What does a porcini mushroom look like and where does it grow? Features of the collection of boletus. TOP-6 of the best preparations of porcini mushrooms for the winter. Video recipes.
The white mushroom is undoubtedly the king of all mushrooms. Every mushroom picker dreams of getting it in his basket, and this is not surprising, because in terms of nutritional properties and the amount of useful vitamins and minerals, it is not inferior to any type of meat. This is an edible mushroom of the first category, so you can cook dishes from it without preliminary boiling. To preserve the pleasant aroma and rich taste of the gifts of the forest for a long time, you can harvest porcini mushrooms in jars for the winter. They can be pickled, salted, preserved whole, or made into caviar. Any of these options will be a great snack not only for a simple dinner, but also for a festive table. Next, we will consider what a porcini mushroom looks like and where it grows, how to properly collect boletus and harvest it for the winter.
Preparation of porcini mushrooms
White mushroom, boletus or just white - these are all the names of one of the most delicious and healthy mushrooms. The hat reaches 25 cm in girth, can have a color from light to yellow-brown. The leg of the white is short, thick, with a diameter of 2 to 5 cm. The flesh is white, dense, its color does not change on the cut.
Porcini mushrooms are harvested almost throughout Europe. They can also be found in the forests of China, Siberia, Turkey and Mongolia. Only in Australia there is not a single species of this mushroom, and there are 18 subspecies in total.
There are whites in birch, oak, pine and spruce forests. Most often they are harvested in oak forests, hence their second name "boletus". They love to grow near a juniper, from which they take a lot of useful substances, therefore they grow very large. But in the thickets of alder and in aspen groves boletus is not found, as well as in young growth, there is no suitable "food" for them.
White ones rarely grow alone, if you find 1 mushroom, you can find a whole family near it. Boletus boletus are distinguished by an enviable growth rate: in just 4-5 days, a small specimen weighing up to 5 g grows to a "hero" in 250 g.
The collection of porcini mushrooms begins in July and continues until the first night frosts appear, mainly until the end of October. In especially warm years, boletus can be harvested in May.
The appearance of the boletus depends on its place of growth. The color of the cap and its shape is influenced by the composition of the soil, from which it takes all the necessary nutrients.
The main varieties of porcini mushrooms:
- Oak boletus … He has a milk-coffee hat up to 30 cm in girth. Velvety to the touch. The tubular interlayer is light olive. A white mesh is clearly visible along the entire leg. They grow in oak and linden forests.
- Birch white … The hat is almost white with a slightly noticeable yellowness up to 15 cm in girth. The tubular part is white, in older individuals it is yellowish. The leg is brownish with a white mesh on top. Grows in birch forests.
- Pine white … Cap of intense wine color. The tubular layer is olive. The leg is reddish with a mesh.
- Spruce boletus … The hat is brown or reddish-brown with a long stem. Occurs in spruce forests from July to late August.
When collecting boletus, the main thing is to be able to distinguish them from false mushrooms. The main difference is the color of the tubular layer under the cap. The main counterpart of white is the gall mushroom. His tubular layer has a slightly pinkish tint. If it gets into your basket, the whole snack will taste bitter after heat treatment.
But if you confuse white with a satanic mushroom, you can not only spoil the taste of the dish, but also poison it up to death. The tubular layer of the satanic mushroom is orange to pinkish in color, and the stem is covered with a red mesh. In such a false mushroom, the cut turns blue after 5 minutes, and the old individuals exude a disgusting smell of rotten onions.
Having found the boletus, you need to carefully cut it off closer to the ground so as not to damage the mycelium, or carefully twist it out of the soil. Each copy, before being put into the wallet, should be cleaned of leaves, pine or spruce needles, dirt, sand. It is worth taking only good individuals without rot and worms. It is better to leave large old specimens in the forest, they are not suitable for harvesting porcini mushrooms for the winter, since they will not keep their shape in conservation and will give it extra slackness.
