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When summer is coming to an end, mushroom pickers are happy to go to coniferous and deciduous forests in search of milk mushrooms that have a unique taste. It is almost impossible to confuse these products with poisonous dangerous varieties, although even today in many countries of the world they prefer not to eat them, but to leave them in the forest. Residents of the CIS countries can hardly refuse such a delicacy. In our area, milk mushrooms have been salted, boiled and dried for many centuries. However, knowing how to pickle dry milk mushrooms is not enough to cook them correctly. After all, these mushrooms need careful preliminary preparation.
Dry milk mushroom
The breast has a large funnel-shaped cap. Dry milk mushroom differs from its relatives in that it lacks the milky juice characteristic of other species.
These mushrooms are fried, boiled, baked, but pickling reveals their taste best. Salting dry milk mushrooms can be done in two ways - cold and hot. There should not be a long gap between picking mushrooms and processing them; it is best to deal with them right away.
Recipe for pickling black milk mushrooms
As you know, in nature there are not only white milk mushrooms, but also so-called black ones. They can also be eaten like white ones. And if there are mushrooms, then there must be a method of preparation. Therefore, I offer you a video recipe for preparing black milk mushrooms.
As mentioned above in the article, black ones have a much higher bitterness content, so they will need to be soaked for much longer. You can see how to soak these mushrooms correctly and how best to prepare these mushrooms in the video clip below.
This concludes the selection about pickling milk mushrooms. I think that you will succeed and in winter you will have delicious salted milk mushrooms on your table. And if you have your own recipes or suggestions for this article, then you can share your observations in the comments under the article. Everyone, bon appetit.
Soaking
You can choose any recipe for pickling dry milk mushrooms. But in any case, you can’t do without soaking. Place the mushrooms, caps down, in a suitable container and fill with cold water. They must be kept there for at least three days. In this case, the water should cover them completely, for which you can use a small press. At the very end of soaking, the water needs to be slightly salted.
You can determine the correct soaking of milk mushrooms using the folk method. You need to take a piece of mushroom, cut it and try the cut on your tongue. If the mushroom is properly soaked, it will not taste bitter.
Hot salting
Hot salting of dry milk mushrooms makes them soft, without a characteristic crunch. But this method of salting helps preserve the original shape of the mushroom and its color.
Fresh milk mushrooms are cleaned of debris, washed in water, changing it several times. After preliminary preparation, boil the mushrooms for 20 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to place them in a wide bowl.
For pickling, you need to prepare a brine, for which you take 2 tbsp per 1 liter of water. l. salt, black and allspice (10 peas each), several bay leaves, currant leaves.
Boiled mushrooms are dipped into boiling brine using a slotted spoon and cooked for about half an hour. Then horseradish root and a head of garlic are added.
After the pan is removed from the heat, you need to put pressure on the mushrooms and leave them like that for 3-4 days, then put them in jars, cover with cabbage leaves on top and seal with lids. The mushrooms will be ready in a month.
Altai method
According to this recipe, you can salt white milk mushrooms. For this you will need a barrel. The use of such a vessel is explained by the fact that the recipe is old and intended for a large number of mushrooms. In fact, when prepared in this way, milk mushrooms will be very tasty.
Ingredients:
- 10 kilograms of mushrooms;
- 400 grams of salt;
- 40 grams of allspice;
- 35 grams of young dill;
- 40 grams of garlic;
- 20 grams of horseradish;
- 10 bay leaves.
As you can see from the recipe, the cooking method is very simple and does not require specialized knowledge or special culinary talent from the user.
Hot salting of dry milk mushrooms in jars for the winter
For a kilogram of milk mushrooms you need to take 3-4 cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of salt, 10 black peppercorns, 10 blackcurrant leaves, dill.
Hot salting of dry milk mushrooms for the winter begins with their preparation. Thoroughly washed mushrooms are placed in boiling salted water and cooked for five minutes. Mushrooms that are too large can be pre-cut into pieces.
The jars are sterilized, a small amount of salt is poured onto the bottom, and two peppercorns are added. A little salt, 2 peppercorns, dill, blackcurrant leaf are poured into the bottom of a sterilized jar, then the mushrooms are placed tightly in layers, sprinkling each with salt and spices. Pour in the water in which the milk mushrooms were boiled. The jars are closed with boiled plastic lids. After they have cooled, put them in the refrigerator. You can try in a month and a half.
How to salt milk mushrooms in a cold way so that they are crispy, aromatic, and tasty
There are several types of milk mushrooms:
- White,
- Black,
- Yellow,
- Red-brown,
- Aspen,
- Parchment,
- Peppery.
Interesting! The breast milk smells like fresh fruit and is uniquely delicious. Foreign guests always perceive this mushroom as a truly Russian dish.
What do milk mushrooms look like?
