Gathering a good harvest of honey agarics in the forest is only half the battle. The main problem awaits fans of the 'quiet hunt' already at home. Cleaning and cooking honey mushrooms – this is what ultimately can confuse even the most patient and calm mushroom picker. The fact is that this type of fruit bodies grows in the forest in large families, and each mushroom is generally small in size. In addition, honey fungus is a perishable product and cannot be transported for a long time, therefore their primary processing should take place immediately upon arrival home. And if the harvest is large, then cleaning each mushroom from dirt and debris will take a significant amount of time and effort.
Cleaning honey agarics before drying
Is there an opportunity to facilitate your work in such an important matter? We hasten to reassure you, because there are ways that will make cleaning and cooking honey mushrooms a sheer pleasure.
So, the initial stage of preparing honey agaric consists of sorting. It is necessary to disassemble the fruiting bodies by size and discard all wormy and damaged specimens. If only the leg is damaged, then do not discard the mushroom entirely, but leave the caps. The further process of cleaning honey agarics will depend on exactly how you plan to process them. So, if you want to dry the mushrooms, then soaking is contraindicated in this case. It is best to take a dry sponge and rub the cap of each fruiting body. You should also remove the film under the cap and remove the 'skirt' from the leg. If you suddenly accidentally find bugs on the honey agaric discs under the hat, do not be alarmed, it is not scary. Just take a dry kitchen knife and remove them.
I must say that large and slightly damaged mushrooms will fit for drying, however, in this situation, you need to cut off all damaged places with a knife. Then put the mushrooms on paper in a warm, ventilated place.
Cleaning honey agarics before salting, pickling, freezing, stewing and frying
As for the cleaning of honey agarics before salting, pickling, freezing, stewing, frying, etc., the technique here is radically different from the previous one. So, for pickling and pickling, it is recommended to choose small mushrooms – they are tastier, and in addition, they have a more appetizing appearance. Therefore, cleaning small mushroom mushrooms is not a task for the faint of heart. However, there is a way out of this situation, which will be useful for all mushroom pickers to know about. So, all the mushrooms need to be soaked in warm water for 1 hour. In this case, you should add sea or table salt to it at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. for 1 liter of water. The fact is that salt perfectly opens the pores of the fungus, so dirt and sand will come out even from hard-to-reach places. Moreover, if there are worms in the fruiting body, then thanks to the saline solution, they will be on the surface in a matter of minutes. But do not overdo it, because a long stay in water (more than 1 hour) will cause the mushrooms to lose their taste.
After the set time, mushrooms are transferred to a colander and washed under running water. Then the mushrooms are recommended to be examined again for the presence of strong dirt and to remove them with a knife, if any. Thus, sort out all the fruit bodies and rinse with water. Remember to cut off the bottom of the legs before soaking, however, as they are very tough. This is one of the most popular and effective ways to quickly clean mushrooms.
After cleaning, honey mushrooms need to be boiled in salted water, and only then start cooking. The boiling time is 15-20 minutes, while the resulting foam is removed in the process.
As you can see, if you consider some tips for proper cleaning of honey agarics, you can successfully cope with it without much effort.
