The mushroom is the number one cultivated mushroom in Germany. About 64,000 tons are produced annually and end up mainly in canned goods, cream sauces and on pizza. On the other hand, if you want to collect meadow mushrooms yourself, you should be very familiar with the poisonous doubles. At home, the mushrooms are then immediately cleaned and processed further - like all mushrooms, button mushrooms do not keep for long.
Meadow mushrooms (shown here) look confusingly similar to the death cap mushroom
Find meadow mushrooms and harvest them properly
The meadow mushroom grows mainly after summer thunderstorms on meadows and lawns. However, it does not tolerate artificial fertilization, which is why you should try your luck, especially in regions with "old-fashioned" or ecological agriculture. However, there are dangers lurking when collecting: In addition to the meadow mushroom, there are other species that have pink and, when they get old, brown lamellae. In the case of the poisonous carbolic mushroom, the lower stem flesh turns chrome-yellow when cut, and this mushroom also smells of carbolic, plaster or "hospital". Especially young, closed specimens of the meadow mushroom can be confused with white specimens of the deadly poisonous death cap mushroom. For this reason, you should always carefully unscrew mushrooms from the ground and never cut off the stalk - you can recognize the toadstools by the thickened stalk base.
How to clean the meadow mushroom
When you get home with the yield, you should clean it right away. In contrast to some forest mushrooms, meadow mushrooms should not be washed, as they absorb a lot of water very quickly and then become tasteless. Instead, it's best to do the following:
- Get a small paring knife, a chopping board, and kitchen towels ready.
- First cut the stalk from the mushrooms.
- Then cut away any black or brown spots.
- Mushrooms do not need to be skinned - there are many vitamins under the skin.
- Now take a kitchen towel and rub each mushroom thoroughly.
- You can also use a mushroom brush instead of the kitchen towel.
You can then process the mushrooms as desired.
Process meadow mushrooms
It is best to prepare the mushrooms fresh right away, because if you are lucky they will only keep for a few days if they are stored raw in the refrigerator. You can also slice the mushrooms and freeze them so you can use them later like fresh mushrooms. Mushrooms can also be preserved by drying, pickling or even boiling them.
tips
The cultivated mushrooms available in the supermarket belong to their own species, the two-spored Egerling (also Champignon de Paris). It can be grown in the basement on inoculated substrate balls, which you can purchase as ready-made cultures.