Chanterelles can be used year-round if they are:
- salt,
- canning,
- dry,
- freeze.
These mushrooms, which are a dietary product, are considered conditionally edible. When fresh, they quickly deteriorate.
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Chanterelles are distinguished by more pronounced taste characteristics when compared with mushrooms and oyster mushrooms. However, their significant drawback is the limited ripening period - from July to September. They can be collected only in forests, and fresh storage is permissible for a short time, because mushrooms belong to the class of perishable foods. To preserve their positive qualities, you need to resort to drying or conservation. Freezing is an equally popular method for keeping chanterelles for the winter. How to prepare mushrooms for freezing, which method allows you to keep the mushrooms in their original form? How long can chanterelles be kept frozen? The answers to all of the above questions are presented to the attention of the readers.
Drying technology
Initially, the collected mushrooms should be reviewed, and the strongest, youngest specimens suitable for drying should be selected. After manual cleaning, it is not recommended to wash the mushrooms, as in this case the drying process is delayed and the storage of the dried products worsens.
One of the most popular and widespread is the method of natural drying of mushrooms in the sun.... In this case, the fruiting bodies of the mushrooms should be strung neatly on a string, and then hung out in a well-lit by the sun's rays and blown by the wind. This natural drying process takes no more than ten days.
A faster and more reliable method of drying mushrooms in the oven or Russian oven. Cleared of forest debris and impurities, the sorted mushrooms should be cut into small pieces and put on a baking sheet or wire rack, which should be placed in an oven preheated to 45-50 ° C. After the mushrooms have dried a little, you need to take a short break, and notice that you finally dry the chanterelles with the oven door ajar.
Correctly dried mushrooms completely retain not only all their nutritional properties, but also the characteristic mushroom aroma. Dried chanterelles should be stored in gauze bags, which must be placed in a well-ventilated, dry and clean area. The standard temperature regime for storing dry mushrooms should be about 12 ° C. It is very important to regularly revise dry mushrooms to prevent mold growth. Also, if necessary, the mushrooms are periodically dried in the oven.
Dried mushrooms must be soaked for a couple of hours in room temperature water before use. The water after soaking can be used in the preparation of first courses or mushroom sauce. Soaking dry chanterelles in milk is practiced, which improves the taste of the prepared dish. If desired, dried mushrooms can be processed into mushroom powder, the storage of which in winter has a number of advantages:
- small volume saves storage space very effectively;
- preparation of dishes takes a minimum amount of time and does not require pre-soaking of mushrooms;
- mushroom powders belong to the category of more complete mushroom dishes, as they are absorbed as quickly and easily as possible.
You can grind dried mushrooms either in a hand-held mortar or using a coffee grinder or a special pepper grinder. It is best to store dry mushroom powder in clean glass containers with hermetically sealed lids. The average shelf life of mushroom powder without loss of taste and nutritional qualities is about two years.
Preparing chanterelles for storage
To store chanterelles for a long time, they need to be prepared, sorted.
It belongs:
- To remove crumpled, wormy, old mushrooms.
- Processing the back sides of the caps.
- Rinsing under water
- Drying on towels.
When harvested from coniferous plantings, they will taste bitter, like those harvested on dry summer days. To remove the bitterness, they are boiled. They put it on fire, they boil. Salt, remove the foam, and so they cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. They are washed in a colander and dried.
Features of working with chanterelles
In the form of pickled pickles, these mushrooms are not as tasty as fresh, so the question naturally arises: how to freeze chanterelles for the winter. We provide recipes in this article.
Only freshly harvested, strong, undamaged specimens are suitable for freezing. Wormy, old, with crumbling caps are best prepared and eaten right away. It is not recommended to refrigerate raw chanterelles, because after several weeks of storage in the freezer, they acquire a bitter taste.
Prepare everything to freeze within sixteen to eighteen hours after harvest. However, this rule applies to all mushrooms. The sooner you process them (clean, rinse, make a blank) after harvesting, the more aroma, taste and vitamins you will retain. And they will live longer in your refrigerator.
Frozen chanterelles are stored for three to four months. If it is possible to ensure the temperature is below -18 degrees, then they will "live" up to a year. It is not recommended to store them for a longer time, as there is a high risk of product spoilage.
So, chanterelle mushrooms: how to cook for the winter? You can freeze them raw, boiled or fried.
Method one: raw chanterelles
If you do not carry out heat treatment before freezing, then the mushrooms retain their shape and aroma better. Therefore, let's find out how to properly freeze chanterelles raw for the winter.
Without pre-boiling, the chances are high that the mushrooms will acquire a bitter taste. To avoid such situations, some housewives advise you to carefully sort out the chanterelles, removing the dry specimens and preparing only the freshest and highest quality ones for freezing. But once at a time it is not necessary, so such a preparation will have to be done at your own peril and risk.
After you have sorted out the mushrooms, wipe them with a napkin. You can rinse it, but we don't need extra ice. And the aroma will be better preserved during dry processing.
After cleaning, spread the chanterelles on a flat surface in one layer (on a plate, tray) and send them to the freezer for ten to twelve hours. Then they can be poured into containers or bags.
