How To Dehydrate Mushrooms
Dehydrating mushrooms is a great way to preserve their flavor and extend their shelf life. This simple process concentrates their savory umami flavors, making them a versatile ingredient for all sorts of dishes.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Fresh mushrooms cremini or button
Instructions
Prepare Mushrooms:
- Brush off dirt and rinse under cool running water, but avoid soaking them as their flesh is porus and it can take on water, making more work for the dehydrator.
- Slice off the woody stems and discard by sending to the compost pile or feeding to your backyard flock!
- Decide how you'd like them prepared:
Slices - Slice mushrooms in into 1/4" strips.
Diced - Slice mushrooms into strips, then dice to desired size.
Dehydrate Mushrooms:
- Spread prepared mushroom pieces on dehydrator trays, it's important to keep it in a single layer, again, to improve drying time, efficiency, and consistency.
- Dehydrate mushrooms at 125f until completely dry. Test for doneness by removing a few pieces and allowing them to cool to room temperature, then bend them. Fully dried mushrooms will snap, mushrooms that aren't quite done are leathery and will bend.
Store + Condition:
- Once the mushroom pieces are completely dried, allow the racks to cool in the dehydrator for 30-45 minutes before transferring to long term storage containers. This allows the heat to dissipate and reduces the chances of condensation forming in your storage container.
- Once the dried mushroom pieces are in storage containers, shake the jar each day or so for a week and observe the container for signs of moisture. If there are no signs of moisture, you're good to go, place them in a cool dark place for long-term storage!If there is evidence of moisture in the container, you must add the mushrooms back to the dehydrator and dry it longer. After they've been dried the second time, you'll need to go through the conditioning process again.
Notes
Conversion:
3 tablespoons dried diced mushrooms = 1 cup fresh diced mushrooms is roughly what you can expect. This changes depending on preparation including diced versus sliced, dice size, etc. To determine the conversion for your batch: fill the top rack of the dehydrator with 2 cups of prepared mushrooms, and then measure the resulting volume after dehydrating and divide by 2. Then write the conversion for that batch on a strip of painter's tape and stick it to the side of the jar.Batch:
There is no limit to how many mushrooms you can dehydrate using this method, aside from your available dehydrator space!Storage:
Dehydrated mushrooms, when properly stored in an airtight container, preferably glass jar, in a climate-controlled location will maintain their quality for at least 12 months. Aim to keep yours in a cool, dark location, away from light that can degrade the quality during long term storage.how to rehydrate dried mushrooms
Add an equal amount of dehydrated mushrooms and water - by volume - and allow to soak. The dried pieces can be reconstituted using hot water or cold water, hot water will begin cooking the mushrooms while cool water will take longer to rehydrate. Avoid soaking for longer than 2 hours - it can get a little gross! If you're adding dehydrated mushrooms to soups and stews, just toss them into the boiling pot. The soup will do all the work for you! You'll know the pieces are rehydrated when they are nearly the same size as they were before going into the dehydrator.