5 easy ways to preserve mushrooms

1. Drying Mushrooms

Traditionally this is the most common method to preserve mushrooms. It’s a good technique if the final product will be later cooked in a liquid, for instance in soups or casseroles.

• This can be as simple as sun or air drying (the most traditional method). If you have a suitable location, sunny and with a breeze, you can just put them on paper towels, and turn them regularly so that they are not sitting on a damp spot. Otherwise, put them on a cake cooling rack to allow free flow of air.

• If you already have an electric food dryer, you know what to do. However, use a low heat to preserve the mushrooms’ nutritional properties.
• We do not recommend drying them in an oven. The high heat is more likely to cook them and potentially lose many of their nutritional and health properties. Use the warmer draw in your oven which operates at a lower temperature.
• For larger/thicker mushrooms, remember to slice them to increase the surface area.
• We store our dried mushrooms in brown paper bags in a hot water closet. We have successfully stored them like this for several years. Sealing them in glass jars also works well.

TIP: If you dry the mushrooms and then whisk them in a coffee grinder, you’ll be able to use a spoonful to make a delicious mushroom tea or add to coffee.

2. Freezing Mushrooms

Freezing is perhaps the easiest and most accessible way to preserve mushrooms however, there are some tricks required to do it well.

• Mushrooms freeze well but must be cooked (or blanched) first. This means you can pre-make meals that freeze well with the mushrooms included. Examples would be risotto or soup.
• Freezing raw mushrooms causes the mushrooms to release much liquid when thawing, resulting in the mushrooms losing their texture.
• We would generally prepare the mushrooms in a way that all of the liquid is kept, thereby maintaining as many of the nutrients as possible. For that reason, we would not use blanching first.
• The simplest technique is to lightly fry them before freezing & include any pan juices.
• Put in a ziplock-type bag and squeeze out all the air, throw in the freezer for later use.

3. Fermenting Mushrooms

Fermenting is an exciting and healthy way of preserving mushrooms. Not only will this preserve the nutritional and health properties of mushrooms it will also increase the healthy effects by adding pre & pro-biotic qualities. If done correctly, fermentation provides a way of preserving mushrooms for over 6 months.

We love fermentation because it’s a very natural & ultra-low processing technique. In addition, it uses zero energy to make or store them.

Of the methods listed here, fermentation is probably the more technical. However, we have written a comprehensive guide that will step you through the process. Learn how to Ferment Mushrooms & why you should

We also have several mushroom fermentation recipes that will inspire you to give it a go

• Fermented Shiitake – mushroom recipe

• Ukrainian Fermented Mushrooms – mushroom recipe

4. Pickling/marinading Mushrooms

This process is similar to fermentation but uses vinegar (acetic acid) for preservation. You could also use ascorbic acid (aka vitamin c). A PH lower than 3.5 is required to kill harmful bacteria for long-term storage. Whereas the fermentation process uses acids produced by fermentation bacteria, which takes a longer time to achieve… pickling is fast and relatively foolproof.

We also like pickling because it’s also a good way to play with flavours by adding herbs and other botanicals. We make and sell a popular Oyster Mushroom Pickle that uses Lemon and Thyme.

• Here’s a link to a good article and recipe about pickling mushrooms

5. Salting Mushrooms

This method to preserve mushrooms is used mainly in Asia. It’s similar to drying but uses salt to draw out the water content. This produces a lot of waste, but you may be able to use the salt as a mushroom-flavoured salt. It may also require further processing like washing them, to later remove the saltiness. However, this will flush out much of the nutrition and healthy compounds of the mushroom, so this method is not recommended.

Tip on salt, try using calcium chloride, (aka CaCl often used for cheese making) instead of Table salt (Sodium Chloride, NaCl ). This will minimize dietary sodium, a leading cause of high blood pressure).

• Here’s a link to Nordic Preserved Mushrooms that uses the salting technique.

Preserving Mushrooms: further reading

• Traditional Processing and Preservation of Wild Edible Mushrooms in Mexico
• Preserve It Fresh, Preserve It Safe: 2023, No. 3 (May/June) (University of Missouri)
• How to Preserve Mushrooms -Extensive Guide with a free RDF download