If you don't know what milk mushrooms look like, look at the photo.
In my recipes I will focus on recipes for pickling white milk mushrooms. In my opinion, they are the most delicious, and in our area they are valued more than others. Although all other varieties are prepared in a similar way.
Preparing mushrooms for pickling
Having brought milk mushrooms from the forest, they must first be cleaned of forest debris and soaked. Removing garbage can often be difficult, so experienced mushroom pickers first soak the mushrooms along with the garbage in plain water. When the debris (leaves, pine needles, moss) gets wet, it is easier to remove it with an old toothbrush or dishwashing sponge. You need to clean it thoroughly, trying to remove debris both from the top side of the cap and from the bottom, between the plates.
Mushrooms washed from debris are soaked in water for 2-3 days, changing the water 2 times a day. This is necessary in order to remove all the bitterness from the mushroom. If this is not done, the mushrooms will simply turn out bitter and not tasty. Soak the mushrooms in a large container with enough water. Cover the top of the mushrooms with an inverted lid or plate and place a small load, for example, a jar of water.
Having prepared the mushrooms in this way, you can start pickling them for the winter. There are several cooking methods: cold, hot and in brine. Milk mushrooms are salted if the harvest is large, first in large containers, using wooden tubs, enamel buckets or tanks, and then transferred to jars. Or they are pickled directly into glass jars.
There are 2 main ways of salting milk mushrooms - cold and hot. Some people prefer to pickle mushrooms in wooden tubs; this also improves the taste of the mushrooms even more. But since most people do not have this opportunity, they are now salted in enamel buckets, tanks, or simply in 3-liter jars. How to do this correctly at home is discussed in detail in the article.
How to cold salt milk mushrooms for the winter
The cold method is good because it takes less time for the pickling process itself. And the result will always be excellent, and the mushrooms will be crispy. Prepare in advance:
- garlic, peel it and cut into small slices,
- allspice and/or black peas,
- salt.
Salt plays an important role; it should not be too much or too little. The proportions are as follows: for 1 kg of soaked mushrooms take 1 tbsp. l. salt with a slide. First, weigh the soaked mushrooms to determine how much salt you need. The resulting amount of spice is distributed evenly for all mushrooms.
How to salt
Sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and chopped garlic into the bottom of the pan. Place a layer of milk mushrooms on top of them, caps down.
Sprinkle the laid layer of mushrooms again with garlic, pepper and salt.
And again add a layer of mushrooms. We do this until we have collected all the mushrooms. Sprinkle the top layer again with the remaining salt and spices.
Do not spare the garlic, it will add taste and aroma to the preparation. In addition, garlic has bactericidal properties, which means it will prevent the proliferation of pathogenic microflora.
Place a regular plate of equal or slightly smaller diameter on the mushrooms placed in the pan and press down lightly. Place a weight (blanks or just a jar of water) on top of the plate. And you can already see that juice has come out from under the plate. The mushrooms must be completely immersed in the juice, otherwise the milk mushrooms will turn black. If the juice does not come out, then you need to take a larger load.
Cover the top of the pan with clean gauze or a towel and take it to a cool place where the temperature is +5-8ºС. After 1-1.5 months, the milk mushrooms will be salted and can be served.
Cold Ambassador
Salting dry milk mushrooms in a cold way is a little more difficult. The mushrooms are thoroughly cleaned and washed, cut into slices and placed in a suitable container. Fill with running water and place under pressure for three to five days. The water is changed every day.
After the specified period, the mushrooms are removed and sprinkled with salt. Then they are laid out in a salting dish in layers with salt, adding horseradish and garlic. The dish is covered with gauze, on which horseradish leaves are laid. This is used to prevent the mushrooms from turning dark. The milk mushrooms are placed under pressure; they must be completely covered with brine. After a month, the mushrooms are transferred to sterile jars and filled with brine. Salting dry milk mushrooms in a cold way makes the mushroom more aromatic and juicy. In addition, after this treatment it will remain clean and snow-white.
Salting in a barrel
Consider a recipe for pickling dry milk mushrooms in a barrel. For ten kilograms of mushrooms, take 0.5 kg of salt, garlic (4-5 heads), dill stems, horseradish, cherry and currant leaves. In addition, sterile gauze is needed to cover the barrel, the circle of wood and the oppression.
After soaking and washing the milk mushrooms, place them in a barrel. The mushrooms are sprinkled with salt, spices and leaves are added, and the top is covered with horseradish leaves. Sterile gauze is laid out on top of the barrel, on which a wooden circle is placed and pressed. If not enough brine is released, you need to select a heavier pressure. The mushrooms are infused in the cellar for about a month, after which they can be tasted. If necessary, the salting period can be extended.
If a layer of mold appears on the surface of the barrel, it must be removed entirely, the gauze must be changed, and the circle and pressure must be sterilized.
