How to Dry Mushrooms.
In order to preserve most mushrooms, drying is by far the best option. Besides the common button mushrooms found in grocery stores, additional edible wild or farmed mushrooms that dry well include morels, maitake, shiitake, porcini, and more.
The notion that dried food elements are completely different from those in their fresh equivalents does not apply to mushrooms: Dried mushrooms may replace fresh ones in any cooked dish after they have been reconstituted.
wherever possible in prepared recipes in place of fresh.
Slice the cleaned mushrooms into pieces that are between a quarter and a half of an inch thick. The ideal way to dry morels is whole or cut in half; you may thread entire morels on a string and hang them from the oven racks to do this.
When arranging the mushroom pieces on the dehydrator trays, make sure that they are all placed in single layers and do not overlap. It will take between 4 and 8 hours to dry the mushrooms at 110°F until they are crispy-dry. This depends on how thinly you cut the mushrooms.
Set the oven to its lowest temperature, which is often between 140 and 150°F, in order to dry mushrooms in it. On a baking sheet, arrange the mushroom pieces in a single layer without overlapping any of them. one hour to dry in the oven. A further hour of drying is required after flipping the pieces over.
Regardless of whether you dehydrated or baked your mushrooms for drying, let them cool for 10 minutes at room temperature before putting them in containers with tight lids. You won’t be able to tell if your mushrooms are completely crispy-dry until the conditioning phase is done, which is crucial.
How to Dry Meat (Including Poultry and Fish)
You’ll see in the next chapter that the majority of dried meat products are made by combining dehydration, smoking, and salt curing. However, the following simple but delectable recipe shows that drying meat in a dehydrator is achievable without curing or smoking.
Ratatouille With Roasted Vegetables