Having grown up in Russia picking mushrooms every summer I really couldn't get what's the point of dried mushrooms -- they seem like a very poor alternative compared to the fresh ones. Now I understand that I was using them all wrong, throwing out the liquid and using the reconstituted mushrooms, instead of doing it the other way around
I use one of those gold coffee filters to strain. That way, you can rinse and strain them multiple times (re-using the same rinse water so as to concentrate the flavor) without using a load of paper towels, rinsing off the filter in-between. Same for dried morels, which can be even more sandy/gritty than porcini.
I only ever used dried porcini mushrooms once. I thought they were the grossest most revolting things I ever put in my mouth. After watching this video I now realize all the reasons why lol ! 🤣
You mention how paid towels absorb some of that precious mushroom broth while straining-- they are explicitly designed to hold on to as much liquid as possible, after all. You might try coffee filters instead, it would take a bit longer to drain but they're not nearly as absorbent.
I followed a recipe for mushroom risotto recently that used dried and soaked porcini mushrooms and I only noticed the worms after I had added them to my pot. I also found a ROCK in my risotto so I'm definitely following these tips in the future
I try to bring some porcini from back home every year. I usually make a "buckwheat risotto" ("grano-saracento"?) by cooking buckwheat in a Dutch oven with porcini liquid, sautéed yellow onions and carrots, a bay leaf, and of course the sliced porcinis after soaking them. Very curious to learn how you're cooking these mushrooms!
Helen. Good info ! However, no need to throw out the soaked porcini !!! I soak the porcini as you do but soak them in stock! After soaking squeeze as much liquid out of the shrooms as possible then dress them with a good olive oil and season with salt and pepper, spread shrooms out on a some foil and broil them til they just start to caramelize, remove and let cool. They are now ready for use in any recipe, on crustini, omelets, and so on. My favorite way to use the soaked shrooms is to use my smoker with alder wood for the carmalization! Mushroomy, nutty, omami, smokey, over the top flavor!!!
I love to forage. Worms love porcini more than any other mushroom. I tend to be pickier than some foragers, but it is common to have to cut off parts of the fresh mushrooms in order to get rid of worms and their little tunnels, and it's even more common to find a porcini that is too full of worms to consider. The best porcini (meaning with no worms) get used fresh. Leftovers and slightly worm bitten porcini go on the dehydrator. Very informative. I had a bumper harvest this year, and that means a lot of dehydrated porcini. I will definitely be trying this, as I have noticed how it is very difficult to get a good texture from rehydrated.
Where I am from, it is normal to forage for mushrooms in the summer and dry your own porcini. That is probably why i would never think to throw away my soaked dried mushrooms. Also there are all kinds of porcini and having a combination of different ones has the best results imho. Greetings from Prague.
Sweden has entered the chat and agrees! I clean my mushrooms and would never bother to keep one with signs of worms. Funnel chanterelle, aka yellowfoot is also an awesome mushroom to dry and use to flavor food.
There are many reasons why this can't happen. For the Boston area of the US, there won't be any wild forrested areas near her. I'm talking a two to three hour drive. The other issue is that most of the US land is under private ownership, and you cannot set foot on that property. The government owned land [State or Federal Parks] are heavily used, and hopes of foraging for anything are low. The density of people is unimaginable for me. The entire eastern seaboard of the US is highly populated from the border of Maine, to the Carolinas. Try googling a night time map for the US. The bright streak on the eastern seaboard, Massachusets is at the top of that streak. Now looking at Latitudes, which affect the weather and overal growing capabilities. Boston is much farther south, than either of these two cities, which will change the nature of what can grow in the areas she could reach. I've never heard mushroom enthusiasts in the US, foraging for Porcinis. Morels are the gourmet mushroom folks forage, and a variety of other fungii.
Here in Latvia, where we have a huge berry and mushroom foraging culture, having to clean and deworm them afterward goes without saying. :) And of course, porcini are still _the_ biggest treasure, though chanterelles are great too.
My mom clean them, but she usually just leave the wormy ones in the forest.... at least those visibly wormy, if the worms are tiny, we probably ate some of them XD
@@krankarvolund7771 Same! :D Looking at how much time the cleaning and sorting takes, I'm convinced it's 50% cooking and (at least) 50% meditative activity. :)
I am in Austria, wormy ones we leave in the forest too, we partly clean them in the forest, and few worms for us are not big deal. Some years mushrooms are beautiful, some are bad…so, lets say that we see worms as proteins :D
I have found a few wild porcinis but they have all been full of worms. I am lucky to get dried ones at my local farmer's market that are clean and worm free.
