Dehydrated Mushroom: An Easy Storage Solution
Michalis 'BIG Mike' Kotzakolios


Defined Tag: Dehydrated Mushroom.

Those of us who really love mushrooms in our food are always looking for new ways to use them--and new ways to store them. Recently my local market had a sale; they had a whole batch of mushrooms that were just about to pass their prime, and they were letting them go at ridiculously inexpensive prices. Needless to say, I cleaned them out. Once I got them home, the challenge began; how to store them? They were already on the cusp of going bad; another day, and they would be. And not even I could eat that many mushrooms in one day. That's where dehydrating mushrooms comes in.

A dehydrated mushroom is the easiest and best to store. Because such a huge quantity of the mushroom's volume is water--some say as much as 75%--a dehydrated mushroom dwindles down into a tiny piece of extreme mushroom flavor. It's a great storage solution; a dehydrated mushroom will last over a year and hardly take up any space in your pantry.

You can dehydrate your mushrooms whole, but I prefer to slice them evenly first, since that seems to help them dry evenly. Also, if you don't have a heat dehydrator with a fan, I recommend that you get one. It is possible to dehydrate mushrooms simply by laying them on wire racks, but they tend to pick up moisture when the weather is particularly humid, even in an air-conditioned house, and that can cause problems later on. If you absolutely must air-dry the dehydrated mushroom, try to keep them in a cool, dry room with little traffic. The more people who are going in and out, the more chance of having your dehydrating mushrooms pick up moisture from the air, which can lead to mushy mushrooms that mold in storage.

Once your mushrooms are thoroughly dried--crisp, hard, and brittle--store them in airtight glass or plastic containers in a cool, dark area of your pantry or shelves. You can add them to any dish that calls for mushrooms, but unless they're going to simmer in the dish for at least fifteen minutes while cooking, reconstitute them before using. To do that, put a handful of dehydrated mushroom caps in a bowl and pour a fourth of a cup of water over them. Let them sit 15-20 minutes, then add mushrooms and water to your dish.

BIG Mike is a well known author, developer and Adsense expert as well as the owner of Niche Maniacs - a unique Adsense Marketing System designed to build long-term passive income streams from Adsense, Amazon, YPN, Chitika and other PPC services.