Do you need to boil chanterelles before frying? How long to cook chanterelles?

The taste of fried mushrooms, their incomparable aroma, is familiar to many almost from childhood, especially to people living in forest areas or who have the opportunity to go mushroom hunting every year. And this, believe me, is a very exciting activity that requires attentiveness and other skills. Bringing nutritious and healthy gifts of nature from which you can prepare a great variety of delicious dishes. Often the whole family, in full, so to speak, goes for mushrooms. So this pastime is very popular as an active recreation. Moreover, you spend the whole day in nature, in clean air, in the forest!

A little about the features of the species

Like many other popular names for mushrooms, it is very suitable for chanterelles; the cap looks like a curled fox tail.

If you decide to pick mushrooms yourself, it is important to know that there are both original chanterelles and their varieties: velvety, faceted, yellow blackberry - all these types can be eaten. But there are also false chanterelles and olive omphalotes. Omphalotes grow only in the tropics, and false ones grow on trees, unlike real ones.

To verify the authenticity of the chanterelles, you can compare them with photographs from the Internet, or smell them - this amazing smell cannot be confused with anything. You can go harvesting from early summer to mid-autumn. This depends primarily on the climate.

Fkusnofacts

- Chanterelles are very easy to process before cooking - just rinse with water, because... Thanks to the content of quinomannose, chanterelles have “immunity” from insects and worms.

— Chanterelle season is from mid-June to October. The peak season is mid-August. Chanterelles grow mainly in mixed or birch forests. They also love sandy soil, open glades or forest edges. These mushrooms always grow in bunches, so they are convenient to collect. They are almost never rotten or wormy.

— Chanterelles are very convenient to transport in buckets and baskets, since the mushrooms practically do not wrinkle even under their own heavy weight.

Delicious recipe! Borjomi canteen or medical

— When collecting, it is important not to confuse chanterelles with false—poisonous—mushrooms. You should know that false ones have a rounder cap, brighter color and a hollow stem. — If there are a lot of mushrooms, you can freeze them. Moreover, so that the mushrooms do not become bitter, and also so that they take up less space, it is recommended to freeze boiled mushrooms. If in this case the mushrooms are bitter, add a little brown sugar when cooking.

— Chanterelles are low-calorie and contain only 19 kcal per 100 grams. Meanwhile, chanterelles are considered heavy food, so mushrooms should be consumed with restrictions.

— The average price of quick-frozen chanterelles is from 300 rubles/1 kilogram (data for Moscow as of June 2022). When choosing chanterelles, preference should be given to wild mushrooms - they have more benefits and are crispier. Chanterelles grown under artificial conditions have a less vibrant taste and contain fewer nutrients.

— Benefits of chanterelles: B vitamins (the body obtains energy from food), beta-carotene (protection of the immune system), vitamin D (growth, health of bones and teeth), RR (redox processes).

Cooking preparation

The next stage: sorting and cleaning the crop. If you picked the mushrooms yourself or bought them from your own hands, make sure that everything you collected is edible, cut off the roots, clean them of various inedible areas, and rinse the mushrooms thoroughly under running water, preferably in a colander. Do not spare water and time, wash several times.

Chanterelles are one of the most environmentally friendly mushrooms and are not worm-bearing, so this should not be a problem.

Do you need to boil chanterelles before frying?

In fact, it’s not necessary, especially this type. But professional chefs advise boiling any mushrooms at least a little before cooking, whether frying or pickling, for additional safety.

Here, see for yourself: if the mushrooms were collected near roads, or simply in unfavorable soil, bought secondhand, if they are already old and bitter, then it is better to boil them. The boiling process will protect you from unwanted small debris, and possibly small insects.

But many refuse this prevention in order to preserve the taste, aroma and beneficial properties of chanterelles, which will weaken a little after boiling. But we must take into account that the beneficial properties (but not the taste) are still lost when fried, but not when boiled.

If you decide to boil the mushrooms before frying, cook for no longer than 15 minutes so that the mushrooms do not overcook and lose their taste. You can cook mushrooms only in their raw, fresh form. Dried or frozen mushrooms should not be cooked.

It is best to boil in a saucepan; a multicooker and similar modern appliances will not work, since it will be impossible to remove the foam, which must be done. After boiling, we rinse the semi-finished product in a colander, cut it according to preference - and you can start frying.