Recipe with mustard
For lovers of spicy dishes, there is an excellent recipe for making milk mushrooms with mustard. This dish is very exclusive and can be an excellent cold appetizer on the holiday table.
Required Products:
- kilogram of mushrooms;
- 2 tablespoons of salt;
- dill umbrella;
- half a liter of water;
- a teaspoon of mustard seeds;
- horseradish leaves;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 allspice peas.
Salt the water, add all the spices along with the mushrooms. The breasts must be whole, including the legs. When the water boils, keep the pan with mushrooms on the fire for about ten minutes. Then strain and place in jars in layers: mushrooms - garlic - mushrooms. We cover the milk mushrooms with dill stems so that they do not float up. Be sure to put the workpiece in the cold. After ten days you can try.
Pickling in a jar
Pickling dry milk mushrooms for the winter in a jar is not much different from pickling in a barrel. The mushrooms are thoroughly washed and placed in an enamel pan, filled with water. A wooden circle or plate is placed on top, on which oppression is placed. The oppression should not be too heavy. The dishes with mushrooms are put in a cool place. The mushrooms are soaked for three days, the water must be constantly changed.
After the specified period, the mushrooms are sorted and cut, if necessary. Glass jars for pickling are thoroughly washed and doused with boiling water. It is best if the jar has a wide neck.
The milk mushrooms are laid in layers, rubbing each mushroom with salt. To avoid oversalting the mushrooms, the amount of salt should be about three percent of the weight of the mushrooms. If there is too much salt, the mushrooms will have to be washed before eating.
Layers of mushrooms are layered with horseradish and garlic. On top of the last layer of mushrooms, place a clean, coarse cloth folded in half, with a horseradish leaf, cherry and currant leaves on it. Then they put a circle and put pressure on it.
Containers with milk mushrooms should be stored in a cool place for a month. After the pickling time has passed, take the greens and cloth out of the jars, cover them with lids and put them in the refrigerator. If the top layer of mushrooms becomes moldy, they must be washed with running water.
Preparing mushrooms
Any mushrooms are capable of absorbing different substances, and depending on what is located nearby, you can bring poison into your home. Therefore, when collecting them, you need to carefully look at where they grow. Highways, factories, landfills are all sources of toxic substances, so ignore mushrooms near such objects, health is more important.
Before pickling milk mushrooms, of course, it is necessary to rid the mushrooms of everything unnecessary, especially the specific bitter “milk”. What to do:
- First, select the mushrooms and clean them under cold water. Difficulties may arise, for example, forest litter does not want to come off or the milk mushrooms are very dirty. Then you will need a brush, but in no case should it be hard and dry;
- places with damage or marks made by worms must be cut out, and the base of the mushroom stem should also be removed;
- It’s better to immediately cut the milk mushrooms into pieces. This can be done in any convenient way: as prescribed in the recipe, only in two parts lengthwise, or the caps are separated from the legs;
- Much attention should be devoted to the process of soaking mushrooms, since their edibility depends on it. If there are a lot of older and larger mushrooms, you should leave them in the water longer. Basically, you need to soak them for three days, and remember to change the water at least twice a day. Don’t forget that before soaking, you need to wash the milk mushrooms completely, until they reach their natural white color;
- Mushrooms should not be allowed to peek out of the water. Cover them with a lid and weigh them down. In addition, they will significantly decrease in size;
- Please note that not all dishes are suitable for soaking and salting mushrooms. It is best to use wood, but glass and enamel containers are also suitable;
- Then rinse the mushrooms thoroughly with clean water several more times.
Now the milk mushrooms can be salted. There are two main ways:
- hot salting;
- cold pickling.
Of course, the cooking processes may differ slightly, so everyone chooses the one that is more convenient and tastier.
Some tips
So that pickling dry milk mushrooms for the winter does not turn out to be a failed experiment, you need to choose the right dishes. You can use a wooden, glass or stainless steel container, which must first be thoroughly washed. For salting, use coarse rock salt. When sending milk mushrooms for salting, it is advisable to place them with their caps down. At the same time, the shape of the mushroom is preserved.
If the salting of dry milk mushrooms was a little unsuccessful and the mushrooms turned out to be over-salted, they are soaked in milk, while the delicate structure of the mushroom is preserved. Take the required amount of mushrooms and place them in milk for two to three hours. If this was not enough, the procedure can be repeated using fresh milk. You should not be alarmed by the purple or green tint that the milk mushroom may acquire; this is due to a chemical reaction. Mushrooms soaked in milk are washed with running water. When soaked in water, the mushroom may lose its consistency, in addition, this negatively affects their taste.
Pickling dry milk mushrooms is a great way to preserve mushrooms for the winter. Milk mushrooms, salted in any way, can be added to soups and salads. You can also serve it as a snack by adding onions and sunflower oil.
