Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius), also known as "chanterelles" in southern Germany because of their characteristic yellow color, are among the most popular and tastiest edible mushrooms. If you are not lucky enough to find them in the forest, you can also buy chanterelles in supermarkets from August. But beware: These chanterelles are collected abroad and are quickly mushy and moldy due to the long journey.
You can store your own chanterelles in the fridge for up to four days
When buying, make sure that the goods are fresh
The chanterelles available in the supermarket usually come from Eastern European countries, mostly Belarus (Belarus) or Moldova. In Germany, wild mushrooms may only be collected for personal use and not for commercial trade, which is why German goods are not available in stores. The foreign mushrooms, on the other hand, have come a long way, so you should check them carefully to ensure they are fresh when you buy them. These tricks will help you:
- Do not buy goods packed in foil or plastic trays!
- At best, select the best specimens from loose goods.
- Fresh chanterelles are golden yellow in color and have a crunchy texture.
- If they can be bent like rubber, they are no longer good.
- Do the smell test: Fresh chanterelles smell like the forest.
- However, if the smell makes you uncomfortable in any way, the mushrooms are probably no longer good.
- Even mold has no place on fresh chanterelles.
The fresher the chanterelles are, the better they taste - and the better they keep in the fridge for a few days.
How long do chanterelles keep?
You can easily keep chanterelles you have collected (and cleaned beforehand!) in the fridge for another three to four days - in this case it can hardly be fresher and the Eastern European supermarket mushrooms often took even longer to get there. Purchased chanterelles, on the other hand, should be consumed on the same day if possible or stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of one more day. Since you can't know for sure how fresh these mushrooms actually are, it's all the more important to use them up quickly. You should also leave a mushroom dish that has already been prepared or leftovers quickly chilled in the refrigerator for a maximum of one day and then consume it at the latest.
Clean and process the chanterelles immediately
Even if you want to temporarily store the chanterelles you have collected yourself in the fridge, you must first clean them thoroughly. The reason for this is simple: chanterelles are often very dirty, especially in their ledges collects sand that is difficult to remove. If you only clean the chanterelles after they have been in the fridge, this task will be more difficult for you. The mushrooms have then soaked up moisture from the refrigerator, so that the dirt adheres more strongly. Immediate cleaning saves you a lot of trouble afterwards.
Storage in the refrigerator
The cleaned chanterelles should be wrapped in a cloth, paper or kitchen towel in the vegetable compartment or 0 °C compartment of your refrigerator. If you want them to last longer than a few days, we recommend freezing: To do this, briefly blanch the clean mushrooms in boiling, salted water and then dry them well. Now they can be placed in a freezer at at least minus 18 °C. Here they stay for at least a year.
tips
In many Internet forums the old myth still haunts that you shouldn't freeze chanterelles. This is nonsense, as has now been established. However, the chanterelles can also be preserved in other ways.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself