How nice it is at the end of summer and on warm autumn days to take a basket and go into the forest for mushrooms. You get a real pleasure from such a walk – you breathe fresh air, enjoy the silence and pick mushrooms, which then on winter days will delight you with their taste and aroma. However, during the mushroom picking season, it must be remembered that the harvested fruit bodies cannot be kept fresh for a long time. Therefore, having come home, each mushroom picker immediately starts processing his harvest.
There are a lot of ways to prepare honey mushrooms: they can be frozen, dried, pickled, salt, and fried. However, before these processes, the mushrooms must go through some pre-processing steps. For many novice housewives, the question is very important, are honey mushrooms soaked? It can be called quite natural, because for each type of mushroom, due to its structure and composition, different cleaning methods can be used, including soaking. You will see in this article whether honey mushrooms need to be soaked before heat treatment.
Do I need to soak honey mushrooms before salting at home?
It is worth saying that there are different ways of harvesting honey agarics for the winter at home. It's not difficult to cook your favorite mushrooms for a snack, which can help out housewives more than once on any holiday. The most 'tedious' and time-consuming process is to sort the mushrooms by size and clean them. In particular, cleaning up small fruiting bodies can be a hassle. However, soaking will make the process quick and even enjoyable.
How to soak honey mushrooms so that they do not lose their aesthetic appearance? If you have small, young and clean mushrooms in your basket, then honey mushrooms do not need to be soaked. It is enough to rinse them under running water, cut off the tips of the legs and boil them for 20-25 minutes in salted water. But here, too, the question arises: is it necessary to soak honey mushrooms before drying, pickling, salt or frying? Let's figure this out in detail so that our future mushroom preparations will delight us all winter with their amazing taste.
If the mushrooms are intended for salting, do you need to soak honey mushrooms before salting? So, if you suspect that there are worms in the mushrooms, then it is better to soak these fruit bodies. For 2 liters of water, 1 tbsp is taken. l. coarsely ground edible salt, stirred and poured into mushrooms. If there are worms, then after a while they will begin to die and emerge. For soaking wormy mushrooms, no more than 1 tsp is enough.
Sometimes insects and worms settle in mushrooms, which are so small that you cannot see them with the naked eye. What to do in this case – is it necessary to soak honey mushrooms before salting? The saline solution will kill all insects and worms and wash them out of the fruiting bodies. If you have large mushrooms, then the soaking time should be increased to 2 hours.
I would like to note one nuance, if the mushrooms are not severely damaged by worms, then the water when soaking can not be salted much. For this, 1 tsp is enough. coarse salt in 2 liters of cold water. After the soaking procedure, the mushrooms should be washed in warm water and discarded in a colander so that all the liquid is well drained. Only after that you can start salting honey mushrooms.
To carry out the procedure for soaking honey agarics, first they should be well cleaned of strong pollution. Remove all forest debris from the caps, cut off the remains of the mycelium along with the lower part of the leg. Rinse in cold water to remove the sand, then place in cold salted water for 1 hour. You choose the soaking time yourself, it all depends on the degree of honey agaric pollution. However, never leave mushrooms in water for a long time, otherwise they will simply disappear and lose their appearance.
Mushrooms for pickling should be strong in appearance, not old, and also not wrinkled. Salting honey agaric is considered one of the most common and simple harvesting options for the winter. These mushrooms are perfect for making soups, marinades, side dishes and snacks. However, before preparing the dish, salted honey mushrooms will definitely need to be soaked from salt for about 2 hours. Small mushrooms can not be cut, but large specimens should be cut into several parts.
Do I need to soak honey mushrooms before boiling, marinating, frying and how long to do it?
Do I need to soak honey mushrooms before cooking and how long does it take? In this case, when preparing mushrooms, it is better to pay special attention to rinsing, rather than soaking. If the mushrooms are soaked for a long time before cooking, they will lose their properties, which will further affect the quality and taste of the finished dish. Do I need to soak mushrooms in order to boil them later? Let's say right away that it is better not to do this. It is advisable to thoroughly clean them, wash them and only then boil them for 25-30 minutes in salted water with the addition of citric acid. Even the washing time should be reduced to 10 minutes.
Next, let us note the marinating process, in which the question arises again: is it necessary to soak honey mushrooms before pickling? The best option would be to rinse the mushrooms under the tap in a colander. But here too, do not overdo it, since a long stay of honey agaric in water will lead to a deterioration in their consistency. How long can honey agarics be soaked in water? Some experienced mushroom pickers assure that it is better not to soak them at all, but to pour them over with boiling water, which will make them soft and prevent crumbling during cutting. But if you nevertheless decide to soak the fruiting bodies, then carry out this procedure within 30 minutes.
Pickled mushrooms should be stored in glass jars, and closed with plastic or glass lids. It is not recommended to roll pickled mushrooms with metal lids, as they oxidize. Such covers are only allowed if they have a special coating to prevent this process.
Next, let's analyze whether it is necessary to soak honey mushrooms before frying? Fresh mushrooms contain a lot of vitamins, useful enzymes, amino acids and essential oils. By the presence of proteins, mushrooms can be compared to meat. Therefore, the richest and most aromatic dishes are prepared from them – broths, gravies, sauces. In addition, honey mushrooms go well with vegetables, seafood, fish and meat. Therefore, whether it is necessary to soak honey mushrooms will depend on you and your preferences. Before frying, honey mushrooms should be cleaned of dirt, sand, forest debris, cut off the lower part of the leg and rinsed in cold water for 10 minutes. Throw the mushrooms in a colander to drain all the liquid and boil in salted water for 15-20 minutes until they settle to the bottom. After that, drain the water, put the mushrooms in a pan and fry until the liquid evaporates. Pour in oil and fry the mushrooms until golden brown.
Can honey agarics be soaked before drying?
If you decide to dry mushrooms, is it possible to soak honey mushrooms before this process? I must say that doing this is highly discouraged. To keep the mushrooms dry for the winter, the mushrooms must be cleaned by dry cleaning, without the use of water. Remove forest debris from the hats with a kitchen sponge, cut off the lower part of the leg and string the mushrooms on a strong thread. Hang under a canopy in a ventilated area for a few days until the mushrooms are dry. And when you need to cook any dish from dried honey mushrooms, then they should be washed, doused in boiling water and soaked in water for 3-4 hours. They can be boiled in the water in which they were soaked. These mushrooms are well suited for making soups and sauces.
To freeze honey mushrooms, you do not need to soak, but only wash in cold water and boil. Mushrooms are boiled for 20-25 minutes in salted water until they settle to the bottom. Let the water drain well through a colander, put the mushrooms on a kitchen towel to dry. Then, put honey mushrooms in plastic bags or food containers and put in the freezer. Such mushrooms are stored for a very long time and are quite easy to prepare. They can be used in any dish, including julienne, sauces, soups and salads.
