Mushrooms Washing

Wash mushrooms — Chef Thomas Sixt shows you how to wash mushrooms in this cooking school.

Author:
Thomas Sixt is a chef, food photographer, cookbook author and blogger.
Here he shares recipes, answers cooking questions and helps with cooking.

Mushrooms Washing? Here in this article, I show you how to wash mushrooms step by step. Lightly soiled mushrooms can be carefully cleaned dry with a brush and a cloth.

If the hats are too dirty, a quick dip in flour water with lemon juice will help. Below you will find the photo instructions and some tips for buying and storing the mushrooms.

Step 1: Buy Mushrooms

Already at the time of purchase, look for beautiful, fresh mushrooms. The mushrooms should have a beautiful color and look visually dry.

Chanterelles — Fresh chanterelles photographed in a bowl.

Step 2: Dry Clean or Wash

As a rule, you can clean the mushrooms with a brush. Unfortunately, the pastry brush is not suitable for this purpose. If the mushrooms are too dirty, proceed to step 3.

Brush to clean mushrooms — A small brush is perfect for cleaning mushrooms.

Schritt 3: Mushrooms Wash Prepare

You will need a bowl of cold water, some flour and lemon juice to wash the mushrooms.

Workplace to wash mushrooms — Wash mushrooms with leaves with flour, lemon juice and water.

Step 4: Prepare Flour Water

Squeeze the lemon juice and add to the water, stir in the flour. As an alternative to lemon juice, you can use a little vinegar.

Wash mushrooms properly — We want to wash mushrooms very quickly so that the tasty fellows don’t get too drunk with water. For this, chefs use a mixture of water, lemon juice and flour.

Step 5: Wash Mushrooms Nimbly

Place the prepared mushrooms in the flour water and toss them in it. The lemon juice in the water dissolves the dirt, the flour in the water binds the dirt.

Mushrooms in the flour lemon water — Nimbly bathe the mushrooms in the flour water and toss.

Step 6: Wash Mushrooms Clear

Then place the mushrooms briskly on a sieve and briefly rinse with cold water.

Chanterelles in the colander — Washed mushrooms in a sieve.

Step 7: Dry Mushrooms

Clean the chanterelles — Chanterelles cleaned on a paper towel.

Step 8: Further Process Mushrooms

Chanterelles when sautéing in the pan — Now you can prepare and enjoy the chanterelles!

Tips for Mushrooms Shopping and Preparation

I have summarized some important tips for you below:

What do you look for when buying mushrooms

Mushrooms are foods that spoil particularly quickly. When shopping, pay attention to the freshness of the goods. Mushrooms should look good, fresh mushrooms smell pleasant.

The pungent smell shows you: The hats have seen better days and should rather not be put into the pan.

Smeary mushrooms with dark discoloration are definitely not fit for consumption. Please be sure to sort out these mushrooms.

Chanterelles cleaned — Cleaned chanterelles

What is the shelf life of mushrooms?

Cultivated mushrooms such as mushrooms or herb mushrooms, as well as wild mushrooms have a limited shelf life. The mushrooms are best stored briefly in an airy and dry place, or in the refrigerator for two to 3 days.

King oyster mushrooms in a basket fresh from the market. — Fresh, small king oyster mushrooms go perfectly with the fish. You can also use porcini mushrooms, peppers, or other seasonal mushrooms for the dish.

Why Washing Mushrooms is a Good Idea

Both cultivated mushrooms and collected specimens from the forest can be dirty and contaminated with bacteria. Therefore, cooking professionals wash sandy and dirty mushrooms with water, adding acid and flour. The acid in the water reduces the surface tension of the water, the flour in the water binds the dirt.

Therefore, for washing the mushrooms flour water with lemon juice in combination with running water has proven effective.

The washing of the mushrooms please briskly through, so that the mushrooms soak up as little as possible with water. This preserves the typical aroma.

Fresh boletus mushrooms — Fresh and brushed porcini mushrooms.

What is the Alternative to Washing Mushrooms?

Carefully clean less heavily soiled mushrooms with a soft brush or paintbrush. Remove coarse dirt such as soil residues and pay particular attention to the mushroom cap and the underside.

Alternatively, a damp cloth is also suitable. In this step you can cut off the bad parts of the mushrooms. The halving of the mushrooms shows whether worm infestation makes the sorting necessary.