Method four: "bouillon cube"
Now we will tell you how to freeze chanterelle mushrooms for the winter, if you plan to use them mainly for making soups.
Prepare the mushrooms (peel, chop) and boil, but do not drain the broth. Wait for it to cool.
Take a plastic container and place a plastic bag in it. Place boiled mushrooms in it and fill with broth. And send it to the freezer right in this form.
When the broth has hardened, remove the resulting hot plate from the container and place in the freezer.
During the long cold winter, you can easily prepare a delicious and aromatic soup or stewed potatoes with mushrooms from the resulting semi-finished product.
Method three: fried chanterelles
How to freeze fried chanterelles for the winter? Peel the mushrooms, chop and fry in a pan with the addition of vegetable oil for twenty minutes. It is necessary for all excess moisture to evaporate. It is undesirable to use animal fats instead of oil, since in this case the frozen mushrooms can be stored for no more than one month.
After that, wait until the mushrooms have cooled completely, then put them in bags or containers and send them to freeze in the refrigerator.
Unlike porcini mushrooms, boletus and aspen mushrooms, it is not necessary to boil the chanterelles before frying. Also, when frying, you can immediately add onions and greens.
What other blanks from chanterelles are
How to freeze chanterelles for the winter, we figured out. But there are other preparations for the cold season. For example, pickling. If you don't want to mess around with cans, then you can simply dry the mushrooms.
Only chanterelle caps are suitable for drying, so you will have to do something different with the legs. Do not forget that only unspoiled mushrooms are "allowed" to harvest.
You can dry them either in the oven at low temperatures (65 degrees or less), or naturally. Store in an airtight jar or bag.
In this form, they can lie for up to three years if they are protected from high humidity, but it is better not to risk it and eat it within a year. Before use, they will need to be soaked in broth or water.
So, chanterelle mushrooms. How to cook for the winter? Freeze them raw, fried or boiled? Or maybe just salt or dry? The choice is yours.
Method two: boiled chanterelles
How to freeze chanterelles for the winter if there is no trust in raw mushroom preparations, and you want to be one hundred percent sure that bitterness will not appear? Just boil them a little.
Clean the mushrooms from debris, rinse thoroughly. If the mushrooms are too large, cut them into several pieces.
Boil water in a saucepan so that there is twice as much liquid as the product. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of salt per kilogram of mushrooms. Boil the chanterelles for five minutes. Be sure to remove the dirty film formed on the surface of the water.
If you are still worried, you can increase the cooking time to ten minutes, but keep in mind that the longer the mushrooms are in boiling water, the more flavor they lose. It is impossible to keep the chanterelles in water for more than twenty minutes, otherwise, when frozen, they will lose their structure.
Next, put the mushrooms in a colander, let them cool and pat dry with a paper towel. Mushrooms absorb water well, which, after freezing, will turn into unnecessary ice. Place the mushrooms in containers or bags and place in the freezer.
Unfortunately, boiling spoils the appearance of the mushrooms somewhat, so the method is well suited if fresh mushrooms have already lost their shape.
How to keep chanterelles pickled
In this way, you can store chanterelles in jars. This is a classic pickle recipe.
You will need:
- Fresh chanterelles - 2 kg.
- Water - 1.5 liters.
- Salt -50 g.
- Sugar - 100 g.
- Table vinegar - 60 ml.
- Carnation - 10 pcs.
- Allspice - 15 peas.
Sterilized jars
2 kg of fresh chanterelles for storage are soaked in salted and acidified water (10 g of salt, 2 g of citric acid: 1 l.);
The mushrooms are selected, washed and cut into pieces. Filled with water from 1.5 liters. and boil while they float on the surface. As soon as all the mushrooms are at the bottom, the fire turns off. Chanterelles go to a colander.
How to prepare mushrooms
Before choosing the necessary method for harvesting chanterelles for the winter, you need to conduct a preliminary inspection of the material and carefully sort out the mushrooms. Attention should be paid to the following nuances:
- The mushrooms must be young. Fruit bodies of medium and small size and bright color are suitable for freezing. It is worth refusing to freeze old chanterelles; it is better to process them in some other way.
- You need to process mushrooms on the day of harvest. If this is not possible, the collected material must be placed in the refrigerator. The maximum storage time is 10-18 hours, depending on the capacity of the chamber (the lower the temperature, the longer the chanterelles can be stored).
- Only clean mushrooms are frozen, therefore, all existing debris must be removed from their surface, the sand must be shaken out.
- Each mushroom needs to have its stem trimmed and inspected for a worm. The presence of pests is very rare for chanterelles, but it is absolutely impossible to exclude such a possibility.
- Rinse the mushrooms well under running water and place on a waffle towel.
- Leave at room temperature in a cool place for several hours.
Attention! If old specimens are collected together with young specimens, they can be used to prepare mushroom caviar for the winter, or simply boil mushroom broth based on them.
Correct defrosting
It is important to know not only how to properly freeze chanterelles for the winter, but also how to defrost them. It is advisable to do this in stages. First move the mushrooms from the freezer to the refrigerator (on the bottom shelf), then end the process at room temperature. It is not recommended to use the appropriate microwave setting for this purpose.
