The abundance of mushroom dishes is one of the features of Russian national cuisine. In domestic cooking, mushrooms are used, which are not considered edible abroad. One of these original Russian delicacies is white milk mushrooms.
These aromatic and very tasty mushrooms are traditionally pickled during the harvest season, and in winter they are served to themselves and guests as a snack. But not everyone knows that milk mushrooms can be fried, dried, pickled and used to make soup.
Before you start preparing dishes from white milk mushrooms, it is important to properly prepare the mushrooms, since their pulp contains a milky juice that has a rather unpleasant taste. In order to neutralize bitterness, two main methods are used - soaking and boiling in salted water.
How to clean
First of all, you need to carefully examine the mushrooms, remove large and easily separated debris, reject and throw away those that are eaten by worms, are loose to the touch, or are wrinkled during transportation. Quite often, recipes recommend sorting mushrooms by size so that they can be beautifully placed in a jar or other container for pickling.
In addition, it is the young, and therefore small and strong, milk mushrooms that are the meatiest and hold their shape best when cooked.
- Then the gifts of the forest should be soaked in cold water for a day. To get rid of unwanted worms and beetles, you can add a pinch of salt to the water, and to prevent the mushrooms from floating, press them down, for example, with a plate. It is better to put the soaked milk mushrooms in a cool place and do not forget to change the water as often as possible (at least 3-4 times), otherwise they may turn sour.
- After soaking, you need to start the final cleaning. The easiest way to do this is with a toothbrush or the hard side of a dish sponge. Yellowed and limp areas can be trimmed with a knife.
Characteristics
The mushroom got its name for its bulkiness and heaviness. Indeed, it is dense and heavy.
Varieties of milk mushrooms.
- Aspen.
- Yellow.
- Oak.
- Turning blue.
- Black.
- Real.
- Peppery.
The more famous gifts of the forest include:
- real;
- black;
- yellow.
White forest product
White milk mushrooms have a flat or depressed cap with downward-turned edges, on which there is a fluffy fibrous fringe. The hat can remain wet even in drought.
The color of a real mushroom is conditional, since it also has a milky, creamy palette. His leg is short. The pulp is white, dense, fleshy structure, with a pleasant smell. At the fracture, you can see a copious amount of liquid secreted, which turns yellow in the air.
Before you go into the forest to pick mushrooms, you need to know where real milk mushrooms grow and in what period. They grow from July to October in birch and birch-pine forests. They can often be seen in families. White milk mushroom likes to hide under fallen leaves or pine needles.
Often real milk mushrooms are used in recipes for pickling.
Yellow product
Cap color with concentric dark circles. Due to its taste characteristics, this type ranks second after white. Although for many experts this is a controversial issue.
Yellow milk mushroom can be found from early July to October in birch forests, rarely in spruce forests.
Black look
The cap of this product can reach up to 30 cm. It has a dark brown, brown-olive palette. Dark circles are barely visible. The structure is fleshy and dense. The hat is slightly sticky.
The hollow stem is approximately 4 cm. At the break, the flesh has a grayish-white tint, which quickly turns brown. The juice secreted by the mushroom is white, with a pungent odor, and quickly darkens when chapped.
The nigella mushroom belongs to the 4th category of edibility. They are often eaten salted after a long process of soaking or boiling.
If you properly pickle and store black milk mushrooms, then the taste characteristics and strength of the product will remain for 3 or more years.
How to pickle correctly
- Peel and rinse the milk mushrooms. Place caps down in a large container and fill with cold water. To prevent the mushrooms from floating, cover with a large plate or a lid of slightly smaller volume than the container used. Soak for 3 days, changing the water at least three times a day to avoid souring.
- Scrape the soaked mushrooms, removing any remaining dirt. Check to see if there are any limp specimens after soaking. If there are any, mercilessly get rid of them, because if they are salted they will become lethargic and tasteless. Only strong, elastic milk mushrooms should be used for pickling.
- Sprinkle the bottom of a non-metallic (glass, plastic or enamel without chips) dish with salt, place a layer of selected milk mushrooms on top, repeat the sequence. For 1 kg of mushrooms you will need 40 g of salt (about 2 tbsp).
