Why do saffron milk caps turn green when cut? - Everything about mushrooms

Is it possible to eat saffron milk caps that have turned blue during cooking?

If the saffron milk cap turns blue while preparing the snack, you should not worry. Perhaps some spices that were used for pickling, interacting with mushrooms, led to similar changes. It is worth noting that home canning of mushrooms has uniform algorithms, but does not imply a specific set of rules that should be followed. The list of spices and herbs that are placed in a container with mushrooms will depend on your taste preferences. No one can even say with accuracy how many days the fruiting bodies will pickle. Is it then possible to eat saffron milk caps that have turned blue for one reason or another?

There is nothing wrong with the fact that the mushrooms have changed color. As mentioned above, this could be influenced by spices and herbs, for example, dill or its seeds. Therefore, if the saffron mushrooms turn blue, they can be eaten. But you won’t be able to correct the situation and bring the color back to its original state.

How to prepare grape leaves for dolma for the winter

Grape leaves have long been popular in oriental cuisine, due to their specific pleasant taste and beneficial properties. It has been proven that the consumption of such an ingredient relieves pain from varicose veins, relieves swelling, stimulates blood circulation, and enriches the body with valuable vitamins and microelements.

It is important that during long-term storage the product retains the maximum amount of useful substances in its composition, therefore, of the existing methods, many housewives prefer freezing.

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For these purposes, it is better to choose young specimens of medium size with small veins. It is better to choose the 5th–7th leaf from the top of the vine.

The following foliage is considered unsuitable for cooking:

from wild (maiden and ornamental) grapes;
affected by sunburn, mold, fungi and pests;
with a suspicious yellowish, whitish or cream color;
old (dangerous due to components harmful to human health);
growing on a vine near busy roads and industrial production.

Did you know? Dolma has become the source of international controversy: the Azerbaijan National Culinary Center has accused Armenia of “appropriating” the dish, and recently the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee recognized the traditions of its preparation in Azerbaijan as one of the elements of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Before freezing, it is advisable to prepare the necessary containers. Remember that thin polyethylene and cling film are subject to crumbling under prolonged conditions of low temperatures. In this regard, dense bags are preferred.

Preparing the leaves

To properly freeze grape leaves, you need:

cut off the ponytails completely;
thoroughly rinse the workpiece on both sides;
dry.

Packaging

Dry leaves are stacked on top of each other in 10 pieces and rolled into a roll. In this form, it is packed into bags and sent to the freezer. It is important that there is as little air as possible inside the package. This will protect the product from foreign odors, allow it to cool faster and be better preserved.

Did you know? Dolma was a dish of the court cuisine of the Ottoman Empire.

For proper harvesting, you need to know when to collect and where best to get grape leaves. For dolma, it is preferable to use white grape varieties. Their plate does not have such a jagged edge as the red varieties, and therefore it is easier to wrap minced meat in it. The foliage is collected when the bush is flowering, in late spring or early summer.

Tender leaf blades five through seven are best, if you start counting from the top of the vine. The average size roughly corresponds to the size of the palm: this will be the most convenient way to wrap the filling.

Leaves are cut off before spraying grapes with chemicals. During the summer, you can also carry out pruning, making sure that after treating the plant with fungicides and insecticides, the period specified in the instructions for the drug passes.

Important! Do not eat products from bushes located along highways!

As with any preparation, the quality of the raw materials plays a crucial role, so it is important to understand which leaves can be used for cooking. They should be a uniform green color, without yellowing, spots or signs of pest damage.

There are several ways to prepare food for the winter, the simplest of which is freezing. But the pickled shell has an additional original flavor. Let's consider all possible ways of harvesting grape leaves.

Freezing

Prepared leaves for freezing must be completely dry. Then they do this:

Place 10–15 leaves and roll them into a tight roll.
The roll is wrapped in cling film.
The rolls are placed in a plastic box, since the product will be fragile after freezing.

To prepare dolma, the pieces will need to be defrosted at room temperature or doused with boiling water.

Important! The number of leaves in one roll should correspond to the amount of dolma that is usually prepared at a time.

Bottled storage

This is an original way to keep leaves fresh for a long time. For it you need to prepare empty plastic bottles. The further procedure is as follows:

Pour a teaspoon of salt and soda into each bottle, add a little water and shake thoroughly so that the mixture covers the entire inner surface. Then the bottle is rinsed with clean water and dried.
Small stacks of leaves (3–5 pieces) are rolled into tubes and placed very tightly in the bottle, carefully tamping them down with a stick. The bottle must be completely filled. Sometimes a little salt is added at this stage.
The bottle is pressed down to release all the air and securely closed with a lid.

This container is stored in a dark, cool place for up to 2 years. To prepare, you need to cut the bottle, remove the leaves and fill with cold water. Sometimes a yellowish coating may appear on the surface, which is not a sign of spoilage.

Did you know? In some regions, fig and quince leaves are used to prepare dolma.

Canning

For preservation, it is necessary to properly prepare glass jars and lids. Sterilization of dishes can be done in a pan of boiling water, in a double boiler or slow cooker, in a microwave or oven. Each jar should be treated with hot steam for 20–25 minutes. With this method, the cuttings do not need to be cut; it will be convenient to use them to pull the workpiece out of the jar. Proceed with the prepared leaves as follows:

The leaves are rolled into a tube and placed tightly in jars, which are then filled with boiling water for 10 minutes. Afterwards, drain the water and fill the jar with boiling water again.
Add 1 tbsp per liter of water. l. salt and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar.
The water from the cans is drained and filled with a boiling solution.
The jar is rolled up and gradually cooled.

