Oyster mushrooms are one of the most common mushrooms, valued for their taste. In the wild, they can be found on fallen trees or on drying but still standing trunks. You can also grow oyster mushrooms at home: on sunflower husks, on straw from cereal crops, on sawdust.
At the same time, artificially grown fruiting bodies will practically not differ from their forest relatives. In addition, domestic oyster mushrooms will have no less vitamins and minerals than wild ones. However, no matter where oyster mushrooms grow, you need to know how to clean and process them in order to enjoy gourmet dishes.
Oyster mushrooms have recently become very popular among chefs. And the reasons are very significant: they are quickly bred at home and are conveniently processed. A wide variety of dishes are prepared from them: soups, cutlets, chops, roasts. They can be salted, fermented, fried, pickled, dried and frozen.
Fans of “silent hunting” know very well how to clean oyster mushrooms in order to prepare the perfect dish from them. After all, the quality of our preparation for future mushroom dishes depends on the first step - preliminary cleaning. If mushrooms grow in the forest on dry trees, then they collect little dirt on themselves.
To avoid mistakes that cause the fruiting bodies to become watery or spoiled, you need to know how to clean fresh oyster mushrooms. To do this, you need to follow the correct instructions, which are described below.
Where can I get these mushrooms?
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The best option is to get them yourself in the forest. Their locations are drying trees. Fallen trunks. These mushrooms begin to germinate right on the bark.
Do you like to experiment and grow your own mushrooms? Nothing could be simpler. In the conditions of a summer cottage, they grow well on straw from cereal crops and in sunflower husks.
But if you cannot be classified as an avid mushroom picker, then in this case you can simply purchase them in a large supermarket. Today, it is easy to find oyster mushrooms on sale in fresh or frozen form.
Tips for final (main) processing of oyster mushrooms
Let's look at a few recommendations for cleaning mushrooms from experienced mushroom pickers:
- Boiling - place mushrooms in a saucepan of cold water and bring to a boil, adding a little salt to the water. After boiling, keep in this state for 15-30 minutes. Then place the vegetable products in a colander and rinse with cold water.
- Boiling - place the mushrooms in a container of water and bring them to a boil as quickly as possible. As soon as the water boils, immediately turn off the heat and leave to cool without removing the mushrooms. After cooling, the products are placed in a fabric bag to dry.
- Blanching - the mushrooms are placed in a sieve and poured over with boiling water. Afterwards, place them in boiling water for a few seconds or keep them over steam. After such heat treatment, the mushrooms become more durable and do not break. Carrying out this manipulation is typical for pickling mushrooms.
Important! When boiling or boiling, you should never squeeze the mushrooms, as a lot of valuable substances are subsequently lost.
Product usefulness
Before purchasing and cleaning oyster mushrooms to prepare a delicious dish, let’s get acquainted with their positive and negative sides. Good moments:
- Mushrooms are low in calories, but can dull the feeling of hunger.
- The composition is replete with mineral components such as calcium, iodine, iron.
- Vitamins: C, B, E, PP – are found in large quantities in mushrooms.
- Remove radiation from the human body.
How to wash oyster mushrooms
Mushrooms absorb a large amount of moisture, so they need to be washed either under a thin stream of water, or simply wiped with a damp cloth
Before cleaning the forest products, they must be washed. If there are a large number of mushrooms, oyster mushrooms can be processed in portions. Place a certain portion of the fruit in a colander, place it under a thin stream of water, simultaneously removing various leaves and twigs, then place in a common bowl. Repeat the above steps with the remaining copies. It is known that many other varieties of forest fruits can be soaked in water for 30-60 minutes and only then cleaned. This method is not suitable for oyster mushrooms, since they absorb all the moisture and begin to deteriorate faster. Thus, the first method is considered the most convenient.
When the damaged areas have been removed, you can proceed to the next step in processing oyster mushrooms: the mushrooms must be carefully rinsed under a weak stream of water, being careful not to damage them. Then place the fruits in a colander to drain all excess liquid. The final stage will be the obligatory drying of the forest’s gifts with a cloth or paper towels. This is what needs to be given special attention, since excess moisture in mushrooms increases the cooking time. If the forest fruits are not heavily contaminated, instead of this procedure, you can wipe the fruiting bodies with a damp cloth.
