Features of preparing dried butter
The question is how to preserve such a quantity of mushrooms without losing the benefits of the product. And if the size of your freezer does not allow you to accommodate a large volume of mushrooms, is it possible to dry boletus for the winter? Of course - yes, and even necessary! In this form, they retain all the necessary vitamins, nutrients and taste, which may be lost during canning.
Young and freshly harvested boletus is usually dried. The most labor-intensive part in processing mushrooms is cleaning them from forest leaves, grass and needles, which stick tightly to the cap due to its stickiness and oiliness. In order not to bring garbage and low-quality products into the house, preliminary cleaning is done in the forest.
It is better not to soak oils that will be dried, as they will quickly take on a lot of liquid in water and thereby increase the drying time. Next, you need to carefully sort the mushrooms and throw away spoiled ones. Large size butter should be cut into pieces, small ones should be prepared whole.
Tip: before you start drying mushrooms, you do not need to remove the skin from the caps, as is done before canning, boiling or frying.
You can dry boletus in the sun, spread out in one layer on paper, at home on a string, like beads, in the oven, in the microwave, or in a special electric dryer. Mushrooms are considered ready to eat when they become thin and brittle.
The product should be stored in jars, natural fabric bags, paper bags, boxes in a dry and cool place. They should not be stored open, as moths may settle in them. But dried boletus is best preserved in vacuum containers, which protect the mushrooms from mold and moisture.
What kind of dishes are prepared with dried butter? These mushrooms go well with a large number of foods: potato side dishes, vegetables, cereals, pasta, meat. The soup will also be incredibly tasty. Our step-by-step recipe with photos and videos will tell you how to cook dried boletus.
Storage
- Place dried buttermilk in bags made of natural fabric or sealed jars. They can be made of food-grade plastic or glass.
- Store the workpieces in a dry and cool place.
- Once a month, sort through the product and throw away any spoiled pieces.
- If there are bugs, then keep the butter in the oven for half an hour at a temperature of +70 °C. This will help get rid of pests and also dry the product even more.
Properly prepared boletus should be light gray or brown in color with a subtle mushroom aroma. When pressed, they do not crumble, but also do not change their shape. Do not eat pieces that have been burnt during drying.
Having collected a large harvest of mushrooms, people begin to think about ways to preserve them for the winter. Butter can be pickled, frozen and dried. Drying is the best storage method, especially if the freezer capacity does not allow for freezing large batches of mushrooms. Properly dried boletus retains all the vitamins, nutrients and taste properties. Read about all the ways to dry mushrooms at home in this article.
Butterflies are common both in the European part of Russia and throughout the northern hemisphere. The favorite place of growth is the sunny edges of coniferous forests. These mushrooms get their name from their oily brown cap.
How to prepare boletus for drying
First you need to sort through the collected mushrooms: throw away the wormy ones and sort them by size. Afterwards, be sure to remove leaves and soil. Try not to break the integrity of the skin on the cap. It is recommended to do this with a slightly dampened sponge, but a regular napkin will do.
IMPORTANT! Butterflies are not soaked in water. If they remain in liquid for a long time, they will absorb moisture, and you will no longer be able to dry them properly.
Is it possible to dry boletus mushrooms?
Even 400 years ago, in Rus', only porcini mushrooms and milk mushrooms were eaten. But due to deforestation, there were not very many noble mushrooms, so other, as they were called then, second-rate mushrooms were used. These are boletus, honey mushrooms, and saffron milk caps. The main advantage of boletus is that you can collect several buckets in one small clearing. This is due to the fact that mushrooms grow in whole families.
There are several ways to dry boletus:
- In the oven
- On open air
- In a special dryer
- In the microwave
- In a convection oven
The main difficulty is that the mushroom contains up to 95% moisture, so the drying process is quite long. Readiness is determined by breaking a piece. If it breaks well, it means the mushrooms are dry enough, they can be poured into a jar and poured into linen bags.
Oven drying
How to dry boletus mushrooms: choosing raw materials and preparing them for drying
There are three main types of butterweed (deciduous, granular and late), which bear fruit at different times. This is important in order to collect them at the right time, when they are most suitable for harvesting. The first to appear are granular ones, growing on calcareous soils, then deciduous ones. The first harvest can be harvested at the end of May if the weather is appropriate, the second crop ripens by July, and late boletus can be easily found in spruce and deciduous forests until the end of October.
