Prepping Wild Mushrooms

There are two reasons why many wild mushrooms are wild and not farmed. First some species of wild mushroom like Morels are too hard to farm, or they can’t be farmed. The second reason mushrooms like Shaggy Manes wont keep long enough to get to market, Shaggy Manes autodigest within hours of picking.

These are some of the wild mushrooms I pick the most and how I prepare them for later use.

Wild Mushrooms

Onions

Butter

Frying Pan

Spatula

Cutting board

Sharp Knife

Cookie Cutter about the same size as an English muffin.

Freezer safe conta

When young Shaggy Manes is an excellent edible mushroom provided that it is eaten soon after being collected they keep very badly because of the autodigestion of its gills and cap. So if you want to store Shaggy Manes long term you need to microwave, sauté or steamed until limp, this will allow the mushrooms to be stored in a refrigerator for several days or frozen for long term.

Since most of my wild mushroom recipes start sautéed ingredients I sauté the mushrooms when I get them home.

Dice the shaggy manes.

Dice a large onion.

Melt some butter in a large frying pan and sauté the shaggy manes until they are fully cooked.

Once the shaggy manes are cooked you can place them in the refrigerator for use in the coming week or you can freeze them for use in the coming winter months.

With morels I like to tell I have morels in my recipe, so when I sauté morels I cut them in a manner I can see the honey comb structure of its cap.

I like to slice the morels length wise.

Slice the onion into rings.

Melt some butter in a large frying pan and sauté the morels until they are fully cooked.

Once the morels are cooked you can place them in the refrigerator for use in the coming week or you can freeze them for use in the coming summer months.

Giant puffballs are just to large for one meal and they don’t keep long. However, what do you do with a single mushroom as large as a beach ball?

I make mushroom patties and soup when I first get a giant puffball, You can get the soup recipe here. https://www.instructables.com/id/Cream-of-Giant-P...

When I make the mushroom patties I use the scraps in the sauté base for the soup.

To make the mushroom patties I skin the giant puffball and slice it like bread.

Next I use a cookie cutter the size of an English muffin and cut the slices into patties. You can get up to 3 or 4 patties from one slice but I mostly get only 2.

Then like the morels or shaggy manes I sauté the puff ball patties.

Once the patties are cooked you can place them in the refrigerator for use in the next few days or you can freeze them for use in the coming months. They go great on a English muffin with an egg.

When it comes time to eat the mushrooms are ready to go.

A couple table spoons of the cooked mushrooms mixed in your eggs makes for a quick omelette.

Or you can add a little corn starch and water for a mushroom gravy to add to your dishes.