Answers to common questions

Chanterelles are a very tasty and healthy type of mushroom, but during their preparation a large number of questions arise. A variety of culinary recipes, the main ingredient of which are boiled mushrooms, arouses justified interest in this product. Here are some common questions:

In addition, all mushrooms have high sorption properties and absorb toxic substances from soil, air and water (radionuclides, nitrates, heavy metal salts). After heat treatment, all this remains in the water. Also, after cooking, chanterelles become soft and acquire special taste and aroma.

They contain lecithin, which has hypolipidemic properties and helps eliminate signs of atherosclerosis. In addition, chanterelles can promote weight loss due to the increased content of dietary fiber, which helps get rid of excess fluid in the body and stimulate intestinal motility.

A huge number of culinary recipes using boiled chanterelles will not leave any housewife unattended. They can be used as a separate dish or an additional ingredient. If you follow simple cooking rules, chanterelles will not only become a table decoration, but will also bring great benefits to the body due to their rich vitamin and mineral composition.

These are one of the most popular mushrooms. They are used in preparing dishes not only of traditional Russian, but also European cuisine. Culinary experts are attracted by their exquisite taste, low calorie content, and content of vitamins and minerals. In order not to spoil the taste of the dish and not harm yourself and your loved ones, you need to know how much to cook chanterelles for making soups, frying, risotto, and pies.

Frying chanterelles

Chanterelles are the easiest mushroom for a novice cook. You can fry them in different ways, all methods are accessible, simple and tasty. But theory is needed everywhere.

A simple frying option

As already mentioned, it is not necessary to boil chanterelles since they are not wormy due to the content of quinomannose in their pulp. So you can immediately after washing, raw, cut as you like, wait until the juice drains, and fry in butter.

How long to fry? Well, it’s better to navigate here visually. When the oil starts to shoot, remove from the stove, cover with a lid, and let sit for 10-15 minutes. The whole process should take no more than 25 minutes.

If you boiled, the procedure is the same, but it may take longer to fry.

Process of preparing chanterelles:

1. Roughly chop the washed and peeled mushrooms.
2. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Then we drain the water and throw the chanterelles into a colander.
3. Coarsely chop the onion and fry in a frying pan until soft.
4. Place chanterelles from a colander on top and fry for 15 minutes.
5. Don't forget to add salt at the end of frying!

Important facts

At the end of July, chanterelle season begins, so at this time markets and shops put these mushrooms on their shelves. Even restaurants include dishes from this food product in their menu: julienne, salads and soups.

Before you begin heat treatment and determine how long to cook chanterelle mushrooms, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with basic information about them. Knowledge will allow you to purchase or collect only high-quality specimens, as well as prepare a delicious dish from them.

Chanterelles have many advantages:

• Such products can be stored for no more than 1-2 days, while chanterelles are rightfully considered the longest-lasting mushrooms. At room temperature they will last for a week, or even two in the refrigerator.
• To determine the quality of a product, it is enough to examine it from all sides, touch and smell it. A pleasant aroma, bright color and elastic flesh are the main indicators of the freshness of mushrooms.
• Over time, cut chanterelles lose moisture, causing them to become soft or woody. A weak aroma and lack of elasticity indicate that the mushrooms have been lying around for quite some time.

It is worth noting that pale and uneven color are also signs of staleness. However, you need to remember that the brightness of the cap primarily depends on the place of growth: mushrooms grown in the sun will be brighter than those collected in the shade.

Beneficial features

Chanterelle is not only tasty, but also healthy for the body. It is quite often used for the preparation of medicines and remedies not only in folk medicine, but also in official medicine. Such mushrooms are popular both in Russia and foreign countries.

The chemical composition of chanterelles includes trametonolinic acid, polysaccharide quinomannose, ergosterol, chitinomanose. These natural substances have a good effect on the human liver and the body as a whole. The first can destroy hepatitis viruses, the second can get rid of parasites, and the third has a beneficial effect on liver enzymes.

Delicious potatoes with mushrooms: various recipes

In addition, chanterelles are rich in:

• vitamins of groups A, B, PP;
• zinc;
• copper.