Nuances are not disadvantages
There is a drawback to such mushrooms. You need to know this before cleaning oyster mushrooms. Mushrooms do not have a strong aroma. In general, when these gifts of nature are prepared, you, without a very sensitive sense of smell, can only barely catch their aroma. Some tasters don't like it.
But there is one more nuance that you need to remember before peeling oyster mushrooms. It is not classified as negative or positive. It is worth accepting it as a fact. The mushrooms are covered with a thin chitinous layer. But the human body cannot cope with the digestion of the chitinous layer. But this does not mean that you need to put off the idea of preparing a mushroom delicacy. At the end of cooking, it is enough to fry the finely chopped mushrooms well and the cut itself will collapse.
Do I need to peel oyster mushrooms?
Many experienced cooks claim that it is not necessary to peel oyster mushrooms. However, this is a controversial issue, since after harvesting any mushroom crop must be subjected to special processing, and only then used for cooking. In most cases, store-bought fruits have already been processed, but oyster mushrooms collected by yourself must be cleaned before cooking.
Important! If the mushrooms were bought in a supermarket, this does not mean that they should not be cleaned, since there may be dark spots on the top and bottom of the cap that need to be removed. It should be remembered that fresh oyster mushrooms of good quality should be gray-bluish in color without admixtures of other shades and various spots.
Cleaning rules: dry, preliminary method
Do I need to clean oyster mushrooms purchased at the market or collected independently in the forest? Certainly! But before the procedure itself, it is important to remember these rules:
- Don't let laziness overcome you. After arriving from the forest (or from the market), from where you delivered a certain amount of these mushrooms to your home, you do not need to forget about them for a long time. Having rested a little, you need to immediately begin freeing them from debris, sand and other inedible inclusions.
- How to clean fresh oyster mushrooms from the forest? Place it on a dry surface and first remove dry, well-disposable debris: twigs, scraps of leaves, straw or grass.
Do I need to wash oyster mushrooms?
It is necessary to wash oyster mushrooms before any type of culinary processing: frying, boiling, salting. In addition, this procedure is recommended to be carried out 2 times: before cleaning the forest products and after it. It is worth noting that when drying or freezing mushrooms, the processing algorithm is identical. It is also important to thoroughly dry each specimen after washing the oyster mushrooms.
Important! It is not advisable to freeze frozen fruits a second time, so it is recommended to package them in small portions.
Cleaning water
After dry cleaning, you can proceed to more radical measures:
An important condition when cleaning oyster mushrooms is to act gently and slowly. The fact is that any careless movement can destroy the integrity of the mushroom cap. Oyster mushrooms are a very fragile gift of nature.
How to clean fresh oyster mushrooms
The cleaning process is quite simple to perform and involves removing dirt and forest debris, as well as removing damaged or dried parts of the mushroom. This variety is very rarely affected by worms, but still this procedure should not be neglected. Damaged specimens will not cause any harm, but they can ruin the appearance of the overall dish. To peel oyster mushrooms, you will need a sharp knife and a clean dish sponge. There is a whole algorithm of actions that describes the entire process of cleaning oyster mushrooms:
- Clean the mushroom from dirt, dust and forest debris using a soft sponge, using light movements.
- Use a knife to remove dried or damaged areas, and cut off the tip of the stem. Some housewives recommend leaving only the cap, since the lower part of the mushroom is quite hard, especially if we are talking about an old fruit.
- If the oyster mushrooms were purchased at a supermarket or market, it is advisable to trim the dried sections thinly.
Important! Specimens with a cap size of about 10 cm in diameter are best suited for consumption. Large mushrooms indicate old age and are especially tough.
Do I need to cook oyster mushrooms? How long to fry oyster mushrooms in a frying pan until done?
Unlike wild mushrooms, veshki are much easier and faster to prepare. How long to fry fresh oyster mushrooms? The duration of their heat treatment varies from 10 to 15 minutes. This time is enough for the mushrooms to be soft, tender, aromatic and completely ready to eat.