This mushroom owes its name to its cap, which seems to be covered with an oily liquid, which is why it always looks slippery. In different regions it is called Maslyuk or Maslenik. Interestingly, in the UK it is common to call the mushroom “Slippery Jack”. Thanks to this resinous substance, it is considered very useful. With its help, chronic headaches, migraines, nervous disorders and even gout are treated.
Selection of mushrooms for drying
You will have to take into account the specifics of the process, since rains become more frequent in the fall. Therefore, natural drying in the open air will hardly be available. It is advisable to collect small and medium-sized mushrooms that have a dense texture. Make sure that they are not rotten, without traces of mold or pest damage.
Sorting and preparation
After harvesting, mushrooms should not be left untreated for a long time; in just a couple of hours they can become unusable. Therefore, they need to be sorted out immediately, discarding all that are unsuitable, as well as twigs, leaves and other debris.
You cannot wash boletus before drying. If you soak mushrooms in water, the spongy texture will absorb a lot of moisture, which it simply cannot release later. Even if it seems to you that everything is in order, liquid will remain in the tissues and the oil will quickly become moldy.
The simplest method for cleaning butter from any contaminants is a clean napkin or a new kitchen sponge. It can be slightly moistened if the dirt cannot be wiped off. It is better to cut off the legs in the lower part of the spine; sand and soil from them can hardly be removed. Many people recommend removing the top resinous skin before drying, but this is not necessary.
Small mushrooms are mostly left whole; they dry well and look beautiful in the finished dish. Larger specimens are cut into segments, plates or random pieces, depending on the chosen drying method.
Drying methods are oily
Since ancient times, villages have had a special tradition of drying mushrooms, which they try not to break. Mushrooms are dried by placing them on oak boards or a pine tray. The preparations are stored in the open air and in a place where almost no light penetrates. If this is not possible, then dry it in a sunny place, but be sure to cover it with a mesh cloth.
On a thread
The easiest and most common way is to dry the oil on a thread. Take a needle, thread a thread through it and, one by one, thread the boletus onto a cotton thread through the cap. If the mushrooms are large, then you need to cut them into several parts, you will get a kind of beads. The drying process will take about 4 days, but the smell they will create in your kitchen will make you forget about time!
REFERENCE! During the drying period, try not to cook dishes with a strong smell, as they very easily absorb foreign aromas. It is recommended to remove the workpieces to another part of the house during this time.
In the dryer over the stove
To dry butter for the winter over a gas or electric stove, use a multifunctional dryer. It is sized to fit on most modern stoves. The rows of this unit accommodate a batch of mushrooms up to 3-4 kg. When used, the dryer does not interfere with cooking - this is a huge plus for any housewife.
Recipe:
- Butternuts are cut into slices.
- Lay out on each tier at a distance of half a centimeter from each slice to prevent gluing.
- Dry for about six hours.
IMPORTANT : every 40-50 minutes, turn over and change tiers so that the mushroom dries evenly.
In the Russian oven
An oven is suitable for drying butter at home. In this recipe, the mushrooms are spread on plywood sheets or a baking sheet with straw and placed in the oven while it cools. At the initial stage, it is necessary to monitor whether foam appears from moisture - this means that the heat of the oven is still too high. The workpiece is removed and waited for it to cool. The recommended temperature for this is 50-55 degrees, but not lower, as the boletus may begin to deteriorate.
This type of drying requires several cycles. The butter is loaded several times after the furnace is fired. The complete process will take at least 4 days, everything will depend on the frequency of firing the furnace.
In the oven
Drying in the oven occurs due to the movement of a flow of heated air inside. Steam passes through the holes located on the back cover of the unit. Cover the baking sheet with special paper or foil. The boletus is placed on top in one layer.
The drying process takes place in several stages:
- To begin with, the butter must be dried at 50 degrees for about 2 hours.
- Next, the temperature is brought to 65 degrees. With it, complete removal of moisture from the product lasts 40 minutes.
- At the final stage, the heat is reduced to 50 degrees and the product is cooked until cooked.
To ensure uniform drying, the baking sheets with the preparations are changed from time to time and the contents are turned over. To maintain air ventilation, the lid is left slightly open throughout the drying process.
Drying butter in the oven is a lengthy process. Difficulties often arise with maintaining temperature conditions. This method of preparing it in the oven is convenient because it allows you to process a lot of mushrooms in a short time. Everything happens in a flow - taking out the finished baking sheet from above, they put a new one below, and the one that was below, in place of the already finished one.
