How can you freeze milk mushrooms for the winter at home
Milk is a famous and popular mushroom among mushroom pickers. It is traditionally customary to salt or pickle it. In cold salting, its dense structure is preserved, the mushrooms are crispy and very tasty. But it is impossible to store blanks for a long time in a city apartment, and pickles frozen on the balcony are suitable only for making soups or pies. Mushrooms soften and are of little use as an independent dish. For large harvests, pickles can be placed in jars, but storage in the refrigerator requires space. Therefore, the freezing method can be used to preserve the mushrooms.
Features of freezing milk mushrooms
The quality of the product can be kept to the maximum when it is quickly cooled at -30 ° C, but at home only the capabilities of the freezer are available, where the temperature cannot be lower than 15-18 ° C. With this method of freezing, large ice crystals destroy the cellular structure of the product. Is it possible to freeze lamellar mushrooms containing milky juice under such conditions.
The lump has a dense body and, it would seem, should freeze perfectly. But the presence of a bitter milky juice requires soaking. In addition, in the forest, they traditionally hide under a layer of fallen leaves, so in any case they will have to be thoroughly washed before being sent for storage.
All this raises fair questions whether it is possible to freeze milk mushrooms without significant loss of quality and taste. The experience of mushroom pickers suggests that there are several methods for freezing milk mushrooms, but not fresh.
Before frozen mushrooms subjected to heat treatment, as a result of which a triple effect is achieved:
- microorganisms on the surface of raw materials are destroyed;
- part of the cell juice goes into broth, bitterness disappears;
- the volume of raw materials is reduced by 10-15%.
Fresh milk mushrooms are a perishable product that requires processing on the day of collection or the next day. Therefore, freezing the mushrooms is suitable as an additional way to preserve valuable crops. Small specimens are selected for salting, and overgrown specimens can be cut and frozen.
General rules come down to the following steps:
- sorting by type and size;
- cleaning and washing of raw materials;
- heat treatment;
- packing of cooled raw materials into packages;
- freezing.
It is necessary to take into account the volume of the freezer and the fact that once frozen milk mushrooms cannot be re-exposed to this process. The volume of containers or bags in which the product is packed should contain a small amount of the product, designed for one-time preparation.
Methods for preparing mushrooms for freezing
Freezing recipe comes down to choosing how you prefer to heat the mushrooms. They can be boiled or fried. Let's try to answer the question of how to properly freeze milk mushrooms in the refrigerator.
Freezing boiled milk mushrooms
The sorted mushrooms are thoroughly washed and immersed in boiling water. From the moment the water boils, they are boiled for 10-15 minutes. Under the influence of temperature, the protein begins to curl up, harden, the structure of the mushrooms is better preserved. Then they are thrown back on a sieve, the water is allowed to drain as much as possible. The cooled semi-finished product is packaged in containers, placed in the freezer. Alternatively, the prepared mushrooms are placed in cold salty water, from the moment they boil, they are boiled for 5-10 minutes, dried, and laid out in bags.
Freezing fried milk mushrooms
This recipe involves frying the mushrooms in a pan with the addition of vegetable oil and spices. So you can process a re-grading and too large specimens by cutting them into small pieces. Another option for preparing mushroom raw materials for freezing is frying without oil, in its own juice.
In both cases, raw mushrooms are placed in a deep frying pan, fried for 20-30 minutes, trying to evaporate the moisture as much as possible. During frying, active processes of decomposition of proteins and carbohydrates begin in the product, the formation of new substances. Products have a more pronounced taste and aroma. The fried mushrooms are cooled and frozen in portioned containers.
Freezing salted milk mushrooms
As an option to save the harvest, there is a way to freeze salted milk mushrooms for the winter... In this case, you will have to forget about the elastic structure of the mushroom. After defrosting, they become soft and can be used for making soups, as a filling for pies.
In this case, the salted mushrooms are thrown on a sieve and squeezed slightly, trying to reduce the amount of moisture as much as possible. Place in containers and freeze. To speed up the process, the mushrooms are washed from brine, preferably with boiled water, dried, packaged, stored in a freezer.
These freezing methods imply that the mushroom products must be the freshest. Only in this case, the workpieces can be safely stored for up to six months. The mushrooms removed from the chamber must be thawed during cooking.
