The Art of Drying Wild Mushrooms
In the heart of mushroom season, while chanterelles often make it straight to the dinner table, boletes offer an equally rich experience—especially when dried. Drying boletes transforms them into a robust, aromatic addition to your pantry, useful in a myriad of dishes, from simmering stews to coq au vin. But let's start with the basics: how to prepare them for drying.
The first step is slicing your boletes thinly, ensuring you get pieces with cap, stem, ring, and pores. This gives them ample surface area to release moisture efficiently. For meatier types like the luridiformis, you might opt for quartering or halving, but the general idea is to aim for thin slices.
Now, you have options for arranging these slices for drying. Oven shelves work wonderfully for laying out your mushroom slices in a single layer. If you have a steel mesh colander, that’s also effective. Alternatively, you can thread the mushrooms onto a cotton thread, using a sharp wooden stick as a "needle." You can either thread them through the middle or opt for the quicker drying method of creating two entry-exit points, fashioning your mushrooms into hanging garlands.
Once arranged, it's time to bring the heat. If you have a wood stove, you're in luck. Wood stoves pull in air, creating a natural draft that aids in drying. The heat radiating from the stove lightly cooks the mushrooms and quickly draws out moisture. The end result is an intensely flavored, compact, and long-lasting pantry ingredient.
We store our dried boletes in clip-top jars, a storage method that's as practical as it is aesthetically pleasing. Placed in a shaded corner of the kitchen, these jars make for decorative, rustic accents that are as beautiful to look at as they are rewarding to open. Whenever we have guests, it's always a delightful moment to pop open a jar and let them take a whiff. The aroma that escapes is an intense, almost cartoonishly pungent mushroom scent that catches everyone by surprise and delight.
Rehydration is straightforward—just soak them in water or toss them into simmering dishes. But for a special twist, consider grinding the dried mushrooms into a fine powder using a food mill or blender. This mushroom powder - or mushroom spice - becomes an umami booster, elevating any dish it graces.
If you don't have the luxury of a wood stove, don't worry—you can still dry your mushrooms effectively. The key is to ensure there's plenty of dry air circulating around the mushrooms to draw out the moisture as quickly as possible. This prevents them from becoming moldy during the drying process. Air drying can be a great option, especially if you live in a climate with low humidity. You can use a fan to circulate air or place the mushrooms in a well-ventilated space. Some people even use food dehydrators for this purpose. The aim is to get the mushrooms as dry as possible in the shortest amount of time. Regardless of the method you choose, always check the progress regularly to make sure your mushrooms are drying evenly and not showing any signs of mold.
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