The harvested harvest at home is carefully sorted out, suspicious and heavily damaged individuals are thrown away. If the mushrooms are very dirty, soak them in a bucket of water and press down with a load. After 10-20 minutes, the adhering debris will be easily cleaned off the caps. You do not need to keep them in water for longer, as they will be saturated with liquid and lose their aroma.
Then the boletus is washed with running water and discarded on a sieve so that the excess liquid is glass. If the mushrooms have a small wormhole, you can add a little salt to the water so that the worms leave the mushroom pulp. Some housewives recommend adding citric acid or vinegar, in addition to salt, to make the pickled boletus crisp and kill the bacteria present in the fruit body.
Pure boletus is cut into pieces of the same size. Porcini mushrooms in a jar will look much more attractive if the legs and caps are cooked separately. The leg can be cut into slices or circles. The cap is cut into 4-6 slices. Clean, washed, soaked and chopped boletus can be harvested for future use.
Features of harvesting porcini mushrooms for the winter
Fresh porcini mushrooms cannot be stored for a long time. After a few days, they begin to wilt, cease to be juicy and lose their unsurpassed mushroom aroma. After collecting them, they must be immediately cleaned, washed, if necessary, soaked and made into a dish or prepared for the winter in one of the following ways:
- Canning … Natural canned mushrooms are prepared by sterilization. Heat treatment kills all pathogenic microflora. Whole mushrooms can be canned, and delicious mushroom caviar is also prepared from them.
- Pickling … Microorganisms die not only due to heat treatment, but also under the influence of acetic acid and sodium chloride, which are essential ingredients of these blanks.
- Salting … Salting of porcini mushrooms is accompanied by fermentation. Sugars are converted into lactic acid, which, along with salt, acts as a preservative component. Boletus is salted hot and cold with the addition of garlic, pepper, dill, horseradish leaves, black currant, lavrushka and other spices.
TOP 6 recipes for porcini mushrooms for the winter
Salted, canned or pickled porcini mushrooms are a great snack for both dinner and festive tables. It will be a great pleasure for you not only to collect these aromatic and healthy gifts of the forest, but also to enjoy their unsurpassed taste on long winter evenings. To surprise your guests with a mushroom delicacy, each hostess should have several recipes for porcini mushrooms in jars in her cookbook.
Pickled porcini mushrooms with onions
There are many ways to marinate porcini mushrooms, but this recipe is particularly simple. Nevertheless, boletus mushrooms are aromatic, crispy and incredibly tasty. The appetizer goes well with mashed potatoes and strong strong drinks.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 24 kcal.
- Servings - 5-8
- Cooking time - 2 hours
Ingredients:
- Porcini mushrooms - 1 kg
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Vinegar (6%) - 60 ml
- Water - 200 ml
- Black peppercorns - 1 tsp
- Bay leaf - 4 pcs.
- Allspice peas - 4 pcs.
- Cloves with buds - 4 pcs.
- Salt - 1 tablespoon
Step by step preparation of pickled porcini mushrooms with onions:
- Rinse the boletus, chop, put in a saucepan, pour water and place on the stove.
- When the water comes to a boil, move the pot to a small hotplate and cook for 15 minutes with constant stirring to prevent it from burning to the bottom.
- When the boletus is cooked, put it on a sieve.
- Prepare a marinade for porcini mushrooms from the mushroom broth. To do this, salt it, throw lavrushka and pepper into the broth, bring to a boil, then remove the laurel leaves. Pour vinegar into the liquid, mix everything and put boletus in the marinade.
- Boil the mushrooms in the marinade for 10 minutes, stir occasionally and remove the resulting foam.
- Remove the husk from the onion, cut it into rings.
- Scald the jars with boiling water or place them in the microwave for 3 minutes. Throw a bow at the bottom.
- Pour the blank into jars, fill with marinade and close with a seaming wrench.
- Move the cooled jars to a cold place.
Before use, drain the excess marinade, sprinkle the mushrooms with onions and pour over with sunflower oil.
