is also used when they are not sure (or are afraid) of raw mushrooms, although all mushroom pickers and culinary experts unanimously repeat: if you don’t know if your find is edible or not, it’s better not to take it. The method is well suited for preserving “substandard”: broken hats, damaged (but not rotten) legs, small mushrooms.
Boil the product before freezing for no more than 5 minutes, after cutting into slices or crumbling into cubes. They are immediately thrown into boiling water, then allowed to cool, filtered, left in a colander, and only then placed in a bag for preservation in the cold. You can use 1 large package or several small ones - whichever is more convenient for you, but the second option is preferable.
A small portion is immediately used, it is easy to make a pie or soup out of it, and a large package that has been started will then have to be re-frozen, which is not very good.
Stewed
Another way to reduce the time spent on cooking the finished dish. Sorted, peeled and washed mushrooms are cut into small portions, then fried over low heat in vegetable oil (no longer than 20 minutes). The second way is to stew in the oven, on a baking sheet, in your own juice - this way the piquant sweetish taste of the mycelium is better preserved. The completely cooled product is laid out in bags and frozen.
Fried in the freezer
One of the most famous harvesting methods, which every experienced housewife is familiar with. Mushrooms are fried in vegetable or butter, then placed in glass jars of a suitable container and poured with the resulting juice. Roasting in pork lard is allowed - this applies to personal taste preferences. Thermally processed, fat-filled mushrooms can be stored for a long time, completely retaining all their taste.
A simple method for the "lazy" and those who appreciate the products own production, and not purchased semi-finished products. Prepared (clean and chopped) mushrooms are boiled with spices or just like that. The finished broth can be stored in several ways:
- In glass jars.
- food containers.
- Ordinary packaging bags.
- Divided into cubes.
Any of the above methods will allow you to quickly prepare a hearty lunch or dinner using pre-frozen rich mushroom broth.
How long can they be stored?
A reasonable question that arises among lovers of homemade preparations: how long are frozen mushrooms and semi-finished products from them stored? If the above conditions are observed (strong and fresh mushrooms, not damaged, without wormholes and rot), the product is stored in freezer a whole year. But for this we must not forget about a few simple rules.
Important. The lower the temperature, the longer the shelf life (the longest period is -18 ºС), and the mushrooms taken out of the cold are immediately used without residue - re-freezing is unacceptable.
How to defrost mushrooms?
Freezing and packing raw, boiled or fried mushrooms is half the battle. You still need to defrost them properly. In order for frozen foods to retain their taste and not lose them in a couple of minutes, it is recommended to transfer them from the freezer to the refrigerator before preparing the dish. Such an intermediate defrosting will allow the semi-finished product to smoothly gain temperature, at the same time without losing color and taste.
Favorite by some housewives, the method of forced defrosting in microwave oven or the oven will do harm, not good: instead of fragrant, tasty, as if picked yesterday in the forest, mushrooms will turn out to be an unappetizing grayish mess, which is also scary to use for food.
Lovingly selected, carefully cleaned and properly frozen mushrooms (raw, boiled or stewed) will retain their delicate, unique taste for a long time, serving as a raw material for making soups, roasts or cold appetizers. This is extremely important for the royal, porcini mushroom - a recognized favorite among boletus, russula and oil.
Almost all products require heat treatment before consumption. Mushrooms are no exception. Most mushrooms need to be boiled even before they are thrown into the pan. How much to cook mushrooms before frying depends on their type. The heat treatment time varies from 7 to 35 minutes. It is important not to exceed the required cooking time, otherwise their beneficial properties will be lost.
Benefits and contraindications
Mushrooms have been harvested for centuries. They contain useful microelements and vitamins necessary for the human body, and at the same time they are diet food.
Despite the useful vitamins, the composition contains the substance chitin. The human body does not digest it, so it is undesirable to get involved in mushrooms. Abuse can lead to gastrointestinal upset.
You can not use the gifts of the forest in such cases:
- Allergy or individual intolerance.
- Pancreatitis, gastritis, other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract at the time of exacerbation.
- Dysbacteriosis.
- Children under 6 years old, and after this age - limitedly and with caution.
It is important to collect mushrooms only in ecologically clean places, away from the roadway and harmful industries, because forest trophies absorb all harmful substances from the soil.
To cook or not to cook
The debate about whether or not to boil mushrooms before frying does not subside. Some cooks insist that they need to be boiled, others - on the contrary. To cook or not depends on the type. At as if edible require mandatory heat treatment. These include:
If the mushrooms are not boiled before freezing, you need to do this and put them in a colander.
