On damp autumn days you can literally watch the mushrooms shoot up from the forest floor. To preserve fresh forest mushrooms outside of the mushroom season, you can freeze them in the freezer.

Mushrooms can be frozen raw or blanched

What mushrooms can be frozen?

In principle, there is nothing wrong with preserving all edible types of mushrooms by freezing. They should be fresh and firm and carefully trimmed before freezing. Neither forest mushrooms nor button mushrooms from the supermarket tolerate being cleaned with water - they could soak up water. It is better to brush them off with a special mushroom or vegetable brush and cut off soiled stalks with a sharp knife.
Be careful with chanterelles: frozen raw, they taste bitter after cooking, which is why you should only put this type of mushroom in the freezer when it is fried or blanched.

Freeze wild mushrooms raw

First, shape the cleaned wild mushrooms into the shape in which you want to use them later: cut the mushrooms into slices, halves or quarters, or leave small wild mushrooms in one piece. Since the mushroom pieces will very likely freeze into a lump in the freezer, you should put them in freezer bags or lockable boxes suitable for freezing. Alternatively, you can first freeze the wild mushrooms lying next to each other on a board and transfer them to freezer boxes or bags after a few hours.

Freeze wild mushrooms blanched

It is also possible to blanch wild mushrooms before freezing. This is the route of choice for chanterelles, as they develop a bitter taste when frozen raw.

  1. Cut the cleaned forest mushrooms into the desired shape (e.g. slices) if you do not want to freeze them in one piece.
  2. Bring salted water to a boil and add the mushrooms for a minute.
  3. After draining, soak the wild mushrooms in ice water for a moment. How to interrupt the cooking process.
  4. Now put the completely cooled mushrooms in portions in freezer containers. You can also freeze them first on a wooden board as described above.
  5. In order to keep, the mushrooms must be kept at -18 °C in the *** freezer compartment.

Thaw mushrooms or process them further

Frozen mushrooms should never be thawed before processing. They would become spongy and lose their flavor. Place the frozen wild mushrooms in the pan or pot. So you cook quickly and taste like fresh from the forest.
Frozen wild mushrooms can be stored in the freezer for up to a year. The fresher the mushrooms were before freezing, the longer they will keep in the freezer. After a few months they lose their aroma.

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:

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Vegetable garden