Freezing Porcini Mushrooms - Here's the best way to go about it

Freezing porcini mushrooms - this is how you preserve the aromatic forest mushrooms

Freeze or Dry?

Like all mushrooms, boletus can only be kept fresh for a very short time. The high protein content ensures that the mushrooms go bad quickly. For this reason, you should prepare the fruit bodies immediately after buying them or after a walk in the forest or, if they are not possible or not desired, they should be preserved. Porcini mushrooms are ideal for freezing because - unlike some other types of mushrooms such as chanterelles - they do not experience any change in taste. Freezing is the fastest and gentlest way to preserve fresh mushrooms - which can also be used like fresh mushrooms. However, if you dry the porcini mushrooms, they will gain a lot of aroma.For this reason, you should always add some dried mushrooms to the fresh mushrooms in porcini mushroom dishes.

Prepare porcini mushrooms properly before freezing

However, you cannot move the mushrooms straight from the forest to the freezer. The first thing to do is to thoroughly clean the found objects and cut them into bite-sized pieces - after all, frozen mushrooms should not be thawed first and then made ready to pan, but rather poured into the hot fat or the hot broth, ready to pan and deep-frozen. If you thaw the mushrooms first (so that you can cut them afterwards), they will later become rubbery in consistency in the pan. Only mushrooms that are intended to be baked, for example in batter, can be left whole.

The best methods for freezing porcini mushrooms

There are several methods of freezing cleaned and cut porcini mushrooms. Regardless of whether you want to preserve raw or prepared mushrooms - first pre-freeze them in a suitable freezer at temperatures of at least minus 20 ° C (with the option of shock freezing if possible). Pre-freezing should take about a day, after which you can store the frozen mushrooms at minus 18 ° C. Use a freezer for freezing, as the freezer compartment of the refrigerator cannot generate the required temperatures - “frozen” mushrooms only last a few days to weeks here.

Freeze raw porcini mushrooms

Like mushrooms, porcini mushrooms can be frozen raw and appetizingly cut into thin slices. All you have to do is clean them (if possible do not wash them!), Cut away bad spots and finally cut the fruit bodies into thin slices. If the fruit bodies are too big or no more slices are possible due to maggot damage, simply cut them into bite-sized pieces - the thinner these are, the faster they will freeze through. At temperatures of around minus 18 ° C, the raw porcini mushrooms can be kept for up to a year. If you want to use them, simply pour the desired frozen amount directly from the freezer into the hot fat or the hot broth. Then prepare them like fresh mushrooms.

Freeze stewed porcini mushrooms

You can of course prefer this step and freeze porcini mushrooms that have already been steamed. To do this, fry the cleaned and cut mushrooms in a little butter or a mixture of butter and vegetable oil (for example a good olive oil) until they are just about the cooking point. If desired, you can also add salt and pepper at this point. You can also add chopped onions and / or diced bacon to the mushrooms. Finally cool the steamed dish quickly in a water bath and freeze it as described for the raw porcini mushrooms. If the stewed porcini mushrooms are to be thawed and prepared, simply put them in a hot pan.

Freeze blanched porcini mushrooms

Instead of steaming the porcini mushrooms to be frozen in hot fat, you can simply blanch them in boiling water for three to four minutes. Add plenty of salt and some lemon juice to the cooking water - the salt prevents the mushrooms from absorbing too much water and the lemon works against darkening. Blanching is particularly suitable for very large quantities of mushrooms to be frozen. By the way, do not throw away the cooking water: You can also freeze this as a mushroom broth and use it to prepare mushroom dishes later, it is very aromatic.

Freeze finished porcini mushroom dishes

If you are in a hurry, you can simply freeze a prepared dish instead of raw or prepared porcini mushrooms. Porcini mushrooms in cream sauce, a porcini mushroom ragout, etc. Ä. Is defrosted quickly and is an excellent meal even for unexpected guests. Prepare the mushroom dish to be frozen as if you were going to eat it, but instead quickly cool it down in a water bath and freeze it as described above. Remember, however, that prepared porcini mushrooms can only be kept for two to three months, even if they are frozen.

Tips

It is also very tasty to fill homemade pasta (for example ravioli) with a porcini mushroom paste, blanch it and then freeze it. You can simply thaw the filled noodles in a hot broth or fry them in the pan.