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This product should be stored in a cool and dark place.

Pickling

Containers for pickling are processed in the same way as for canning. Then do this:

Place 4-5 peppercorns, 1-2 buds of dried cloves, 1-2 bay leaves at the bottom of the jar.
Rolled leaves are placed tightly on top of the spices and filled with the same solution as for preservation, with the addition of 2 tbsp. l. 9% vinegar.
The jar is closed and stored in a cool place for up to three months, and dolma can be prepared from such a preparation in just a few days.

Pickling

Salting consists of placing the product in a solution of table salt. To pickle grape leaves, do this:

The rolled rolls are placed tightly in a clean container and poured with boiling water. After 10 minutes, the water is drained.
The saline solution is prepared based on the proportion: 20 g of salt per 1 liter of water. Add the required amount of salt to the drained water, bring the solution to a boil and pour it into the jar.
Cover the container tightly, cool and store in the refrigerator.

Dry storage

For this method, brine filling is not used, but the container must be sterilized beforehand. The sequence of further preparation of the workpiece is as follows:

Place 10–12 leaves at the bottom of the jar, press down and lightly sprinkle with salt.
The next layer is compacted tightly and salted again.
The filled jar is sterilized for 10–15 minutes in the oven or steamed, and then closed with a lid using a special key.

Grape leaves are an integral part of dolma. And although this oriental dish is in many ways reminiscent of cabbage rolls, traditional for Slavic cuisine, they cannot be replaced with white cabbage. In order to enjoy the spicy taste of the dish all year round, you should prepare the future “wrapper” for the rice and meat filling in advance for the winter. Is it possible to freeze it, and how to do it correctly, find out further from the article.

For these purposes, it is better to choose young specimens of medium size with small veins. It is better to choose the 5th–7th leaf from the top of the vine. This wrapper is easy to work with, which is not the case with wrappers that are too small or too large. Leaves should be picked between late spring and mid-June, when they reach their peak growth. Healthy, well-developed specimens of regular shape without damage or signs of disease are preferred.

Oriental dishes have long been part of our lives. For example, dolma, beloved by many. It is very similar to our cabbage rolls. Only for its preparation they use grape leaves instead of cabbage leaves. Fans of this unusual dish for our area may be interested in how to store grape leaves for dolma so that it can be prepared even in winter.

Let's take a closer look at each of them.

The easiest way to store grape leaves for dolma is to sterilize them and roll them into jars.

In order for them to retain their qualities for a long time, they are collected in 10-15 pieces and rolled into a tight roll.
Then, the leaves folded in this way are placed in a glass jar and sterilized for 20 - 25 minutes, having previously closed the lid tightly.
After the jars have cooled, they are rolled up and placed in a dark and dry place.

The optimal period for collecting grape leaves is the time when the vine begins to flower.
It is recommended to use leaves of white grape varieties for preservation, since they differ favorably from others in their sweet and sour taste, which will positively affect the taste properties of dolma, giving the dish a wonderful piquancy. If you decide to use red grape leaves for harvesting for the winter, remember that their disadvantage is their uneven surface and hardness.
Only young leaves are suitable for dolma, and it is important to cut them from the vine, which is located as far as possible from the roadway.
Never use damaged or torn grape leaves for preservation. Take only smooth, whole leaves, preferably the same size.

Cooking time: approximately 35-50 minutes.
Number of blanks: 3 blanks of 20 leaves.

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Why did salted saffron milk caps turn green and what can be done to prevent this from happening when pickling?

There is another reason why salted saffron milk caps turn green. The mushrooms may not have been completely covered in the brine or marinade. Oxidizing in air, salted fruiting bodies change color and become greenish. Let us note that there is nothing wrong with this, and you will not get poisoned by eating such mushrooms. This is a natural process comparable to a change in color of cut or bitten apples (the fruit turns brown when exposed to air).

To prevent the saffron milk caps from turning green when pickling, they must be completely covered with brine. Look through your mushroom preparations from time to time, and if there is not enough liquid in the container, add cold boiled water or press them down with heavy pressure.

If the saffron milk caps turned green when pickled, a large amount of spices and herbs could have contributed to this.

Therefore, experienced chefs advise using only one salt in order to preserve not only the color and taste of the fruiting bodies, but also their aroma.

When hot pickling, to preserve color, it is better to boil mushrooms in salted water with the addition of citric acid. Mushrooms should be completely immersed in boiling water. To do this, you need to put a smaller lid in the pan and place a small weight. Usually, when pre-boiled, saffron milk caps do not change their color.

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If salting is carried out in a cold or dry way, then the saffron milk caps become greenish in color. This does not in any way affect the safety and taste of the mushrooms, unless they have completely soured and the brine has acquired an unpleasant odor. In this case, the mushrooms should be thrown away immediately.

Rizhik, thanks to its taste and appetizing appearance, is deservedly considered one of the best mushrooms of the Russula family. You can find several species in the forests and, having spotted any of them, you need to hurry up and collect delicious orange mushrooms, since they quickly become worm-like and age, crumbling into dust.

These mushrooms got their sonorous name not only for the bright color of their skin, but also for their inherent carrot-orange color of milky juice.