Drying Mushrooms


 
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You got it bad, boy..... You know you're a die-hard when morels become more important than turkeys.
Two tips on drying. First make sure you have your morels dired very well; mold and critters will get them if you don't. In some areas insect larva love to live in the morchellas. After i have mine dried I throw in a couple of dried bay leaves which supposidly kills any insects that may be there.
Morels dry probably the easiest of the ild mushrooms, taking the shortest amount of time and coming out well. Right now we are drying Spring Boletes (edulis rex) which take a little longer.

dave
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dave Colby:
[qb]After i have mine dried I throw in a couple of dried bay leaves which supposidly kills any insects that may be there.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Actually, the bay leaves act as a repellent, rather than an insecticide. They work particularly well on grain moths.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dave Colby:
[qb] You got it bad, boy..... You know you're a die-hard when morels become more important than turkeys.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>LOL, Dave. No, I don't have it that bad. Reality here is that I've been whupped up on by these Eastern turkey birds so bad that I'm turning them a cold shoulder. Have persisted for seven some years in trying to take a spring gobbler without use of a full concealment blind. No gun, just a home made bow and the classic archery technique of trying to call one past me so I can draw undetected. Have experienced every calamitous failure possible to imagine. In short, I give up.

Thinking spring mushrooms have neither hearing, eyes nor mobility. They taste better, and I can rise from a soft bed after daylight to hunt them. Moreover, a meal does not depend upon my prowess as an archer. What's not to like about this sport?

Sounds as though you know your stuff. What are the prospects of using a smokehouse for drying morels? What kinda temps are we looking at?
 
Don't know about drying 'shrums in smoker.
Had some extra boletes over the weekend and tried throwing them on the smoker at the end. of doing a ham They came out pretty soggy. Normally I grilll boletes with a little olive oil, garlic and lemon over high heat.
Do know that when you buy dried boletes from South America there is a smoky taste to them; suspect they were dried over open fires.
Convection ovens work well for drying mushrooms; low temp, maybe 125-150, overnight. Smoker without waterpan I would think would work about the same. Should give a jacked-up interesting flavor.
Another way to jackup the flavor in dried morels is to re-hydrate in a wine. Save the soaking liquid and use it if you are making gravy , soup or sauce.
 
Dave, if you tried at the tail end of smoking a cured ham, then you likely had the vents stoppered up while you finished it out, correct? Prolly had by then raised smokehouse temp up to around 175 or so? If assumptions are correct, then that combo would have contributed to mushrooms being soggy. My intention is to lay them on jerky racks and at a low temp blow in smoke from an offset chamber while keeping intake and exhaust vents fully open, moving good volumes of air throughout the drying. That's the plan recently formulated. Any suggestions? Will let you know next spring how it works out.

Also broke down and bought a full-concealment blind. Got plans for it next spring, too. /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif
 
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