This was so helpful and elucidating! I made a stellar cream of mushroom soup over the holidays with all manner of fresh and dried shrooms, and the flavor was unparalleled, BUT there was a small amount of grit, which was absolutely demoralizing. I was stumped, because I must have rinsed, soaked, and scrubbed the reconstituted mushrooms four or five times, but as you've pointed out, some mushrooms simply will not let go of their grit. That's why my default dried mushroom is shiitakes-they're the most affordable, and because they're cultivated, they're usually extremely clean and require minimal processing. They do have that distinctive shiitake funk, but they also have the underlying woodsiness of boletus varieties that helps fresh mushrooms in the same dish "respond to the call of the wild," as Nigella Lawson says. And, of course, they're chock full of glutamates.
I'm with you on the shiitakes. They have their own dry storage container in my pantry, but I've never really thought about mixing East and West when it comes to their use. So, is what you're saying is that you would combine shiitakes and fresh mushrooms (I'm assuming button?) to achieve a close approximation to the flavor of boletus or is it more to improve the flavor profile in general? Either way it sounds interesting.
@@wayneparks Yup, I think I've made risotto before using dried shiitakes and fresh cremini mushrooms, not necessarily to approximate the flavor of porcinis but to achieve the high level of umami they provide. I think shiitakes can have a place in dishes with traditionally European flavor profiles, as their musk is certainly no more distinct and penetrating that that of truffles, just different. They're distinct enough from boletus varieties to not be a direct substitute, but they do provide glutamates, earthy mushroominess, and meaty dried mushroom texture (which I like); this combined with their ease of use and affordable price makes them my go-to dried mushroom of choice.
BRAVA, THANK YOU! The comparisons were perfect! I don't like bugs in my food, either. I'm also a texture-phobe, which is why I could never enjoy dried mushrooms.
I'm going to make a stuffed mushroom recipe with porcini in the stuffing, and I was looking for a vid on porcini worms to reassure me that they are harmless. Despite acknowledging your own psychological aversion, this helped. That and knowing that the recipe calls for cooking the strained mushrooms in the porcini liquid until it entirely evaporates. Whatever bugs that are there will be cooked to death.
Great video, you make some excellent points that I hadn't considered before. It would be interesting to see what fungus among us says about their labeling. You should email them for an explanation.
I found out the hard way that dried mushrooms do not rehydrate well when I dehydrated some baby Bella mushrooms a while ago. So I ground them into a powder. The powder is so wonderful!
I might be from another planet, but where I come from, people can pick up their own mushroom(no regulations on where, how much and what type), you need to learn about edible/toxic ones, but... when you dry mushrooms at home(not industrial speeded up procedure), all warms will crawl out during the process. We would often choose mushrooms with worms for drying, where there is enough "meat" left on the mushroom, to save them. Healthy ones are used straight away, or pickled. I used to dry mushrooms around a fire on old newspapers and the warms would be left dry on a paper after. When you have good, clean dry mushrooms, you can grind them, to create a sort of spice. Gives all the flavour and none of the texture. Also, a quick question, what is the difference with mushroom warms and fish worms for you? I recall one of your old videos, when you just cooked the fish with those(monkfish i think).
I do NOT like to eat worms, just the thought of it... Luckily I live at the countryside up north in Sweden, having a forrest filled with funnel chatarelles and a sandy area with pines on one side of our village where I pick porcini...a LOT of porcini. With the amounts of thoose mushroms I can pick the best ones and still dry enough to feed the whole family with a mushrom risotto/sause/pie and so on every week...I feel blessed! With ceps one have to soak them properly, as you say for at least 30 minutes/boil them for 15-20 min though they can give you a stomach ache if you are sensitive, not poisonous but hard to digest. Love your channel!
The Mono Lake Paiutes (a Native American tribe living in Eastern California, near the Nevada border) ate these sorts of larvae just as we eat tapioca pudding. Apparently it's a very nutritious dish. The larvae found in Mono Lake are similar to the ones inside porcini mushrooms.
Blessing to all dry mushrooms I must say. Porcinis/Ceps in my own pantry are from Balkan, like Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - never faced that problem with worms and dirty bits. BUT, because I´m always freaking out with "Stuff", there are more than 18 other dried wild mushrooms in a jars in pantry and +10 cultivated ones... Even one friend of mine as professional "wild mushroom hunter" asks me every year, if I have any "special" request to have for that year... I dry quite a bit myself also - It is wonderful world of flavours in Risotto, Pasta, Stew, Steak, Fish, Stuffings, Fillings, Salads, Component in Bento, Wok, al Forno, Pies, Baking, selfmade seasoning Salt, Marinade etc. Versatile to use many, many ways...
