✅ Oyster mushrooms: do they need to be cleaned and how, how to process them before use

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Mushrooms are a very healthy and tasty product. A wide variety of food is prepared from them - sauces, soups, salads, main courses. Oyster mushrooms are considered the most popular to eat. They are collected in the forest from tree trunks, and are also grown at home on sawdust or sunflower seed husks. Before cooking, mushrooms should be washed thoroughly. But do they need to be processed and how to clean fresh oyster mushrooms before cooking and frying? - This is a question that many housewives ask. Of course, in order for the finished dish to be tasty, the products must be pre-processed and inedible parts must be removed. Let's look at everything in more detail in this article.

Important! This type of mushroom has become popular due to the fact that it is impossible to get poisoned by them, since they do not contain harmful toxic substances. Therefore, even if the cooked product is damp, it will not affect your health.

How to properly clean fresh oyster mushrooms

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.

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.

How to properly peel oyster mushrooms (with photos and videos)

Even if oyster mushrooms do not accumulate forest debris, they should be cleaned and washed with water. If you are processing a large number of mushrooms, you can pour cold water over them for 20 minutes, stir and remove any debris with your hands.

If it comes to a small volume of oyster mushrooms, then in this case they should be divided into several portions and, putting in a colander, rinsed under running cold water. This is what you need to do with all the collected mushrooms. I must say that this option will be the most optimal for cleaning fruiting bodies. Check out this visual photo showing how to clean oyster mushrooms.

However, the cleansing process also implies something else: the removal of spoiled and dried parts of the oyster mushroom. All these places are cut off with a knife, and then the entire mushroom is wiped with a dry cloth. It is especially important to carry out dry cleaning when oyster mushrooms are dried or frozen fresh.

Many experienced mushroom pickers who know how to properly peel oyster mushrooms advise washing them only under running water. There is no sand or soil on the roots of these mushrooms, and there is practically no debris on the caps either. Therefore, the option with running water improves the process of cooking oyster mushrooms. This is an important factor why housewives began to like these representatives of the mushroom “kingdom” - they are easy to clean and quick to cook.

It is worth saying that oyster mushrooms have become popular for another reason - it is impossible to get poisoned by them, even if they are damp. They do not contain harmful substances, and in our country they do not have poisonous counterparts. And even despite the fact that oyster mushroom does not have a pronounced mushroom smell, its taste remains high.

General recommendations for cleaning mushrooms

Mushrooms should be cleaned and washed immediately on the day of collection. If this is not possible, then they can be stored for several hours in the refrigerator or other cool place (for example, in a cellar).

The cleaning process begins in the forest. The needles and small debris are removed from the mushroom, the roots are cut off or cleared of soil, and damaged specimens are removed. The prey brought home must be immediately sorted and sorted into varieties, since each species has its own processing methods.

What tool to use to quickly clean

A small, sharp knife can help you peel mushrooms quickly and easily after picking. Thanks to the thin tip, you can easily remove worms from mushrooms and clean off debris without crumbling the fragile pulp. If the dirt cannot be removed, it is better to carefully cut it off.

Is it necessary to wash

To easily process mushrooms after harvesting, you do not need to wash or wet them before starting work. Otherwise, they will become slippery and fall out of your hands, and some types simply fall apart or lose their taste when exposed to water.

Dry cleaning is best. To remove sand and dirt from mushrooms, you can use a soft brush. Those intended for drying do not need to be washed. It is enough to clean them with a damp cloth. If you plan to fry, it is permissible to quickly rinse with water.

It is recommended to keep products that are planned to be salted, boiled or pickled for a short time in a weak saline solution. Then rinse. When pickling mushrooms that have a bitter taste, you need to keep them in cool water for 1-2 days, changing it periodically.

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.

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.

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.

Video: How to collect oyster mushrooms

Do I need to boil oyster mushrooms before frying?

Boiling oyster mushrooms before frying

Many housewives are interested in whether it is worth boiling oyster mushrooms before frying them in a frying pan. Even professional chefs with extensive experience differ in their opinions on this issue.

Some believe that it is better to boil the mushrooms before frying, but no more than five minutes.
Others are confident that oyster mushrooms do not need to be pre-boiled, since they are completely safe for human health, they contain enough moisture for a full cooking cycle, and they will not dry out in a frying pan.

Let's find out how long to cook tender mushrooms if you decide to boil them before frying, and what are the methods of preliminary heat treatment.

How and how long to cook oyster mushrooms for frying

Boiling oyster mushrooms

Boil water, add some salt and add whole oyster mushrooms or sliced oyster mushrooms (cut them large or medium).
Cook over moderate heat for five minutes and turn off the stove.
Place the mushrooms in a colander, removing unnecessary moisture from the product.

After boiling, a fragrant broth remains, on the basis of which an excellent mushroom soup or puree soup is obtained.

Boiling

Pour cold water into the pan and add the oyster mushrooms.
We wait for it to boil and add some salt to the broth.
How long should oyster mushrooms be boiled before further frying in this case? Boil mushrooms for 15 minutes. and drain in a colander.

Finally, rinse the mushrooms with cold water, remove excess moisture again and proceed to frying.

Do I need to boil oyster mushrooms before frying?

Blanching

Place the oyster mushrooms in a sieve and pour over boiling water.
We hold them over the steam for 10 seconds.
Dry the mushrooms and start frying.

After blanching, they cease to be brittle and brittle and retain their integrity when fried. By the way, such processing is usually carried out before salting oyster mushrooms. This method is the best solution to answer the question of whether it is necessary to boil oyster mushrooms before frying, because heat treatment is minimal.

