They turn black when dried. Beware of certain types of mushrooms

The main mushroom-picking season has now entered its second half. The first half wasn’t much to write home about in many places. Now, however, mushrooms are starting to grow again in many areas. Lots of people are therefore heading into the woods, hoping to bring home a fine haul. Traditionally, they then prepare the mushrooms in a sauce, fried, or in many other ways. However, we also want to preserve many mushrooms for the winter. For example, we dry classic porcini, boletes and chanterelles. Drying mushrooms is one of the traditional methods of preservation, but mushrooms change their texture and some may surprise you.

Classic mushrooms do not change colour much after drying

That’s right. Just take oak or spruce boletes as an example. When dried, they naturally change their shape and, logically, their volume. All the water leaves them and they practically shrink. Oak or spruce boletes, which are among the most commonly dried varieties in this country, retain almost exactly the same colour even after drying. They may sometimes turn a little browner, but that’s about it. The classic Christmas noodle soup also has a brownish colour, which is entirely natural for this dish.

Photo: Radek Stepan

Black dried mushrooms as a surprise

Many of us are genuinely put off by black mushrooms. That is, those who aren’t familiar with them. There are several species of mushrooms that quite simply turn black when dried. The classic examples are various types of boletes. Porcini mushrooms also turn completely black. You can also expect blackening in the case of boletes and blacksmith’s mushrooms. However, not everyone dries these. If you do dry such mushrooms, you must expect them to darken completely. We usually dry mushrooms that turn black separately from those that do not.

Some mushrooms aren’t worth drying

That’s right; in particular, mushrooms with gills on the underside of the cap are usually not dried. For example, russulas or pink toadstools are incredibly fragile and crumble completely after drying. You can, for example, dry chanterelles, which can then be used to make mushroom seasoning very easily.

Tip: First mushroom in June. They were beautiful.

Sources: Author

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