Mushrooms also have a number of beneficial properties: improve vision and prevent inflammatory processes in the eyes, increase the body’s protective functions and resistance to infectious diseases, and reduce dryness of the epidermis and mucous membranes.

Of course, you cannot consume the product raw. Usually chanterelles are boiled, fried, salted and pickled, but such food will not give the expected effect. Chitinomanosis dies during heat treatment, as it cannot survive temperatures above 60 degrees Celsius. Salt also destroys this substance.

Dried mushrooms retain all the medicinal properties, like frozen ones, however, the latter may develop a bitter aftertaste.

Self-collection in the forest

Many people prefer to pick mushrooms themselves rather than buy them at markets and stores. Indeed, this approach will allow you to obtain high-quality and fresh chanterelles, and searching for them in the July forest will become an exciting event with family and friends. Before you go on a mushroom trek, it is important to remember what these tasty forest inhabitants look like. In total, about 100 varieties of chanterelles are known; first of all, they differ from each other in color. There are gray and almost white mushrooms, as well as red and amethyst ones. The latter are quite rare, and in terms of taste they are significantly inferior to their yellow and black relatives, which grow in Russia:

• Black - refers to delicious mushrooms and has a truffle aroma, which is why in France it was dubbed “truffle on a leg.” During the process of heat treatment, many mushrooms lose their taste and beneficial properties, but with this species everything happens exactly the opposite. The longer black chanterelle is fried or boiled, the more aromatic and tastier it becomes. The time for collecting such mushrooms falls in July and lasts until October. For the winter, they are not frozen, but dried, since this variety is one of the mushrooms that change their organoleptic properties for the better with this harvesting method, such as morels or boletus mushrooms. Black chanterelles are used to make soups and even jam, and are also used ground as seasonings or added to salads. It is worth noting that for all their advantages, these mushrooms are a very expensive pleasure and not everyone can afford them. So, for 1 kilogram of such chanterelles you will have to pay from 13 to 17 thousand rubles.
• Yellow or true - the most common type, has a fleshy funnel-shaped cap from 2 to 10 centimeters in diameter. May have a light yellow, bright red or egg color. A tasty and aromatic mushroom with elastic flesh, but it has its drawbacks. Beginning housewives, when faced with the need to use this product for food for the first time, often wonder how long to cook chanterelles of this type. Experienced chefs do not recommend subjecting yellow chanterelle to such heat treatment, as it may lose its taste and aroma. And if you freeze such a product, then after thawing it will most likely become bitter.
• False - every mushroom picker should know it by sight. This mushroom is very similar to chanterelles, but in fact does not belong to the Chanterelle family and has a different name, namely: white chanterelle. Previously, it was classified as a poisonous mushroom, but now the information has changed and the pig can be considered edible. But still, there is no need to eat it, since the product does not have a pleasant taste.​

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When organizing a trip for forest mushrooms, it is worth clarifying in which places you should look for them. Chanterelles can be found anywhere, mainly near trees, as they form a symbiosis with the roots of these plants. From which it follows that it is better to search for such mushrooms in dense forests. For example, Muscovites may come across chanterelle places in the forests near Moscow towards the north and west.

Why is it better not to boil?

Chanterelles have a large bouquet of positive chemical properties. It not only has a good effect on the well-being of the eyes, but also kills some pathogens that have entered the body in one way or another. They also contain ergosterol, which is used in modern medicine to treat and cleanse the liver, and generally has a good effect on the health of the digestive system.

These properties of mushrooms are very susceptible to elevated temperatures, so the cooking time, if you need it, should be reduced to a minimum. And you shouldn’t fry it for too long. 10-15 minutes is enough, there is no need to wait for the crust to appear, long-term frying will only reduce the taste sensations and beneficial properties, and will also make the mushrooms hard and not very tasty.

Vitamins

Frying with garnish

If mushrooms are the main dish on your table, you can save time and prepare a side dish along with them. This will make it easier for you, and overall it will be faster. In this case we do this:

1. We wash and clean the mushrooms.
2. If desired, randomly cut the product to your liking.
3. Boil for 30 minutes, then drain the water and place the chanterelles in a colander.
4. Melt the butter in a deep frying pan for the carcass, and put a little bacon or other lard in it.
5. Add the mushrooms and wait until the moisture leaves. The waiting period will depend on the volume of products.
6. Dice the onion, throw it into the frying pan and wait until it becomes soft.
7. Then cut and add raw potatoes into “straws”. Mix everything thoroughly.