I was bought porcini powder as a Christmas gift, but haven’t had much excuse for using it. I wonder if it might be an effective route to imparting the same aroma another way.
Do you ever throw away the first rince water, or double rince the dried mushrooms? When I get clean dried mushrooms, I'll clean/rince them sometimes and reuse the mushrooms for a soup so you can't notice the very small grit / worms leftover. I was just going to say that the first recipe looked like Kasha! Would love to see a Kasha recipe on here!
This is why I go out into the woods and find my own mushrooms. I clean them before dehydrating, then I'm all set. A few stray worms may fall into the bottom of the dehydrator. One of the best things I like to do is grind the dried porcini, especially the sponge. That stuff not only flavors it thickens soup or gravy like it's a miracle.
I forage for porcini mushrooms in the late summer every year in Colorado (along with Oregon, California, and Washington), it is my second favorite mushroom next to Morels, which I also find in Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington. I have never seen a worm or larvae in any of the Porcinis I have foraged. I love to use them fresh, but I always find more than I can eat fresh, so I dehydrate them. I always use rehydrated mushrooms in my dishes. I am sorry you find worms in yours, but it is actually unusual for Porcinis from Italy, and from the ones I find in Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington to contain worms.
Saya punya pertanyaan sir, untuk memasak boletes mushroom yang segar apa harus di rebus dulu beberapa menit sebelum kita mengolahnya menjadi olahan seperti yang kita ingin ? Saya dari Indonesia dan ada banyak tumbuh jamur boletus tapi banyak yang beranggapan itu mushroom beracun sehingga mereka tidak berani mengolah dan di biarkan begitu saja, setelah saya melihat di negara eropa itu jamur mahal saya berfikir setiap dapat mushroom boletus ingin mengolah tapi saya tidak tau step by step pengolahan, terima kasih semoga anda mau merespon pertanyaan saya 🙏🙏🙏, salam sehat dari Indonesia 🤲
I collect mine outside my house. Check them myself. Eat them fresh. Then I dry the surplus. With a strong mixer you can make a porcini flower that makes almost anything taste better. Porcini are a magic wand for savory meals. Braises, rice, sauces, soups etc. Just about anything but desserts. Listen to auntie Helen, she knows what she's talking about.
Porcini are great but one commenter mentioned morels which I like even better. Fresh ones show up here in Northern California in the Spring and cleaning them is a major pain--I give them a soak and take it from there, but I'm probably not getting rid of all the grit and possible creatures. Dried morels are a reasonable substitute if you can find them.
Interesting video, thank you. My wife and I love fresh porcini mushrooms - I would forage for them. If I remember correctly: We all consume about 2Kg of bugs/per year - they are in grains, dried fruit and beverages like chocolate etc., I love chocolate. The worst I can remember was eating Cod and chips - the Cod had a, still alive after deep frying, large and cut parasitical moving worm in its meat! :)
I pick wild porcini mushrooms where I live. I clean them carefully slicing off the bits of the base that were in the dirt, and thoroughly wiping away dirt, dust, debris. I dehydrate them myself. And then I freeze them in airtight container as the dehydration process may not destroy any little bug eggs that may have been hidden within pores or anything. The problem with eggs hatching would be that the larvae would bring moisture back into the porcinis and they can go bad. So I’m now wondering why you have worms AND perfectly dehydrated mushrooms. Would there be a pesticide process used with commercially dried mushrooms? Never had worm issues. The worms could be larvae that hatched from the eggs after dehydrating but then why is it all dry? I’d personally be wary about commercially sold dry porcinis. I could be wrong.
Mushroom soup is my favorite I was born in Russia and porcini mushrooms were widely available There’re variants in recipes but I never heard of anyone disposing the mushrooms Most soak them in cold water overnight then drain and filter the liquid and then clean and cut the mushrooms But that thing about the worms got me thinking so thank you for the info
We clean the mushrooms we pick before eating them, that goes without saying, but we also don't pick mushrooms if they are too old or wormey. Cleaning like 5 kilogramms of porcini takes a whole afternoon and usually we just call the whole family to help and dry all the mushrooms we can't eat so they don't spoil. Really don't even notice the bit of dirt, there is barely any on it anyways after cleaning them.
