Cleaning Mushrooms

[torakris]

(((((( )))))

shudder emicon, great!

I am going to have to use that one!

Anyone figure out a drool one yet?

Edited March 27, 2003 by torakris (log)

[SFJoe]

a former member of the Mycological Society of San Francisco (MSSF)

Am still in the MSSF, myself, although not as active as I once was.

The East Bay MUD is famous for catching unwary chanterelle (mostly) hunters. The ironic thing is that they lease a lot of the land for cattle grazing (!), but you can't pick mushrooms there. Crazy. Glad to hear there is a judge with some sense.

I've given up looking for chanterelles in the SF area because their habitat overlaps so much with poison oak, and I don't *love* chanterelles that much.

[elyse]

Thanks torakris!

Didn't even know this one was there! But It's no drool, and I couldn't figure that one out.

[harriet1954]

I've been peeling mushrooms with my fingers - no tools - for over 20 years. I just remove that outer skin from the curvy part to the top by sections. And to me and mine, I'm removing nothing but dirt. The bigger the mushroom, the easier it is. I usually don't use stems anyhow, so I just chop them off and discard. If you don't want to do it by hand, use a peeler.

I can't be bothered with all that soaking and brushing.

I wish I could peel potatoes like this LOL.

You may scoff but this works and it is QUICK.

[Blue Heron]

The water from very wet mushrooms need not be cooked down with the mushrooms themselves.  Wet chanterelles, for instance, often dump a bunch of water after you begin to heat them.  You can fish out the mushrooms at that point, reduce the liquid 90%, and add the chanterelles back to continue cooking.  That way you don't boil them into mush, so to speak.

That's a good point so I thought I'd highlight it.

Wow, what a great tip, thanks. I hate water laden mushrooms, too (so common in the rainy season).

Like Jin and others, I don't wash wild mushrooms, opting to brush the dirt off with a damp paper towel or using a knife to flick the dirt off. I've been mostly lucky with clean mushrooms, and never found a slug (yet). Last year because of the strange weather, our wild mushrooms had more tiny worms than I'd ever seen before which was a real pain to clean (including in chantrelles and matsutakes). Look closely to avoid them!

Hubby is out today on the first of the season mushroom outing with the Seattle Mycological Society.