Marinated porcini mushrooms in their own juice
This recipe for pickled porcini mushrooms uses very little water, so the boletus is prepared almost entirely in their own juice. To prevent mushrooms from losing their color during cooking, a small amount of citric acid is added.
Ingredients:
- Fresh mushrooms - 1 kg
- Salt - 1, 5 tablespoons
- Water - 500 ml
- Carnation - 6 pcs.
- Cinnamon - 6 pcs.
- Peppercorns - 3 pcs.
- Vinegar - 1 tablespoon
- Citric acid - on the tip of a knife
Step by step preparation of pickled porcini mushrooms in your own juice:
- Peel the boletus, rinse, chop large specimens.
- Transfer them to a saucepan, salt, add water. There should be 2 times more mushrooms than water.
- Put the pot on fire. When it starts to boil, reduce the heat. Stir constantly and remove the foam.
- Add all the spices, boil for 15 minutes, until the porcini mushrooms settle to the bottom.
- Remove the boiled boletus from the stove, pour in the vinegar, mix everything and pour into the jars.
- Pour marinade on top of each container and close with a sealing key.
Porcini mushrooms prepared according to this recipe can be used as an ingredient in mushroom broths and soups in winter. The first courses with this preparation turn out to be very satisfying, rich and tasty.
Pickled porcini mushrooms with vinegar
Knowing how to pickle porcini mushrooms, you can always prepare an excellent appetizer, relevant on any table. Due to the high content of vinegar, the mushrooms are very crispy. An additional spicy flavor can be obtained by adding peppercorns, lavrushka, cloves, dry mustard or any other seasoning of your choice to the preparation. Marinating porcini mushrooms will take you a little over 3 hours, but the incredible taste of this appetizer will more than pay for the time spent.
Ingredients:
- Porcini mushrooms - 1 kg
- Vinegar - 200 ml
- Seasonings to taste
- Salt - 40 g
- Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon each for 1 can
Step by step preparation of pickled porcini mushrooms with vinegar:
- Peel the boletus, wash, put in a saucepan and fill with water. Add seasonings as desired.
- Place the saucepan on the stove, bring its contents to a boil, while stirring the mushrooms constantly.
- Pour in vinegar before boiling, mix everything. When it boils, remove the pan from the heat.
- Pour the workpiece into sterilized jars, fill it with marinade, pour sunflower oil into each container on top and close with a seaming wrench. After cooling, store the curls in the cellar.
Porcini mushrooms with vinegar do not need to be soaked or washed before serving, sprinkle with a green onion and sprinkle with vegetable oil. An excellent appetizer is ready!
Mushroom boletus caviar for the winter
If you are already tired of marinating porcini mushrooms for the winter, try making caviar from them. It turns out to be so delicious that you can not only spread it on bread, but also simply eat it with spoons.
Ingredients:
- Porcini mushrooms - 1 kg
- Tomatoes - 400 g
- Garlic - 4 cloves
- Vegetable oil - 50 ml
- Butter - 100 g
- Salt to taste
- Ground black pepper, chili, paprika - to taste
Step-by-step preparation of boletus mushroom caviar for the winter:
- Only dry mushrooms should be used to prepare the snack, therefore, after cleaning and washing, they must be thoroughly dried. It is best to place them on a wire rack and put them in the oven for a couple of minutes or wait for the moisture to evaporate on its own.
- Chop the dried mushrooms using a meat grinder.
- Heat a frying pan, pour sunflower oil into it, then add butter.
- When the butter has melted, put the mushrooms in a skillet, fry them for 15-20 minutes.
- Wash the tomatoes, pour boiling water over them, peel them. Cut the fruits, remove the seeds.
- Twist the tomato pulp in a meat grinder and add to the mushrooms. Mix everything and transfer to a small hotplate.
- When caviar from porcini mushrooms begins to boil, salt it, add spices. Dry herbs and spices can be added if desired.
- Remove the husk from the garlic, chop it with a knife and pour into the pan. Simmer the caviar for 5-7 minutes. If desired, the appetizer can be additionally chopped with a blender.