In an electric dryer
Housewives often ask themselves: is it possible to dry butter in an electric dryer? This is quite simple to do: pre-prepared mushroom slices are distributed on the tray grid (preferably in one layer). It is installed, and the dryer is turned on to the “Mushroom” cooking mode. If the unit is not equipped with this function, then the temperature is set manually to 60 degrees. Turn the butter periodically. On average, drying will take 14 hours, everything will depend on the cutting and moisture content of the raw materials.
In a convection oven
This device has not been used for drying, but this can be easily corrected by adjusting the steam removal. In this method, like the others, the butter is spread on the cooking surface in one layer. It is better to place small mushrooms on special paper, as they can fall into the gap between the bars of the grill.
The temperature is maintained around 75 degrees and the blowing power is set to maximum. It is important not to close the lid tightly, because if the steam is not released, the mushrooms will cook. The whole process will take no more than two hours.
Drying butter in the sun and mushrooms dried for the winter in the oven
Most housewives confidently use old, proven recipes for drying butter for the winter. For example, to dry in the sun, you need to string whole mushrooms or their individual parts onto a strong thread. Butterflies should not touch each other. It is better to cover the stringed “beads” of mushrooms with a double layer of gauze, protecting the workpiece from dust and flies. In addition, you can build convenient stands from bars or thin boards where you can hang threads with mushrooms.
In good weather and sunny days, drying the butter takes from 5 to 7 days. If the mushrooms are cut into slices, then drying lasts 2-3 days. However, it is worth remembering that dried boletus cannot be stored in “beads”. They can easily harbor moths that can destroy all your work in a matter of days. Therefore, after drying on a thread, remove the butter and place it in a linen bag or glass jar.
Another simple and affordable way is to dry the butter in the oven. This variation has its advantages for apartment residents. The oven does an excellent job as a dryer; it’s easy and quick to dry mushrooms in it, since it’s always at hand.
If the boletus is large, it is better to cut it into pieces and place it in one layer on a baking sheet or wire rack. Preheat the oven to 60°C and insert the mushrooms. It is better not to close the door so that the butter does not get baked. When the oven is open, there is good air circulation.
To prevent the mushrooms from drying out, from time to time you need to take out the baking sheet and leave it for 1.5-2 hours so that the mushrooms cool down. Stir the mushrooms, check how they dry, and put them back in the oven. Never rush to dry a new batch, as this will harm the quality of the butter if it is not completely dried. This drying process takes an average of 2 days, depending on the number of mushrooms.
To determine the degree of cooking of oven-dried butter, try them by touch. Well-dried mushrooms are fragile and brittle and crumble when pressed. If the butter is under-dried, its structure is soft, elastic and when pressed it is difficult to bend. Such mushrooms need to be put back into the oven.
How to dry boletus in a dryer and electric dryer for the winter
You can use a dryer or its electric version to prepare butter. To do this, cut the mushrooms into slices and place them on a tray a little distance from each other so that they do not stick together. We dry them for 5-6 hours, after about every hour we do not forget to change the trays so that the butter is dried evenly.
If you have an electric dryer, the process is greatly simplified - you just need to place the chopped boletus on trays, select the “Mushrooms” mode or independently set the temperature to 60°C and do other things. Drying time will take from 4 to 8 hours.
Below you can watch a detailed video on how to properly dry butter in an electric dryer:
Dry at home on a thread
Just for fun, you can try drying butternuts by stringing them on a thread or string and hanging them over a gas stove or stove (if, for example, you decided to dry them in the country or in the village). The process will be long - about 3-4 days - but the aroma spreading throughout the kitchen will justify all the inconvenience!
Attention! It is better not to cook anything during this period, or to put the mushroom “beads” in another room for a while, since the product very easily absorbs foreign odors.
How to dry boletus at home in an oven
At home, butter can be dried in an oven. They are split into sieve, plywood sheets or trays lined with straw and placed in a cooling oven. If the moisture starts to foam, the oven temperature is too high. In this case, remove the baking sheets and wait until the oven cools down. The optimal temperature for drying is 60 degrees: at a higher temperature, the mushrooms will burn, at a lower temperature, they will sour.
This drying is a cyclical process. Mushrooms are placed in the oven each time before finishing the fire. They will dry in at least 4 days, depending on the frequency of kindling.
Fried dried boletus with onions
Cooking time: 45
Number of servings: 4
Energy value
- calorie content – 170.5 kcal;
- fats – 14.3 g;
- proteins – 2.4 g;
- carbohydrates – 8.5 g.