Thawed chanterelles should be cooked immediately. Leave them in the refrigerator for several days and do not re-freeze them. Therefore, in the process of creating blanks, it is better to arrange the chanterelles in containers in small batches - approximately in the amount that you plan to add to one dish.
If you have frozen mushrooms in different ways (raw, boiled, etc.), then for convenience, sign the packages, since in the future it will be difficult to distinguish where which ones are.
Chilled mushroom semi-finished products can be fried, boiled, added to soups, used as a filling for baked goods or dumplings, etc.
Salting chanterelles for storage
The hot method is used to pickle mushrooms. Small mushrooms are selected that do not need to be cut in order for them to retain their integral appearance.
They are thoroughly cleaned of debris and washed. Fall asleep in boiling water. Cook for 15 minutes. Drain the water and wash the mushrooms. Place the mushrooms in a saucepan and sprinkle each layer with salt at the rate of 50 g per 1 kg. chanterelles. They put them under oppression and cover with a lid.
Output
Even in cool rooms, freshly picked chanterelles can be stored for a day at most. You can put them in the refrigerator for several days, but their quality and taste will suffer from this. It is advisable to immediately sort through them, sort them, wash them gently and prepare them for storage in the ways described above.
Basic freezing techniques
An easy way to freeze chanterelles
Chanterelles, like other varieties of mushrooms, can simply be dried, folded in a thin layer on a baking sheet or tray, and sent to the freezer.
After a couple of hours, when the ingredients have hardened and covered with a crust of ice, they must be packaged in plastic bags and placed in the far corner of the refrigerator.
Very often, after this method, the chanterelles begin to taste bitter, and in order to avoid an unpleasant aftertaste, it is recommended to pre-boil them.
The cleaned workpiece is placed in a saucepan, poured with water, and sent to a slow fire. When the chanterelles boil, 2-3 minutes is enough, then they are thrown into a colander and allowed to drain.
The product is packaged only after complete cooling, dividing into small disposable portions. You can add bay leaves or a couple of black peppercorns to the pot to enhance the flavor of the mushrooms.
Chanterelles should not be boiled for a long time so that they do not lose their unique aroma.
After defrosting, the product must not be re-sent to the freezer, otherwise toxic substances will begin to accumulate in it, which will poison the body. Therefore, it is advised to divide the mushrooms into small portions, which are used at a time.
How to freeze fried chanterelles for the winter
An alternative option is stewing or frying. Chanterelles can be frozen by first frying in a pan. The mushrooms are cut into thin slices, seasoned with spices and salt, and placed in a hot frying pan. Add a little vegetable oil, or just add water so that the product does not burn and contains fewer calories.
The second way is to bake the chanterelles in the oven so that they languish in their own juice. The finished dish, together with the yushka, is transferred to plastic containers, tightly closed, and placed in the freezer.
Such a preparation can be added to vegetable stews, seasoned soups, or simply defrost at room temperature and then reheated in the microwave.
Some housewives prepare mushroom soup by boiling the chanterelles in salted broth and pouring them into bags along with the liquid. It is enough to boil the finished bars, add vegetables, and serve with herbs.
Video: how to freeze fried chanterelles for the winter
Chanterelles for the winter: a recipe (video)
The process of salting mushrooms lasts about a month, after which the finished workpiece must be stored in the refrigerator.
Canning chanterelles is no less popular with housewives. This method perfectly allows you to preserve all the beneficial properties of mushrooms for a long time. For canning, glass jars are used, and the whole process is carried out in several stages, including boiling and pouring the mushrooms laid out in the jars with a marinade based on a liter of water, three tablespoons of salt, ½ glass of sugar and a glass of vinegar.
Rolled up and sterilized jars with mushroom blanks should be stored in a cool and dry room for no more than a year.
The benefits of chanterelles for humans
Chanterelles are famous for their delicate nutty flavor. The presence of protein and vitamin B in these mushrooms makes them very beneficial for the human body. They contain beta-carotene necessary for vision, and it is he who gives the yellow color to chanterelles. And the high content of copper and zinc salts makes them extremely important for the full functioning of the body.
How chanterelles grow
The pulp of the mushrooms contains chymannose, which is a natural polysaccharide. The substance perfectly fights parasites, so chanterelles almost never infect worms: by eating chanterelles, you can get rid of helminthic invasions in the gastrointestinal tract.
Harvesting chanterelles by such methods as conservation, drying and freezing leave a good share of nutrients in the chanterelles. Therefore, they will benefit the body throughout the winter.
Outcomes
Chanterelles lose some of their original taste and aroma when pickled, therefore they are recommended to be consumed in their pure form. This can be done only in summer, because mushrooms are frozen for the winter by several methods.
Before creating a blank, the mushrooms must be carefully examined; only high-quality material is suitable for freezing, without significant flaws and defects. The process of creating a blank from chanterelles does not need to be postponed, it is better to do this immediately after collection, because the product is rather capricious and perishable. The maximum storage time in the refrigerator is 12-16 hours, therefore, after harvesting, you need to immediately start harvesting for long-term storage.
