Storing chanterelles - this will keep them fresh the longest

It is best to keep chanterelles in the refrigerator

Pay attention to fresh goods when buying

The chanterelles available in the supermarket usually come from Eastern European countries, mostly Belarus or Moldova. In Germany, wild mushrooms may only be collected for personal use and not for commercial trade, which is why German goods are not available in shops. The foreign mushrooms, on the other hand, have come a long way, which is why you should carefully check them for freshness when buying them. These tricks will help you:

Do not buy goods packed in foil or plastic trays!
At best, choose the best specimens from loose goods.
Fresh chanterelles are golden yellow in color and have a crunchy texture.
If they can be bent rubbery, they are no longer good.
Take the smell test: Fresh chanterelles have an aromatic scent of forest.
However, if you are somehow uncomfortable with the smell, the mushrooms are probably no longer good.
Mold has no place in fresh chanterelles either.

How long do chanterelles keep?

Chanterelles you have collected (and cleaned beforehand!) Can easily be stored in the refrigerator for another three to four days - in this case it hardly gets fresher and the Eastern European supermarket mushrooms often took longer to get there. If you buy chanterelles, you should consume them on the same day if possible or store them in the refrigerator for a maximum of one more day. Since you cannot know exactly how fresh these mushrooms actually are, consuming them quickly is even more important. An already prepared mushroom dish or leftovers should be cooled down quickly in the refrigerator for a maximum of one day and then consume at the latest.

Clean and process the chanterelles immediately

Even if you want to temporarily store the chanterelles you have collected yourself in the refrigerator, you must first clean them thoroughly. The reason for this is simple: Chanterelles are often very dirty, with sand that is difficult to remove, especially in their groin. If you only clean the chanterelles after they have been in the refrigerator, this activity will be more difficult for you. The mushrooms have soaked themselves with moisture from the refrigerator, so that the dirt adheres more strongly. Cleaning immediately saves you a lot of trouble afterwards.

Storage in the refrigerator

The cleaned chanterelles, wrapped in a cloth, paper or kitchen towel, belong in the vegetable compartment or 0 ° C compartment of your refrigerator. If you want to keep them for more than a few days, freezing is recommended: To do this, briefly blanch the clean mushrooms in boiling, salted water and then dry them well. Now you can put them in a freezer at at least minus 18 ° C. They stay here for at least a year.

Tips

In many Internet forums the old myth still haunts that one shouldn't freeze chanterelles. This is nonsense, as has meanwhile been established. However, the chanterelles can also be preserved in other ways.