Ingredients
- dried boletus – 200 g;
- onions – 2 pcs.;
- vegetable oil – 2 tbsp;
- flour – 1 tbsp;
- sour cream – 2 tbsp;
- salt - to taste;
- ground black pepper - to taste.
Step-by-step preparation
- Rinse each mushroom thoroughly under the tap and soak in cool water for two hours. After this, strain the liquid and cut the butter into medium-sized pieces.
- Peel the onion and chop into small cubes.
- Heat a frying pan with oil, add the onion and sauté over medium heat for 10 minutes until translucent.
- Now add the butter to the sauté, sprinkle with flour and fry over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The lid should not be covered.
- Pour 5 tablespoons of mushroom broth into the frying pan, don’t forget about sour cream, salt, pepper and simmer under the lid for another 10 minutes.
Fragrant fried boletus is ready! You can add piquancy by sprinkling the dish with chopped garlic and fresh herbs.
Dried boletus gives dishes a special taste, makes mushroom soups more original and satisfying, and makes porridges and salads more nutritious and varied. By drying mushrooms, you can enjoy incredibly aromatic and tasty dishes at any time of the year.
Recipe 8: baked champignons in the oven whole with cheese and filling
- Bacon – 100g.
- Champignons – 250g.
- Onion – 1 onion
- Cheese – 150g.
- Butter – 2 tbsp.
- Rosemary – 1-2 sprigs for scent
- We cut the mushrooms as follows: caps in one direction, legs in the other.
- Finely chop the onion, bacon and mushroom legs with a sharp kitchen knife.
- Fry the onion in a frying pan with butter for about 3-5 minutes until transparent. At the end of the specified time, add the chopped mushroom stems and fry for another 5-7 minutes.
- In a separate frying pan, fry the bacon until dry, remove any liquid lard that will be released. After frying, add to the onion.
- Prepare a baking sheet, preheat the oven to 200 degrees, fill the caps with the prepared filling, bake for about 15-20 minutes.
I have been making this appetizer for several years now for almost every holiday. The simplicity of preparing champignons with cheese in the oven and the availability of ingredients are captivating. In addition, mushrooms in this design have their own peculiarity: their taste changes after cooling. When hot, they can be served as an independent dish, and when cold they turn into an excellent snack.
If the presence of strong alcoholic drinks is planned on the New Year's table, then I guarantee that champignons with cheese will be one of the first to be sorted out. Can be made ahead, covered with cling film and stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the Apricot jam recipe, apricot jam preparation for the winter on the website
Champignons - 450 g. Hard cheese - 100 g. Garlic - 3 cloves. Mayonnaise - 3 tbsp. Butter - 20 g. Utensils and utensils: grater, knife, baking dish, plate.
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Rinse the champignons. Cut the mushroom stems as close to the cap as possible. Place the mushrooms in a baking dish. It is necessary to spread it more densely, since during baking the mushrooms will lose a significant part of the water they contain and decrease in size.
Place a small piece of butter in each cap (it will make the mushrooms more tender). Make the mushroom filling.
To do this, grate the cheese on a fine grater, mix with crushed garlic and mayonnaise. Mayonnaise serves as a thickening agent for the filling - with it, the mushrooms will be stuffed more densely and, therefore, tastier. But if champignons with cheese are cooked in the oven at the height of the diet, then mayonnaise and butter can be omitted.
That's it, the appetizer is ready. You can eat it either hot or cold. I usually wait until it cools down and only then serve it - I like the taste of cold champignons baked with cheese in the oven better.
Perhaps this is where you can go wild, because thanks to the good compatibility of champignons with other products, the filling that is used to stuff these mushrooms can vary and surprise you.
This could be onions, turkey, chicken, eggplant, minced meat, rice, ham, bacon, seafood, crab sticks, eggs, mashed potatoes, porridge, smoked meats, and so on. Ingredients needed to prepare baked stuffed champignons:
- 8-10 pcs. - Champignon;
- 1 PC. - onion;
- 80 gr. – ham;
- 20 gr. – mustard;
- 3 cloves – garlic;
- 1-2 pcs. – zucchini;
- 1 bunch – parsley;
- 80-90 gr. - hard cheese;
- 2 tablespoons - dry wine (white);
- 2 tablespoons – olive oil;
- 2.5 tablespoons – sunflower oil;
- salt, pepper - to taste.