Pour oil into a hot frying pan and fry the onion in half rings for 5 minutes. Cut the potatoes into slices, rinse and add to the onion. Fry for 5 minutes over medium heat without closing the lid. Stir occasionally.
Reduce the fire to a minimum, simmer for another 5-7 minutes with the lid closed. After time, add chanterelles. Fry over medium heat for about 10 minutes without a lid. Add sour cream, mix and simmer for another 10 minutes until cooked.
At the end of cooking, add finely chopped garlic, salt and spices. Garnish with fresh herbs before serving.
Frozen mushrooms can be stewed with vegetables. The dish is perfect for side dishes and meat. You will need:
Cut vegetables into cubes. Add onions, carrots and oil to the pan, fry for 7 minutes. on medium fire. After adding potatoes and eggplant, mix, fry for 5 minutes. over medium heat without a lid. Add pepper and simmer vegetables for 15 minutes until half cooked. Mushrooms are added last. After adding them, simmer with the lid closed for 15 minutes.
Salt the finished dish, you can add finely chopped garlic and herbs.
Recipes for frozen mushrooms are varied. Everyone will find dishes to their taste.
The season of "quiet hunting" should not pass by our freezer. Because - alas, but in winter we are unlikely to find fresh boletus, chanterelles and mushrooms in supermarkets. We will buy factory-frozen mushrooms or eternal ones, like the Egyptian pyramids, champignons and oyster mushrooms.
But! If we make a little fuss and defeat our own laziness for a short time, then ... then we put the mushroom stocks in the freezer, freeze them according to the rules and in the winter
Rule #1: clean, fresh, young
Our mushrooms, no matter how we freeze them, should be fresh, clean and, if possible, not broken. Much depends on this and appearance product after defrosting, and quality. Therefore, mushrooms need to be collected, bought, exchanged, begged - fresh. Maximum - yesterday's assembly.
Attention! When cleaning mushrooms, don't soak them too much. The mushroom easily absorbs water, which will turn into ice in the freezer. Why do we need water in the mushroom?
Rule number 2: freeze fresh mushrooms
It is easiest to freeze mushrooms whole and fresh. After cleaning, they are put in the freezer on a flat surface, and after a few hours they can be poured into a prepared bag or container. Mushrooms, mushrooms, wild mushrooms, boletus, boletus, chanterelles will be ideal mushrooms for freezing in this way.
We need the fungus to be strong, then even after defrosting they will keep their shape and decorate any dish.
Attention! It is best to defrost raw mushrooms by placing them in the refrigerator. Then they will be just like fresh, just out of the woods.
Rule number 3: freeze boiled or stewed mushrooms
If you are afraid of fresh mushrooms and want to play it safe, then boil them before freezing. Not very long - up to 5 minutes. Most often, mushrooms intended for frying are frozen in this way. This method is also suitable for broken mushrooms that have lost their “glamorous” look, but are fresh and tasty.
Thus, I prepare for the winter a semi-finished product for fillings in pies, pies, kulebyaki and other winter joys (stuffed chicken, for example).
To prepare the mushrooms, drop them, peeled and cut into pieces, into boiling water for 5 minutes. Then let cool, drain in a colander and arrange in food bags or containers.
Calculate the number of mushrooms in the package so that you can use one package for cooking one dish. As a rule, I get half of the small packages - from 300 g to half a kilogram, and half - with a larger weight, from 500 g to 1 kg.
You can also freeze fried mushrooms. To do this, clean, prepared mushrooms are fried in a small amount of vegetable oil for 20 minutes until all excess moisture. Completely cooled mushrooms are laid out in bags and frozen.
By the way, so that mushrooms do not lose their sweet taste and aroma when frying, mushrooms can be fried on a baking sheet in the oven. This kind of frying doesn't even require sunflower oil, and the mushrooms themselves are cooked in their own juice.
Rule number 4: keep the temperature
Frozen mushrooms for the winter can be stored at -18 ° C for up to a year. After completely defrosting the mushrooms, use them immediately, and in no case leave them for “later” in the refrigerator.
Pie from the editor
If there are mushrooms at home, whether fresh or frozen, then after 40 minutes my family and friends are already groaning over the baking sheet, choosing the most delicious piece for themselves. The dough in this pie is called "bulk" and takes no longer to cook than scrambled eggs.
Needed for the test: 2 eggs, 0.5. Art. sugar, 1 cup sour cream, 1.5 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon soda, a pinch of salt.