- Pack the prepared caviar in sterile jars and close them with a seaming key.
Having prepared caviar from porcini mushrooms for the winter, you can diversify your diet in the cold season and please your loved ones with a delicious and aromatic snack.
Canned porcini mushrooms for the winter with sterilization
If you don't want to worry whether a jar of mushrooms will explode or not, or your refrigerator and cellar run out of space for blanks, you simply have to know how to pickle porcini mushrooms in sterilized jars. Twists that have undergone additional heat treatment can stand for a long time in an ordinary pantry, they do not need to be stored in the cold. It is best to marinate porcini mushrooms of medium and small size according to this recipe, large ones are very boiled, they turn out to be less elastic and not crispy.
Ingredients:
- Porcini mushrooms - 1 kg
- Salt - 2 tablespoons
- Water - 1 l
- Table vinegar - 1, 5 tablespoons
- Sugar - 1 tablespoon
- Peppercorns - 6 pcs.
- Bay leaf - 3 pcs.
- Garlic - 2 cloves
Step-by-step preparation of canned porcini mushrooms for the winter with sterilization:
- Rinse the boletus, chop if necessary, transfer to a saucepan, add 1 tbsp. salt and fill with water. In this recipe for marinating porcini mushrooms, the amount of water is indicated only for the marinade, the cooking liquid is not included in the list of ingredients.
- Put the pan on the fire, when the mass boils, it should be reduced.
- Boil the mushrooms for 15 minutes, drain the water when ready.
- Fill the mushrooms with new water, when it boils, cook for another 15 minutes. Drain the water again, discard the mushrooms in a colander.
- Prepare the marinade. To do this, pour drinking water into a saucepan, add sugar, 1 tbsp. salt and cook. When the liquid starts to boil, add lavrushka, peppercorns and peeled garlic cloves. Boil the marinade for 5 minutes.
- Put boletus in it, cook for 5 minutes, pour in vinegar, bring the mass to a boil and remove from heat.
- Arrange the mushrooms in sterilized containers, pour the marinade over the hangers and cover with lids, but do not close.
- Place a cotton cloth in a large saucepan on the bottom, fill with hot water and place inside the jars of mushrooms under the lids.
- Sterilize mushrooms in 0.5 liter jars for 10 minutes from the moment the water boils in a saucepan. After sterilization, close them with a sealing wrench.
Pickled porcini mushrooms can be stored in a regular closet in winter. They are served not only as an appetizer, but also added to soups, pies, pizza and mushroom sauces are prepared from them.
Salted porcini mushrooms in jars
You already know how to pickle porcini mushrooms for the winter, and now we will tell you how to pickle them at home. This used to be done in barrels, tubs, and large pots. This practice has been preserved even now in private houses, but this technique is not suitable for apartments, since in the process of salting, the smell of fermentation, mold, and midges appears. This is not very convenient and causes some discomfort, so we will consider how to salt porcini mushrooms not in tubs, but in closed jars.
Ingredients:
- Porcini mushrooms - 1 kg
- Water - 0.5 tbsp.
- Salt - 2 tablespoons
- Dill - to taste
- Peppercorns - 2 pcs.
- Cloves - 2 pcs.
- Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
Step by step cooking of salted porcini mushrooms in jars:
- Cut off the earthy parts of the legs from the boletus, rinse them thoroughly, changing the water several times. Chop large specimens, leave small ones intact.
- Pour water into a saucepan, salt it, add all the seasonings and leaves.
- Put the brine on the stove. When it boils, put the mushrooms in it.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming.
- Discard the boiled mushrooms on a sieve. Do not pour out the brine, but set aside.
- Spread the mushrooms on pre-sterilized jars, fill them with brine, close with a seaming wrench. After cooling, place in the refrigerator or cellar.
Salted porcini mushrooms in jars for the winter will be an excellent alternative to pickled ones. They turn out to be crispy, elastic, perfect for meat dishes and, of course, for boiled or fried potatoes.