Now it’s clear how to clean dirt from mushrooms and rinse them, avoiding damage to the fragile fruiting bodies. Having found out whether oyster mushrooms need to be washed before frying, all that remains is to decide whether to boil them. When you don’t have time to cook, you can blanch the mushrooms or fry them right away: both boiled and fresh oyster mushrooms are completely safe for life and health.

Do I need to peel and how to peel oyster mushrooms?

Proper cleaning should be done using the following technology:

After collecting, the sprouts should be divided by hand into small portions, preferably into individual mushrooms.
Trim off all spoiled and dry parts.
If the mushroom is very young, then leave the stem, cut off only its bottom with dirt. If the mushroom is large, then remove most of the stem.
Wipe each mushroom with a dry kitchen sponge or cloth to remove small debris.

How can you cook

Oyster mushrooms can be fried, boiled, stewed, pickled and salted. From the dried ones you can even make a seasoning that is suitable for meat and vegetable dishes. A few recommendations for housewives:

When cooking, oyster mushrooms are cut into pieces so that they are better fried or boiled. For marinating, mushrooms can be left whole.
You need to cook these mushrooms for no more than 20 minutes, otherwise they lose their taste. This must be taken into account when cooking soups.
If you want to fry raw oyster mushrooms, you need to place them in one layer in a frying pan, add a little oil and fry until all the water has evaporated, and then add the remaining oil. For frying, oyster mushrooms are cut into small pieces.
Oyster mushrooms go well with cereals and meat. But they, like other mushrooms, are not suitable for fish.

Oyster mushrooms require cleaning and processing after collection. Knowing the basic rules, this will not be difficult to do.

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.

How to clean oyster mushrooms?

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Important! This type of mushroom has become popular due to the fact that it is impossible to get poisoned by them, since they do not contain harmful toxic substances. Therefore, even if the cooked product is damp, it will not affect your health.

Where can I get these mushrooms?

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.

How to properly clean oyster mushrooms?

If the mushrooms have not accumulated a huge amount of dirt and debris, they will still have to be washed. A huge number of microbes accumulate under the mushroom cap, which adversely affect the human body.

If you have collected them or bought a large quantity, then you need to clean the oyster mushrooms as follows:

Pour cold water over the mushrooms.
We leave them in this state for half an hour.
Mix with your hands and remove large debris.
We wash the mushrooms under running water.

Important! If you decide to cook a small amount of mushrooms, then you need to wash them in portions. Place the oyster mushrooms in a colander and rinse them with cold running water. This method will rid your products of debris and dust.

The process of processing mushrooms involves not only washing with water, but also cutting off inedible, spoiled parts. The dried areas are cut off with a knife, and the cut area is wiped with a dry cloth.

Important! Dry cleaning is a must. Especially if you plan to freeze oyster mushrooms.

Step-by-step instructions for cleaning oyster mushrooms

Since this type of mushroom grows only on tree trunks and old stumps, the risk of contamination is low. But still, you should play it safe and properly clean the oyster mushrooms.

Cleaning water

After dry cleaning, you can proceed to more radical measures:

Fill with water (cold and clean) for twenty minutes to remove any remaining debris. We remove what does not come away from the mushroom with our hands. You can use sponges made of small foam rubber; they will help to delicately remove dirt from the caps.

Cut off the tip of the mushroom stem. After all, there is, as a rule, an area that is difficult to completely clean from inclusions of dust and bark.

Now rinse all the mushrooms under the tap. Pour in clean cold water again. Add salt and, having dissolved it, place the peeled oyster mushrooms in the water. The procedure is aimed at preventing darkening of the flesh of peeled mushrooms.

Now we take them out of the water and prepare them as you please, based on the recipe.

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.

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.

Additional cleaning

There are several simple ways to do additional cleaning:

Blanching: place fresh mushrooms in a container and pour boiling water over them, then leave them in the same hot water for a few seconds. This treatment helps make them more elastic. Usually this manipulation is carried out before marinating.
Boiling: Place the mushrooms in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. When the water boils, turn it off and let it cool.
Boiling: place the mushrooms in a container with cold salted water and bring it to a boil. Let cool for 15 minutes and rinse with cold water in a colander.

For your information. Before drying, oyster mushrooms, like other mushrooms, are not washed or boiled. All preparatory manipulations are carried out only on dry mushrooms.

Before freezing, oyster mushrooms should only be wiped with a dry cloth. Do not wet them: this will cause them to absorb excess moisture and lose their taste. Next, they are distributed into small portions and placed in containers. An additional prevention against pests would be to boil and soak mushrooms in a solution of vinegar or citric acid.

Advantages and disadvantages of oyster mushrooms

This type of mushroom contains a lot of useful substances for the human body. That is why they are very often eaten.

Let's look at the main advantages of this product:

They have very low calorie content. But if consumed in large quantities, they can satisfy hunger.
They contain minerals such as potassium, iron, calcium and iodine.
Promotes the breakdown of fats.
Enriched with vitamins: C, D2, B, E and PP. Thanks to them, the product is very similar to meat.
Remove radioactive substances from the body.
Reduces cholesterol levels.

Important! As a result of using this product in food, the development of E. coli in the human body is prevented. The human body's resistance to radiation also increases.

When preparing such a product, it is definitely recommended to process it, since it contains chitin, which humans cannot digest. In order to remove chitin, the mushrooms need to be cut very finely and fried well.

Important! One of the most important disadvantages is the not very pronounced mushroom smell. In addition, this type of vegetable products is not resistant to infection by viral diseases. In addition, they are quite difficult to transport, since the fruiting body is very fragile and unstable.

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.