- After all the mushrooms are in the bowl mixed with salt, put pressure on top. This could be a plate with a 3-liter jar filled with water. Leave in a cool, dark place, and after a week, put into jars. However, experienced mushroom pickers advise not to close the lids too tightly. If you have a cellar or a glassed-in balcony, it is better to leave the milk mushrooms in a large container under pressure, adding brine if necessary.
How to dry for the winter
IMPORTANT! Milk mushrooms belong to the lamellar mushrooms (like honey mushrooms, saffron milk caps, russula), and they are dried extremely rarely. With this method of processing, very little of the final product comes out. The bitterness characteristic of fresh milk mushrooms does not go away after drying, and when preparing dishes, mushrooms prepared in this way will have to be soaked for a long time.
You should adhere to the following rules:
- mushrooms intended for drying are not washed or soaked. More than you can get by, wipe the milk mushrooms with a slightly damp cloth. It is best to simply scrape the stem and cap with a knife to remove debris;
- Use only strong and resilient specimens. Do not dry wormy specimens under any circumstances;
- If the mushrooms are dried whole, they need to be sorted by size or cut into equal pieces so that the dehydration process occurs evenly.
In urban conditions, the most acceptable options for drying mushrooms are an oven and an electric dryer. When using the oven, place the mushrooms on a wire rack or parchment-lined baking sheet so that they do not touch each other. Set the temperature from 45 to 70 degrees. Ideally, the oven has an air convection function.
If not, the door can be opened slightly to the width of your palm. During the process, the milk mushrooms should be stirred periodically. The time varies depending on the size of the fruiting bodies and the set temperature. Readiness is determined as follows: mushrooms should bend, but not break, be elastic and dense to the touch, but not moist.
Storing Boiled Mushrooms
Even boiled mushrooms cannot be stored for long. Enameled or glass containers, as well as a refrigerator or freezer can extend the shelf life. So, in an open enamel or glass bowl, boiled milk mushrooms are stored for 1-1.5 days in the refrigerator or in the cellar at an air temperature of 0 to +4 degrees Celsius.
Milk mushrooms placed in the freezer are naturally stored longer - from 1 month to six months.
To extend the shelf life, products must not only be placed in suitable containers, but also tightly closed with a lid. In this case, boiled milk mushrooms can be safely eaten 7 days after cooking. Store without brine or mushroom broth, only mushrooms tightly packed in jars, nothing extra.
If during storage bubbles, mold appear on the surface, or the caps become too sticky or smell unpleasant, the product will have to be thrown away. There is no point in trying to process mushrooms in any way, for example, by overcooking or boiling them; this can be dangerous and cost a person’s life.
How to fry
Milk mushrooms, including white ones, are used for frying only by brave housewives. But if you want to diversify the menu and try something new, you can afford such an experience.
REFERENCE! It is believed that the fragile cap of the milk mushroom is more suitable for frying, rather than the hard leg.
- Before you start frying, the mushrooms need to be cleaned and soaked, and boiled in boiling salted water for 10-15 minutes.
- The milk mushrooms, drained in a colander, are poured onto a pre-heated frying pan and covered with a lid.
- In 5 minutes they will be ready.
- If desired, they can be flavored with sour cream or cream, add fried onions, garlic, herbs and potatoes.
How to marinate
The lactic acid contained in milk mushrooms greatly complicates preservation. Milky juice can cause a cloudy sediment to appear in the marinade, and what’s even more unpleasant is that it leads to the contents souring and the jar exploding. To protect the workpiece, milk mushrooms must be soaked in advance.
IMPORTANT. To prepare mushrooms using the cold method, they should be soaked for several days. When marinating milk mushrooms using the hot method, they are boiled in brine, which means the soaking time can be reduced.
Cold marinated white milk mushrooms
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of mushrooms;
- 1 liter of water;
- 2-3 tbsp. l. 9% vinegar;
- 2 tbsp. l. Sahara;
- 2 tbsp. l. salt;
- 3 bay leaves;
- 4 things. peppercorns;
- 3 blackcurrant leaves;
- bunch of dill.
Preparation:
- Prepare milk mushrooms: soak for 48 hours, remembering to change the water and rinse from time to time. Place in salted boiling water and cook until they reach the bottom of the pan. Cool.
- Add vinegar, sugar, salt, bay leaf, peppercorns, currant leaves and half a bunch of dill to the water. Bring to a boil, then leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes. Then let it cool.