I don’t really know if I want to enter into this but…as a mycologist of god knows, forty years I suppose, I have met many a maggot riddled mushroom. And I have rejected the obvious rotten specimens. I mean you would not believe how many times someone has asked me “is this edible” and I’ve had to say “do you eat rotten vegetables?” That said, a mildly worm holed porcini has never stopped me. And everyone has survived as well as marveled at my meals. It’s protein folks, and who knows, perhaps it’s the secret to my risotto Milanese.
Lastly, porcini is graded on an alphabetical scale, which I am too tired at midnight to explain. Just realize you can get grade A etc. the grading will be based on the wholeness of the mushroom. Nice clean dried full slices on one end…..and mushroom crumbles on the other. As well the higher grades will have no or at least little worm damage. But, of course the price changes with the grade. I have been lucky and when not harvesting fresh porcini I have purchased beautiful ones from….Spain!
The drying method is the most important factor in the flavour of dried mushrooms, those from america look like theyve been freezedried. I never heard porcini taste different in other areas, i couldnt imagine why, because they have the same compounds. I dry porcini for 10 hours on 45 degrees celsius, then they develop the most umami. I know some big factories dry at 80 degrees celsius, i tried that myself and youll end up witch a much smaller product in the end with less flavour.
This was fun and informative. I've never carred for the texture of dried mushrooms after rehydration. Didn't know I was just after the , well I'll call it the mushroom "liquor". Ok maybe not correct but what the heck 😁👍. Anyway looking forward to the next couple of vids you showed us using porcini. Have a great day 🌤 🍄.
Maybe a blender would help in separating out the dirt? It would also extract more flavor and leave the protein in the food. After blending, let the dirt settle to the bottom. I haven't tried this yet, but it seems promising.
This is another reason I throw all my dried mushrooms in my coffee grinder & blitz them into a fine powder. You can then add the powder to any dish you wish for that “umami bomb” just like msg . You can add it to water to make a liquid or just add it directly to whatever liquidy sauce or dish you’re making. Try it, you’ll love it.
I'm from Poland and foraging for mashrooms is very common hobby here. My family goes on at least one big trip a year to gather different types of mashrooms. Last year we had three trips and together around 10 buckets (this 15l/4 gallons ones) of mashroom. Also my mother would kill me if i ever dared to throw away porcini, we don't spend so much time cleaning and sorting everything by hand to just get rid of this later on.
Herzliche Grüße aus Österreich! Greetings from Austria! 👍 Danke fürs Hochladen! 👍 Thanks for uploading! 👍 Very good and beautiful, thank you! 👍 Sehr gut und schön, danke
Your farro mushroom risotto is the best! I sometimes use other dried mushrooms, but add porcini powder for flavor. Works well. Maybe not as delicious, but pretty close.
I was grossed out by the thought of worms in the mushrooms. I had no idea! I wish I hadn't heard this. I'm wondering if kosher dried mushrooms would be worm-free as worms are not kosher. Perhaps that's a way of not getting wormy mushrooms. (Perhaps I should clarify that in order to have kosher certification, the manufacturing is tightly regulated, supervised, and checked by rabbis trained very specifically in kashrut. If they see anything unkosher, the product will not be certified as kosher. Therefore, any product with kosher certification has been checked and there are no worms. Especially if the certification comes from highly respected certifiers like OU, Kof-K, Circle-K, etc.)
You cannot regulate the growth of porcinis. They can only be found in the wild, they need dirt, their mycelium requires a symbiotic relationship with the trees they grow under so a rabbi can do whatever they want but the porcini is growing in the wild where there are bugs. And worms. I’d say the worm ridden ones are the really large porcinis, allowed to grow to 1-2kg.
Helen...I live aboard a sailboat and do not use papertowels/papercoffeefilters/etc. I have seen reusable coffee filters of cloth and do have a nut milk bag...would you recommend using those to strain dried mushrooms? Thanks for your reply .
WOW! i didnt know all this! im not able to get dried mushrooms where i am but i eat fresh mushrooms EVERYDAY!!! This is VERY INTERESTING! Thank You 🏆🎯❤🌹
I wonder if it would be worthy drying the mushrooms ourselves, after cleaning them. Also, if plain white or brown mushrooms would taste good. A home dehydrator isn't expensive or we might even be able to use our ovens at the lowest setting, maybe?
What do you think of dried shiitake ? i bought some at an asian market and it's great, th soaking juice is very aromatic. fresh shiitake are delicious too with a nutty flavour.
I live near Boston -- what market do frequent to buy the porcini? I would love to take a little field trip. any other items I should buy when there? I live in seacoast NH. so glad to have discovered you!
