If the weather is good, it can sometimes be as early as June - the first summer porcini mushrooms can be collected and processed. After all, the aromatic forest mushrooms can be found far into autumn wherever there are plenty of sparse mixed and beech forests. You can freeze some of your finds so that you can enjoy this healthy treat even outside of the season - preferably ready to cook.

Porcini mushrooms can be frozen raw or cooked

Freeze or dry?

Porcini mushrooms - like all mushrooms - can only be kept fresh for a very short time. The high protein content ensures that the mushrooms go bad quickly. For this reason, you should prepare the fruit bodies immediately after purchase or after a walk in the forest, or if immediate use is not possible or not desired, preserve them. Porcini mushrooms are ideal for freezing because - in contrast to some other types of mushrooms such as chanterelles - they do not experience any change in taste. Freezing is the fastest and gentlest way to preserve fresh mushrooms - which can also be used like fresh mushrooms. However, if you dry the porcini mushrooms, they gain a lot of flavor. For this reason, you should always add some dried mushrooms to the fresh ones when preparing porcini mushroom dishes.

Properly prepare porcini mushrooms before freezing

However, you cannot move the mushrooms straight from the forest to the freezer. The first thing to do is to thoroughly clean the finds and cut them into bite-sized pieces - after all, frozen mushrooms shouldn't be thawed first and then made ready to cook, but should be placed in the hot fat or hot broth straight away and deep-frozen. If you thaw the mushrooms first (to be able to cut them afterwards, for example), they will later become rubbery in consistency in the pan. Only mushrooms that are intended for frying, for example in dough, can be left whole.

The best ways to freeze porcini mushrooms

There are several ways to freeze cleaned and cut porcini mushrooms. But regardless of whether you want to preserve raw or prepared mushrooms - first pre-freeze them at temperatures of at least minus 20 °C in a suitable freezer (if possible with the option of shock freezing). Pre-freezing should take about a day, after which you can store the frozen mushrooms at minus 18 °C. Use a freezer for freezing, as the freezer compartment of the refrigerator cannot generate the required temperatures - here "frozen" mushrooms only keep for a few days to weeks.

Freeze raw porcini mushrooms

Like button mushrooms, porcini mushrooms can be frozen raw and cut into thin slices. All you have to do is clean them (if possible, do not wash!), cut away bad spots and finally cut the fruit bodies into thin slices. If the fruit bodies are too big or you can't slice them because of maggot damage, simply cut them into bite-sized pieces - the thinner they are, the quicker they freeze through. At temperatures of around minus 18 °C, the raw porcini mushrooms can be kept for up to a year. If you want to process them, simply add the desired frozen quantity directly from the freezer to the hot fat or hot broth. Then prepare them like fresh mushrooms.

Freeze steamed porcini

Of course, you can also take this step ahead of time and freeze porcini that have already been steamed. To do this, fry the cleaned and sliced mushrooms in a little butter or a mixture of butter and vegetable oil (e.g. a good olive oil) until they are almost done. If you wish, you can season with salt and pepper at this point. You can also add chopped onions and/or diced bacon to the mushrooms. Finally, quickly cool the steamed dish in a water bath and freeze it as described for the raw porcini mushrooms. If you want to defrost and prepare the steamed porcini mushrooms, simply place them in a hot pan.

Freeze blanched porcini mushrooms

Instead of steaming the porcini mushrooms to be frozen in hot fat, you can simply blanch them in boiling water for three to four minutes. Add plenty of salt to the cooking water as well as a little lemon juice - the salt prevents the mushrooms from absorbing too much water and the lemon counteracts the darkening. Blanching is particularly suitable for very large quantities of mushrooms to be frozen. By the way, do not throw away the cooking water: you can also freeze this as mushroom broth and use it to prepare later mushroom dishes, it is very aromatic.

Freeze finished porcini dishes

If you are in a hurry, simply freeze a ready-made dish instead of raw or prepared porcini mushrooms. Porcini mushrooms in a cream sauce, a porcini ragout, etc. are quickly thawed and make excellent food even for unexpected guests. Prepare the frozen mushroom dish as if you are about to eat it, but instead chill it quickly in a double boiler and freeze as above. Keep in mind, however, that prepared porcini mushrooms can only be kept for two to three months, even when frozen.

tips

It is also very tasty to fill homemade pasta (e.g. ravioli) with a porcini mushroom paste, blanch it and then freeze it. Simply defrost the filled noodles in hot broth or fry them in a pan.

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