Before cooking, the poles must be prepared. They need to be washed thoroughly and dried with a napkin. Even without this, a lot of moisture will be released during frying, so the excess must be eliminated immediately.
It is advisable to cut the poles into cubes or plates. But keep in mind that during the cooking process they will fry and decrease in size.
If forest mushrooms should be boiled until almost half cooked before frying, in the case of veshki this is not necessary. Such mushrooms do not pose any threat to your health.
As practice shows, veshki are fried in odorless, refined vegetable oil. You can also use melted butter. In this case, the mushrooms will acquire a unique aroma and taste.
When should you salt the vegetables and season them with spices during the roasting process? It's better to do this at the very end. The fact is that these mushrooms contain a lot of liquid. And if you salt them right away, then its release will be slowed down. Add all seasonings about 5 minutes before cooking.
On a note! At the very end, the mushrooms can be seasoned with sour cream and cream, sprinkled with herbs. This treat is served as a side dish or as a meal on its own.
Onions go well with mushrooms. How long to fry oyster mushrooms with onions? The duration of their heat treatment remains unchanged - no more than a quarter of an hour. Professional chefs advise sautéing onions separately. You can first fry the weeping vegetable and then fry the vegetables in the same pan. Or you can do this in parallel and connect it at the very end.
Potatoes also go well with fried vegetables. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to refuse such a treat. There is no need to fry all the ingredients together, since potatoes and vegetables have different cooking times. It is better to prepare all the ingredients of the dish separately and then combine 5 minutes before cooking.
On a note! Garlic gives the veshkas a hint of piquancy. You can fry chopped garlic in oil so that it is saturated with garlic aroma. Or you can add this ingredient a few minutes before the end of cooking the mushrooms.
Fried veshki are added not only as a side dish. Often this product becomes one of the components of snack treats and salads. It is not recommended to store cooked mushrooms of this variety for a long time. It is advisable to eat them warm or within 1-2 days. Then the taste of the sticks will only worsen.
How to properly collect and process after collection
Oyster mushrooms grown at home are harvested when the caps reach a size of 4–7 cm; this is considered the technical maturity of the mushroom. The edges should not be completely unfolded. The splices must be unscrewed in a circular motion without leaving any residue.
In one clump, mushrooms are usually of different sizes; you need to collect everything, because the remaining ones will die. Wild mushrooms are collected according to the same rules, but they are not twisted, but cut with a knife.
It is very important that the mushrooms are completely dry when harvesting. Oyster mushrooms cannot be eaten raw, because the protein contained in them is absorbed by humans only after heat treatment
Oyster mushrooms cannot be eaten raw, because the protein contained in them is absorbed by humans only after heat treatment.
You cannot pack the collected mushrooms hermetically in cellophane, because due to their large caps they condense moisture very quickly and can spoil. It is better to put them in veneer baskets and place them in the refrigerator. Store for no more than 6 hours before cooking. At a temperature of 2°C it can be stored for 10–12 days.
Application and storage
After cleaning, cut the fruiting bodies into different shapes - it all depends on the purpose of use. For salad, the ideal option is small cubes or straws. If you cook mushrooms, you can store them in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
We talked in more detail about storing mushrooms here.
Oyster mushrooms are ideal mushrooms for making soup, cutlets and chops. They can also be used for freezing, marinating and pickling.
Description and where to meet
Oyster mushrooms are edible mushrooms, widely known for their mass production and excellent taste.
In the wild, they are common in temperate forests. They grow in large colonies on almost all species of deciduous trees, stumps and dead wood. In our latitudes, there are seven species of oyster mushrooms; only one of them, the oyster mushroom, is cultivated. In appearance, cultivated ones do not differ from wild ones. These mushrooms have a fleshy dark gray cap, sometimes with a purple or brown tint. The size of the caps is quite large, from 5 to 15 cm in diameter. The shapes of the caps can be different - round, shell-shaped, ear-shaped. The legs are short, white, fused at the base, forming bundles or fusions. Oyster mushrooms bear fruit all summer, but the largest harvest occurs from September to November.
Also learn about the peculiarities of growing oyster mushrooms.
