During storage, mushrooms can be spoiled by bacteria and fungi, thus quickly turning mushy and smelly within a few days. However, it is still likely to preserve them for months or years if you practice long-term preservation methods such as drying, pickling, canning, or freezing correctly.
You came across a big sale on Maitake in the supermarket and decided to purchase many of them. Yet, you do not know any means to prolong their natural short shelf life. Check our article below to understand how to store mushrooms long-term and start preserving them today!
Best Ways To Store Mushrooms
Several methods help to save your mushrooms. Usually, if you purchase fresh champignons and plan to use them within a short amount of time, it is recommended to take all the mushrooms from their original containers and put them in a brown paper bag.
Brown paper bags are handy for retaining your mushrooms’ freshness because they absorb moisture and enable these species of fungi to breathe.
In case that you do not have any paper bags around, it would help if you put some paper towels into a plastic bag used to store champignons. Though they are not as effective as brown paper bags, paper towels also remove moisture and keep your favorite fungi fresh. Then, after preparing the best environment to store mushrooms properly, put these bags in a refrigerator. These methods allow your edible fungi to extend their shelf life to at least one week.
If you plan to save this food for the long term, experts recommend drying, pickling, canning, or freezing. These four methods are said to maintain fugus’ edibility for at least a year or more.
Drying
This storing technique allows you to protect mushrooms for many years to come.
- Step 1: Clean and slice them into pieces.
- Step 2: Use a dehydrator to dry these fungi till they become crispy and breakable.
- Step 3: Pour all the dried slices into an airtight container and keep them in a dry corner.
Whenever you want to eat them, soak some pieces in warm water for 10 to 20 minutes. They will become juicy and ready to be cooked again.
This is the easiest method to impressively extend your food’s lives. Yet, it requires some investment in a dehydrator. If you do not want to use some more money, refer to other practices below.
Pickling
Pickling was rooted thousands of years ago to preserve food for a more extended time. Although this may alter the taste of your fungi, such as shiitake, pickling is ideal for long-term storage solutions.
- Step 1: Boiling clean shiitake in the mixture of water and vinegar for about 15 minutes
- Step 2: Drain all the liquids and set shiitake aside
- Step 3: Cook the marinade consisted of herbs, oil, spices, vinegar to boil.
- Step 4: Fill your jar with soaked shiitake, marinade, and diced garlic.
These pickles will be ready for use within ten days.
Freezing
Freezing is commonly used to preserve food. For example, you can blanch your creminis or portobellos for 3 to 5 minutes and plunge them into ice water. When they get cooled, put them in a Ziploc bag and add the bag to your freezer. If you do not prefer blanching, you can try steaming instead.
It is advised not to freeze champignons raw. As long as you do so, this type of fungi becomes mushy and can only be used for soups or casseroles.
Canning
Canning, the process of putting edible fungi into cans that contain sodium chloride and citric acid, is considered one of the best long-term storage solutions. However, different from pickling, this technique is much more complicated as it requires some preparation and refrigeration. You can refer to this article for further detailed guidance.
How Many Days Mushroom Can Be Stored?
Depending on the storage solution you adopt, your champignons’ shelf life can vary from 7 days to many years. The dried fungi may last for at least three years if you preserve the jars in good condition. Yet, no matter how much effort you make, fresh fungi should be served within 14 days.
Can You Store Mushrooms In Tupperware?
Yes, definitely. Many people have used the Tupperware Fridge Smart container, which was first designed to preserve vegetables, to store mushrooms. So long as you place a paper towel at the bottom of the box and regularly change it, it is likely that you can keep them for about two weeks.
If you choose to freeze them, Tupperware freezer storage containers can be helpful as they work to prevent air from approaching the food inside.
Should You Wash Mushrooms?
Similar to many other kinds of vegetables, mushrooms preserved in a refrigerator should not be washed before storage. Instead, whenever you plan to cook them, take a reasonable quantity out and start cleaning them.
However, for other long-term storage methods, it is recommended that you wash them carefully. Hence, all the dirt on their surfaces can be wiped off so that bacteria will not grow during storage.
How Long Do Cooked Mushrooms Last In The Freezer?
It is safe to conserve cooked mushrooms for more than a year after freezing. Nevertheless, their quality may reduce significantly after 10 to 12 months. Besides, if your freezer’s temperature cannot be maintained stably at around 0°F, there is a likelihood that your fungi do not last for such a long time.
Also, in case that you thaw these ingredients in the fridge, they should be consumed within 3 or 4 days. Yet when you use a microwave or some cold water to defrost cooked fungi, professionals suggest that you cook them immediately after thawing.
Do They Sell Frozen Mushrooms?
Of course. You can find several sliced mushrooms in the market. Some of them come as 500g packages from several brands, for example, Tesco, Sainsbury, or Morrisons.
Since these mushrooms can cook in many dishes, including bread stuffing, omelets, casseroles, hamburgers, or pizza, they are many people’s favorite to purchase and store at home.
What Does A Bad Mushroom Look Like?
When you come across a fungus that has become darker or got some dark spots on its surface, you cannot do anything but toss it. Also, a mushroom may be considered flawed if you detect some sliminess. Slimy fungi are no longer digestible.
Another sign of a lousy champignon is its wrinkles. So long as your food appears to be shriveled, it is better to throw it away than trying to make some dish out of it.
What Happens If I Eat A Bad Mushroom?
In the worst scenario, it poisons you. Although the mushroom itself cannot take you down, the microbes in spoiled fungi do. What’s more, even when it only seems to be a bit slimy, a bad mushroom may be pretty troublesome to your stomach. Hence, experts have always warned against eating bad mushrooms.
Is It Better To Dry Or Freeze Mushrooms?
It is pretty challenging to affirm which technique works better. While freezing is highly recommended for those who do not have a dehydrator or a place to dry fungi under the sun, drying serves as an excellent option if you purchase an excessive number of mushrooms.
Besides, some types of fungi, such as black trumpet mushrooms, taste better after drying because the process helps to intensify their flavors or umami. Hence, you may want to double-check the kind of champignons you bought before deciding how to store mushrooms long-term.
Can Mushrooms Be Stored In Ziploc Bags?
Ziploc bags should never be used to reserve fresh mushrooms. Mushrooms need air exposure to avoid high moisture. Thus, for mushrooms stored in the refrigerator, it is always better to utilize paper bags.
Nonetheless, Ziploc bags may be pretty helpful as long as you choose to freeze your fungi. Remember to remove all the air from the bag beforehand. Then you can store mushrooms in these bags for at least a year.