[Mushroom Talk Part 1] About Preparation and Storage... Cooking Tidbits
Since I introduced king oyster mushroom kinpira on YouTube today,
I would like to take this opportunity to
write about how to prepare and store mushrooms.
1. About preparation
The most important thing when preparing mushrooms is
not to wash them.
This is because
if you wash mushrooms, they absorb water and become soggy,
the wonderful aroma is lost,
and the texture also suffers.
Therefore, it's not that you don't have to wash them,
but rather
it is important not to wash them.
Writing this might make some people think,
Isn't it dirty not to wash them?
No, no, that is perfectly fine.
Most of the mushrooms sold in supermarkets now
are grown using a method called sawdust cultivation,
and sawdust cultivation means
that mushroom spores are planted in something like sawdust
and grown in a clean indoor environment.
Actually, I
have had the chance to visit a place where mushrooms are grown.
There were shelves in a clean room that looked like a laboratory,
where things with mushroom spores planted in them were lined up,
and the temperature and humidity inside were completely controlled by air conditioning,
so they were grown in a truly clean environment.
After seeing that,
I was convinced that it is absolutely safe to eat mushrooms without washing them.
Enoki, shimeji, maitake, shiitake, king oyster mushrooms,
you can assume that the ones sold in supermarkets are like that.
That said,
if you still feel a bit uneasy
about using them as they are,
also, depending on the mushroom,
there is something called log cultivation,
where holes are drilled into cut logs, mushroom spores are planted,
and they are grown outdoors.
In the case of such mushrooms,
I think it is fine to wipe them with a damp paper towel before using.
In any case,
it is better to avoid washing them thoroughly with water.
*Mushrooms grown on logs
are sometimes sold in supermarkets.
Mushrooms that become dried shiitake are often grown on logs.
I have actually seen a place where dried shiitake are made, but
I will save that story for another time...)
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2. How to store mushrooms
Have you ever bought mushrooms, left them in the pack in the fridge, and thought,
Wait, when did I buy these?
As a home cooking expert, it's a bit embarrassing to admit this,
but when mushrooms get old, determining whether they are still edible or dangerous to eat
is, I think, extremely difficult.
With leafy greens, they wilt,
with carrots, they get slimy,
with daikon radish, they get spongy,
so you can tell just by looking at them from the outside.
But with mushrooms, they might look a little watery,
and you feel like they might still be edible,
but you also feel like it might be dangerous to eat them...
That kind of situation happens.
(Even though I'm a home cooking expert, it's quite embarrassing...)
So, what I do is,
as soon as I buy them, I freeze them.
I break them into small pieces or cut them into bite-sized pieces,
put them in a freezer bag, and freeze them.
You can put just one type of mushroom in the same bag,
or you can mix them together.
If you aren't going to use them right away, freeze them!!
I highly recommend this.
When you want to use them, you can just stir-fry or boil them while they are still frozen.
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I have so much I want to write about mushrooms,
and honestly, I want to write about so much more,
but if I start writing, it will become incredibly long,
so for now, this is the first installment!!
Stories about dried shiitake mushrooms,
stories about growing mushrooms myself,
and how to cut mushrooms,
I will write more later.
Stay tuned!!
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In today's YouTube video, I introduced King Oyster Mushroom Kinpira.
It is super easy,
but it is super delicious,
so please, by all means, try making it.
Please watch the video as well if you'd like.
