How to freeze oyster mushrooms at home for the winter and is it possible

Table Of Contents

Preparatory work
Freezing Methods
Important conditions

How to freeze oyster mushrooms is not difficult if you have a recipe tested by experienced housewives at hand. Oyster mushrooms are versatile mushrooms that are very often used in any dishes when frying, stewing, pickling. The easiest and fastest way to store them for the winter is to freeze them.

Preparatory work

When asked if oyster mushrooms can be frozen, the answer is definitely yes. In frozen mushrooms, the set of vitamins and minerals remains unchanged, which cannot be said about a product that has been s alted or pickled.The method allows you to preserve the aroma and shape of freshly picked mushrooms. The main thing is to carry out this procedure correctly.

Mushrooms should be carefully examined and only good ones selected. If there are any defects, for example: yellow spots, cracks, then the product is not suitable for long-term storage. After defrosting, they will give the dish an unpleasant smell and bitterness.

Good mushrooms have a uniform brownish-gray shade of caps and a pleasant aroma. It is better to buy mushrooms with small hats. This indicates that they are young, juicy and soft.

The legs of oyster mushrooms are rather harsh and do not contain nutrients, so it is recommended to cut them off almost at the very hat.

The selected hats are thoroughly washed under running cold water. If there is no time to immediately freeze the product, then it is better not to wash or cut, but simply place it in the refrigerator. The washed parts are distributed on a towel so that the water is glass.

Freezing Methods

The easiest way is to freeze raw mushrooms. They just need to be washed, dried, cut into small pieces and placed on a flat dish (suitable, tray, cutting board). After that, oyster mushrooms are sent to the freezer for three hours. This step will prevent the sliced pieces from freezing in one lump.

Then you can collect the mushrooms in one bag or distribute them in plastic containers. To prevent the product from absorbing foreign odors, you need to tightly close the container. They go back to the freezer. Fresh frozen oyster mushrooms can be stored for up to 12 months.

Before freezing oyster mushrooms at home, you can boil them. The recipe is not difficult and does not require great culinary skills.

Place a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil.
Mushrooms (you need 2 kg) are washed, peeled, large caps are cut in half and added to boiling water. Boil recommended for 17 minutes.
Then add 60 g of s alt, 2.5 g of citric acid, put 4 bay leaves and 4-5 peas of allspice. Boil for another 17 minutes.
Boiled oyster mushrooms are thrown into a colander and waiting for time to drain excess liquid.
Hats are distributed in a thin layer on a board, bag or other flat surface. Place in the freezer for 3 hours.
As soon as the hats are frozen, they can be distributed in separate containers for further storage.

Frozen mushrooms can be used at any time. After defrosting, they are added to soups, pizza, potatoes.

Oyster mushrooms can be frozen and fried.

Mushrooms are selected, washed and cut into small pieces.
Spread the sliced product into a frying pan with heated oil, sprinkle with s alt.
Fry until excess liquid has evaporated.
As soon as the dish has cooled, you can distribute it into containers and send it to the freezer.

To track the shelf life, it is useful to indicate the date and time of packaging on the container.

The product is also frozen in dried form. Oyster mushrooms are washed, cut into thin plates and sent to the oven (can be dried in the sun). Dried oyster mushrooms are very tasty according to the following recipe:

sliced plates are distributed on a baking sheet and sent to the oven, heated to 50 degrees for 5 hours;
then the cuts are spread on paper or a towel and left in a room that is well ventilated;
again, the dried product is sent to the oven for 6 hours at a temperature of 70 degrees.

If the dried slices break well, then they are ready for storage. If they have not reached a solid state, then they are again sent to the oven, heated to 50 degrees. Dried and cooled products are sent to the freezer, divided into portions.

Important conditions

In the freezer, mushrooms should be stored at -18 degrees and above. Otherwise, the shelf life of the product will be shortened. At temperatures below -10 degrees, oyster mushrooms should be used within three months.

As needed, a certain amount of mushrooms is taken from the freezer, transferred to a plate and placed in the regular section of the refrigerator.

Don't defrost at room temperature as the taste will change for the worse.

If oyster mushrooms for the winter before freezing have been qualitatively selected and cleaned, then the required amount of the frozen product can be thrown into the dish being prepared. In this case, you do not need to wait for defrosting.

It is impossible to refreeze the product. Therefore, for long-term storage in the freezer, it is better to choose a small size container for portion distribution.