Fry until the potatoes are soft. The time depends on the quantity of products. And don't forget to stir. It is recommended to add salt and spices closer to the end of frying, so as not to interrupt the taste and smell of vegetables and chanterelles.

If desired, you can also add a few large round slices of carrots for taste, or season it all with sour cream.

You can also fry them with an omelet, sprinkle with flour, pour in cream... there are many options, you can improvise.

How else can you cook chanterelles?

It is not at all necessary to fry chanterelles - you can boil, bake, salt, dry - and all this is delicious. That’s why this type is so popular, there are a lot of cooking options, and all are relatively simple.

Chanterelle broth

This is where it gets a little more complicated. For a tasty thick soup, you need to watch not so much the degree of readiness of the chanterelles, but the taste of the broth. For those soups where a clear liquid is needed, you should take the largest and most ripe mushrooms and mix carefully so that they do not fall apart.

Remember: cook the broth over low heat, and do not forget to remove the foam.

Step-by-step recipe for clear broth for liquid dishes:

1. Place the washed chanterelles in the water.
2. After boiling, cook for 15-20 minutes (remember about the foam).
3. Then we remove the mushrooms with a ladle and remove the liquid using a colander and strain the broth.
4. Add peeled onions and carrots into the liquid without cutting them. The onion will clear the liquid, and the carrots will color the broth a pleasant orange color and add flavor.
5. After 25-30 minutes, add the main ingredients of the soup.

The mushrooms left over from the broth can be fried, frozen or pickled for the winter.

Soup with chanterelles

Regular chanterelle soup is prepared in the same way as champignon soup, buttered, honey mushrooms in a clear broth with potatoes, onions and carrots. But there is also puree soup, which is more interesting, and we will consider its recipe:

Important! For this dish we need a blender.

1. Chop the onion in a blender, throw it into a frying pan, fry in sunflower oil over low heat.
2. Add the chopped potatoes to the onion and fry until half cooked.
3. Add chanterelles (cooked or raw).
4. Fry for 10-14 minutes, then put everything in a blender and grind.
5. Grate the cheese (melted or yellow, to taste).
6. Season the mixture with cheese and cream and place on high heat. Bring to a boil.
7. Salt and spices - your choice.

You can serve with croutons with sour cream, or cut some crackers into it.

Frozen chanterelles

If you have had a bumper harvest and don't eat the mushrooms before they're gone, you can freeze them. The taste won’t be the same, a little bitter, but it’s still tasty, and definitely better than letting them go to waste.

To freeze them, you need to boil them for 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of the fruit - the larger the fruit, the longer it takes to cook. Afterwards, simply immerse them in containers and in the refrigerator. Before you cook anything from them, you will need to defrost them. Frozen mushrooms cannot be cooked.

Pickling chanterelles

You can also marinate the chanterelles. Also a very convenient and tasty option for the winter. To do this, we also cook them for 15-30 minutes, and then salt them. For 1 liter of marinade add 2 tbsp. l. salt and 1 tsp. food vinegar.

Caviar

The most unpopular cooking method. The mushrooms should be finely chopped, fried in sunflower oil, with various spices to taste. You can also grate some carrots or bell peppers there. But not too much so as not to overwhelm the taste.

This caviar can also be stored for a long time, but not everyone will like it.

Beneficial features

Since the mushroom contains a large number of biologically significant compounds, there are many explanations for why chanterelles are useful for humans. The table shows only the main medicinal properties.

These mushrooms are filled with antioxidants that destroy free radicals and reduce the intensity of chronic inflammatory reactions in the body. Therefore, it can be argued that the medicinal properties of chanterelles are aimed at preventing and even treating most serious ailments from cancer to arthritis. Since all these diseases are associated with damage to body tissues by free radicals and the inflammation that follows this damage.