Step-by-step cooking recipe:
- Wash and dry the mushrooms.
- Use a knife to remove the mushroom stems.
- Grind garlic, parsley. Mix and add olive oil with salt and pepper.
- Rub the mushroom caps with the resulting mixture.
- Cut the ham into cubes.
- Chop the previously removed champignon legs, onion and zucchini.
- Mix chopped mushroom stems with onions, add white wine and place in a frying pan. Fry lightly until all the moisture has evaporated.
- Add the zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Next, without removing from the stove, add ham cubes, mustard, and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
- Season with chopped parsley and garlic.
- Stuff the champignon caps with the resulting filling.
- Grease a baking sheet, arrange the mushrooms with their caps down and a short distance from each other. Grate hard cheese on top.
- Place in the oven. Bake at 200°C for 17 minutes.
- Take out the resulting baked mushrooms.
How to store dried boletus
Dried mushrooms not only retain their beneficial properties, but also their aroma. It’s interesting to know: how to store boletus prepared for the winter at home after one of the types of drying?
First you need to make sure that both the cap and the stem of the mushroom are evenly dried. With any moisture, the fibers of the fruiting body will quickly rot, become moldy, or become a home for insects. If the product spoils, cooking with it will become dangerous.
Overdried boletus will turn into crumbs under any influence - this is also wrong. With this result, it is recommended to grind the workpiece in a coffee grinder or mortar. You can add herbs and salt to the resulting powder to taste.
The resulting mushroom seasoning is poured into a glass or ceramic container with a lid. Can be used both in soups and in other dishes, for example, added to fried potatoes, pizza, pasta, etc.
Storage rules:
- To store dried boletus in the house, you need to prepare a ventilated and dry place. A pantry, the top row of cabinet shelves, a shelf above the stove, if there is one, or an attic would be perfect.
- Using gauze cloth, cover the workpieces from insects.
- A linen bag or a thick paper bag is suitable for storing dry product.
- For a large number of mushrooms, purchase wooden boxes that are lined with paper.
- The classic storage place is glass jars, the main thing is that the lid fits tightly.
- Vacuum containers are often used to transport products.
If you choose the method of drying on a thread, then there is no need to tear it. You need to wrap the “beads” in cloth and hang them on a hanger or nail in a dry place. This is a very convenient storage method.
IMPORTANT! Avoid places with dampness or mustiness, as there is a high risk of mushrooms absorbing moisture and smell, and at the same time losing taste.
Many housewives leave dried preparations in the refrigerator, since there is less chance of spoilage of the product. You can use this method, but be sure to place the butter in a container or airtight jar. This will prevent mold growth as the humidity in the refrigerator remains high. High-quality, properly dried boletus can be stored for 2-3 years.
Drying butter at home does not require much effort or effort. In the process, the mushroom decreases in size, weight and is easy to store.
Storing dried mushrooms
The dried product is suitable for consumption for 1–1.5 years, but with the condition that it is stored in the correct temperature, humidity, heat and light conditions. So, the best storage methods are in fabric bags or paper bags or cardboard boxes. These materials allow air to pass through well. It is also allowed to place the dry product in glass and wooden containers. In this case, the containers must be tightly closed.
It is possible to store mushrooms in a suspended state. For example, if they were dried strung on a rope, then they can be left that way, but wrapped in cloth or gauze to prevent the penetration of insects.
The optimal temperature for storing dried butter is +11…+15°C. It is at this temperature that the mushrooms will be suitable for consumption for as long as possible. At all times, it is necessary to periodically remove the product and inspect it carefully.
It is allowed to store butter in the refrigerator, in a plastic container or in a glass jar. The cellar is not suitable for this purpose due to high humidity, which increases the risk of mold developing on the product.
Thus, drying allows you to preserve most of the beneficial substances in butter, their taste and aroma. There are many ways to dry a product. You should choose the most suitable one and follow the cooking instructions.
How to properly dry boletus in an air fryer
An air grill is a modern universal device in which you can dry butter. For this:
- cover the air fryer grate with baking paper so that small pieces do not spill;
- the boletus is laid out on a wire rack in one layer;
- the grate is placed in the air fryer;
- on the dashboard, set the blowing speed to the maximum value, and the temperature to 70 - 75 degrees;
- The lid is left slightly ajar to allow moist air to escape from the air fryer and the food to dry rather than cook.
Drying time in an air fryer is about 2 - 2.5 hours.