You will need for the filling: 500 gr. frozen mushrooms slices, 1 large onion, 200 gr. chicken liver, frying oil, salt and pepper to taste.
Boil chicken liver and scroll through a meat grinder (I do this in advance if I can). Defrost mushrooms, chop into very small pieces and fry with onions. Connect with the liver, pepper and salt lightly.
We combine the ingredients for the dough, mix thoroughly and pour into a greased form or a baking sheet with high sides (I have a glass one), spread the filling - part of it will fall, part of it will remain on top.
Bake on medium heat for 30-40 minutes. The sour cream dough is very good. The slight sweetness of the dough and the salinity of the mushrooms give an unusual taste!
In the season of "silent hunting", many are wondering how to save the entire harvest of mushrooms. Freezing is a great way to do this. You can freeze and Forest mushrooms and those that you purchased in a store or market. After all, everyone knows that in the summer the price of mushrooms is much lower.
Freezing at home is subjected to white mushrooms, chanterelles, honey mushrooms, boletus, oyster mushrooms, champignons and other types of mushrooms. General principle freezing for all mushrooms is the same.
First of all, mushrooms are sorted according to the structure of the fungus. At the same time, they distinguish:
- marsupials (truffles, morels);
- lamellar (for example, russula);
- tubular (porcini mushrooms, boletus).
It is preferable to freeze raw only tubular (or, in other words, spongy) mushrooms. The internal structure of the cap of such mushrooms is a porous surface, which, when boiled, absorbs a lot of liquid, and, as a result, the mushrooms will be watery when defrosted. If you already had to boil spongy mushrooms, then they should be slightly squeezed out before freezing.
Lamellar species of mushrooms, such as honey mushrooms, must be boiled before freezing.
A few species of marsupial mushrooms must be boiled and squeezed well before being placed in the freezer.
How to prepare mushrooms for freezing
After sorting the mushrooms, the strongest specimens are selected for subsequent freezing.
Mushrooms are cleaned with a knife or a rough brush: all debris and adhering leaves are removed, the lower, contaminated, part of the leg is cut off.
If the mushrooms selected for further freezing in raw form are very dirty, then they must be rinsed in water, but in no case should they be soaked. Afterwards, dry them thoroughly with a paper towel.
Those mushrooms that are planned to be boiled can be safely washed under running water without worrying that they will absorb too much moisture.
Ways to freeze mushrooms for the winter
How to freeze raw mushrooms
As mentioned above, only tubular mushrooms are suitable for this method of freezing. The ideal option there will be porcini mushrooms and redheads.
Small mushrooms are frozen whole, and large specimens are cut into slices 1-2 centimeters thick.
Watch the video from Lubov Kriuk - How to freeze porcini mushrooms
How to freeze boiled mushrooms for the winter
Mushrooms that will be pre-boiled must first be cut. Next, they are dipped in boiling water and boiled for 5 to 10 minutes. Then recline in a colander to allow excess liquid to drain. After the mushrooms have cooled, they are transferred to portioned bags, for one time use, and sent to the freezer.
The broth from boiled mushrooms is drained, and from porcini mushrooms and aspen mushrooms - they are used to make soup.
See the video from the channel "Tasty and Satisfying" - How to freeze mushrooms for the winter
Freezing fried mushrooms
For this method, both tubular and lamellar species of mushrooms are suitable. Mushrooms are cut into slices or plates. Then they are laid out in a pan with a small amount of vegetable oil, and fried until golden brown. Salt and spices are not added. Roasting lasts approximately 20 minutes.
This freezer is completely ready to use after thawing. One has only to add such mushrooms, for example, to fried potatoes or to a salad.
Freezing oven baked mushrooms
Another way is to freeze pre-baked mushrooms in the oven. Mushrooms for this are laid out on a baking sheet without adding oil, and baked until tender. Then they are transferred to bags and sent to the freezer for storage. Such mushrooms are distinguished by a particularly bright taste and aroma when defrosted.
Freezing temperature and shelf life of frozen mushrooms
The temperature regime for freezing mushrooms is -18°C. Subject to this requirement, mushrooms can be stored in the freezer all winter.
How to defrost mushrooms
Frozen raw mushrooms are thawed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator overnight, and then for another hour at room temperature.
Mushrooms that have undergone preliminary heat treatment are not thawed, but immediately added to the dish during cooking.
See video - How to cook mushrooms for freezing
See video - How to freeze champignons