- Finely chop the remaining dill. Mix with milk mushrooms.
- Place mushrooms in sterilized glass jars and pour marinade over them. Cover the jars with a breathable material, such as gauze or parchment, and secure with an elastic band or tie with thread. Leave at room temperature for a day.
- Remove the gauze or parchment lids, roll up the jars and store in a cool, dimly lit place.
Hot marinated white milk mushrooms
Ingredients:
- 2 kg of milk mushrooms;
- 2 liters of water;
- 50 g salt;
- 4 bay leaves;
- 5 peas of allspice;
- 5 pieces. carnations;
- 20 ml of 70% vinegar essence.
Preparation:
- Soak milk mushrooms soaked for 24 hours and coarsely chopped, pour 1 liter of water with the addition of 10 g of salt. Place on fire and bring to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes, skimming off any foam. Drain the water and rinse the mushrooms.
- Dissolve 40 g of salt in 1 liter of boiling water, add pepper, cloves, bay leaf.
- Dip milk mushrooms into the marinade and boil for 15 minutes. Pour in vinegar essence and stir.
- Use a slotted spoon to catch the fruiting bodies and place them in pre-sterilized jars. Pour over hot marinade.
- Roll up the jars with boiled lids and place them upside down. The pickled mushrooms will be ready in a month.
Muffins with salted milk mushrooms
Another delicious culinary product with “royal mushrooms” is muffins. The dish is original and easy to prepare. For it you will need:
- flour – 150 g;
- egg – 1 pc.;
- milk – 100 ml;
- salted milk mushrooms – 100 g;
- sugar – 1.5 tsp;
- baking powder – 1 tsp;
- butter – 50 g;
- cheese – 50 g.
Stages of work:
- In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar and egg.
- Add a little milk and whisk thoroughly.
- Pour flour and baking powder into a separate bowl.
- Add them little by little to the egg mixture. Do the same with the remaining milk. Mix so that there are no lumps in the dough.
- Proceed to preparing the filling. Wash the salted breasts, dry them, cut them. Add to test.
- Add grated cheese there.
- Take muffin tins and place the dough and filling in them.
- Place in an oven heated to 180 0C for half an hour.
At the end of the cooking process, place the hot muffins with salted milk mushrooms on a wire rack to cool.
Cooking dishes from white milk mushrooms at home
Fried mushrooms with potatoes
Lightly roll white milk mushrooms soaked and boiled in salted water in flour and fry in sunflower oil. The flour breading will allow the mushrooms to retain their shape and give them a nice golden color.
Peel and boil the potatoes, cut into arbitrary slices and fry. Combine potatoes and mushrooms in one frying pan, pour sour cream mixed with mayonnaise. Simmer over low heat for 7-10 minutes.
White milk mushroom soup recipe
- Prepare a roast of carrots and parsley root.
- Peel and cut 2 potatoes. Place the vegetables in 1 liter of boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
- Cut 100 g of salted white milk mushrooms into strips and add to the vegetable broth. Cook for another 10 minutes.
- Serve the soup with a spoonful of rich sour cream and fresh herbs.
Milk mushroom salad
- Boil 4 medium potatoes, cool, peel and cut into cubes.
- Cut fresh cucumber into thin slices.
- Rinse the salted white milk mushrooms under running water, pat dry with a paper towel and chop into strips.
Prepare the dressing : mix a tablespoon of mustard, 3 tbsp. l. olive or sunflower oil, 1 tbsp. l. wine vinegar.
Mix all ingredients and season the salad with ground pepper.
REFERENCE. As a rule, there is no need to additionally add salt to dishes containing salted milk mushrooms. If the dish still turns out to be a little bland, this can be corrected by increasing the number of mushrooms used.
Mushroom pickers recommend salting milk mushrooms with currant, cherry and horseradish leaves; others insist that salt and dry dill are enough for these mushrooms. Which way you will salt is up to you. In any case, it will be a delicious snack!
An ancient delicacy
Mushrooms are an ancient delicacy of Russian cuisine. These mushrooms have been valued by lovers of quiet hunting in our country since ancient times. Milk mushrooms are most often used as food in salted form, but they can be prepared in other ways with no less success. Black and white milk mushrooms can be used to prepare a huge variety of delicious dishes.
This article talks about various ways to cook milk mushrooms, including how to properly pickle them at home.