Like any mushrooms, chanterelles are distinguished by their specificity. In order not to waste a lot of time without getting the desired result, you need to handle them correctly. Problems will not arise if you forever learn the following points:

• Chanterelles have a kind of “protection” from various parasites, so fresh, just picked mushrooms do not need lengthy and thorough cleaning. It is generally not recommended to soak them in salt water; this will only spoil the texture of the product.
• It is recommended to use seasonal products, i.e. collected from June to October. If necessary, they can be frozen after boiling them first. Such processing is mandatory if you don’t want the mushrooms to become bitter and spoil the dishes.
• It happens that no precautions help, and the product tastes bitter. In this case, before further use, they need to be boiled for 5-7 minutes in water with the addition of brown sugar.

• Today, you can increasingly find mushrooms grown artificially. Practice shows that in terms of health and taste characteristics they are significantly inferior to forest products.
• In order not to collect or unknowingly acquire false chanterelles, which are poisonous, you need to remember three distinctive features. False products have a brighter color, a hollow stem and a more regular round cap.
• While bright mushrooms do not tolerate soaking in water very well, being in a dairy environment only has a positive effect on them. If before cooking chanterelles, you soak them in milk for 1.5-2 hours, you can guarantee the absence of bitterness and obtain the most delicate texture of the component.

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The benefits of properly prepared boiled chanterelles lie not only in their nutritional value. The component contains many vitamins and microelements necessary for the normal functioning of organs and systems. Considering the fact that the product stimulates the strengthening of bones, increasing the body's resistance and energy production, it is recommended for use by people of all ages.

How to dry chanterelles?

There are two ways to dry chanterelles:

1. Natural, folk: spread the mushrooms in one layer, in a place well lit by the sun, in a well-ventilated area, and leave them in this form for two weeks. It is important that sunlight falls on them.
2. Modern, in the oven: cover a baking sheet with a sheet of paper, spread the mushrooms on it, and place in the oven, preheated to 45-50 degrees. Drying in this mode will take 2-3 hours. Do not close the oven lid completely; the mushrooms need some air.

Chanterelles for pies and salads

Chanterelles are also great for pies, pizzas, and other baked goods. For such purposes, they should be boiled until half cooked, so that they have time to absorb salt and spices and do not overcook in the pie. It cannot be digested.

To bring the product to the required state, you need to throw the product into water, wait until it boils and take it out after 6 minutes. You can drain the water through a colander. For the salad, boil the mushrooms until fully cooked, but do not add salt, but add half a spoon of apple cider vinegar.

Methods for preparing boiled mushrooms

Boiled chanterelles are used to prepare a huge number of dishes that can be used not only in the daily diet, but also become a decoration for the holiday table. Particularly popular are stir-fries, soups, sauces and dressings for potatoes and pasta.

Pickling

To marinate chanterelles, you need to take a kilogram of boiled mushrooms, add water and boil for a second time for half an hour. Then, per liter of water in which they were boiled, add three teaspoons of cane sugar, two medium-sized bay leaves, 4-5 peas of white allspice, 5-6 peas of black pepper and two cloves.

After 10-15 minutes, remove the bay leaf from the brine, add two teaspoons of salt and 2-3 glasses of vinegar. Place the mushrooms in sterilized jars, add marinade and preserve. For long-term storage, the finished dish should be taken to the basement or onto the balcony.

Frying mushrooms

The most common dish is chanterelles fried in a frying pan. To do this, pre-boiled mushrooms are stewed under a lid for about half an hour.

Fried chanterelles with onions

Then add fried onions, cream and spices to taste. Without covering with a lid, you need to fry for another 15 minutes. When serving, garnish the dish with parsley and onions.

Salad

The salad with these mushrooms has a bright and rich taste. To prepare the salad, take:

Chanterelle salad with chicken

Chanterelles need to be cut into small slices or cubes, then fried in sunflower oil along with onions in a frying pan. Add salt. Then boil skinless chicken fillet and quail eggs. Cut everything into strips approximately 1-2 cm in diameter. It is better to grate hard cheese on a coarse grater. Mix chicken, cheese and eggs. The pineapples need to be dried a little; to do this, drain the juice and place them on a dry cloth. Place everything in a deep container and mix.

Grate the garlic on a fine grater or chop with a garlic mince. Add to mayonnaise and mix well. You can also use Greek yogurt, sour cream, low-fat cream, and olive oil as a salad dressing. Add salt to taste. Before serving, the dish can be decorated with pieces of pineapple, quail eggs or herbs.