I read ‘The Secret life of Fungi’ by Aliya Whitley and learnt that pretty much all mushrooms are full of worms and maggots, it was a horrible revelation but now I just chow down and try not to think about it. I think the idea of rinsing is great but not really an option with fresh mushrooms…
Immensely informative, as always Helen and thank you, but I'll be honest this ingredient is a little pricey and the prices vary widely, and I humbly ask for a little guidance when it comes to selecting and buying them. Do you find that paying higher prices correlates with higher quality? Being in Portugal, I can get these delivered via Amazon Spain for between 66,44 €/kg (sold as a 450g (1lb) bag of dried porcini arrowheads for €29.90 ($32.92USD)), and 182,11 €/kg (sold as a 40g package of 7 whole dried porcini mushrooms for 50,99€ ($56.13USD)). I'll look over on Amazon Italy for better prices as I think this ingredient may have a wider market there, but is this the range of prices that you're seeing for these sold in the United States? Will 1lb of dried porcini mushroom pieces be enough for the recipes in these upcoming videos?
I don't find that there is a big correlation between the price and the quality. A student of mine just brought me amazing dry porcini that she gets from a company on Cape Cod. Look in the description below the video. I believe they ship internationally. Unfortunately, it happened after I finished editing the video, so I didn't mention it in the video.
If you aren't planning to use the mushrooms, you could soak them twice, but the second time around, the liquid won't be nearly as potent, so I usually don't bother.
Forager here: All kinds of mushrooms will get worms when they have grown large and are on the verge of decay. I guess that is when porcini for drying are harvested - bigger = more $. Fresh fungi are harvested before they get to this stage.
Wow. This comes too late. I ate every mushroom on my lot in Alaska with no problems. Then unfortunately ate some mushrooms prepared at a Fungus Festival and... Yep, ended up eating some of these worms!!! Yuck!!! Now... How to deal with the stomach aches?!
That’s too bad. I’ve been picking and drying porcini mushrooms for 30 years, here in Poland. Before drying I clean them when they’re fresh with damp and dry paper towels, scrub with a knife if necessary. Residual sand never was a problem. As for the worms, well, if they have 5-10 wormholes, I keep the mushrooms coz the worms abandon them during drying, at least for the most part. Never seen any during cooking. Oh and age well too when stored in jars. My oldest where 11 years. Always keep 10-25 liters. Never ever have I discarded any neither before or whilst cooking. Cheers.
Organic mushrooms is like gluten free ice cream... Technically true and generally goes without saying, but marketing gonna market. Pretty sure that in technical terms (in the US) it just means no inorganic pesticides or fertilizer has been used on the land the produce comes from for at least 10 years. This probably applies to most forest settings.
I love this. I have been using the liquid, even saving and freezing it for years to use in sauces. Soups etc. Thought i was unusual and creative. Guess not! Haha
have you ever considered growing your own? You can get a kit on amazon and pop it in a dark closet and in a few weeks you'll have your own pestfree mushrooms.
Having grown up in Russia picking mushrooms every summer I really couldn't get what's the point of dried mushrooms -- they seem like a very poor alternative compared to the fresh ones. Now I understand that I was using them all wrong, throwing out the liquid and using the reconstituted mushrooms, instead of doing it the other way around
Helen, I just want to say that you make absolutely fantastic content for avid cooks! Thank you for all that you do.
Wetting the paper towel that you line the strainer with was a great tip to prevent the towel from absorbing too much liquid. Thanks!
I use one of those gold coffee filters to strain. That way, you can rinse and strain them multiple times (re-using the same rinse water so as to concentrate the flavor) without using a load of paper towels, rinsing off the filter in-between. Same for dried morels, which can be even more sandy/gritty than porcini.
I agree that they are the best filters. The liquid goes through it much better than cheesecloth or paper towels. It doesnt rip through either !
I had no idea that was a thing. Must be expensive.
@@4.0.4 It's gold-colored, but not made of gold. They're often included with coffee-makers, and otherwise not expensive.
@@4.0.4 I got one with my Cuisinart coffee maker.
I appreciate that your explanation was a personal one, and you're basically saying "if you don't mind, don't worry about it!"
I only ever used dried porcini mushrooms once. I thought they were the grossest most revolting things I ever put in my mouth. After watching this video I now realize all the reasons why lol ! 🤣
Grossest most revolting things ever hahaha I don't know why but you made me laugh outloud
The taste of dried porchini are gross, fresh ones are great
The variety in the Boletus family is absolutely astounding.
I’ve been appreciating them for my entire life, and I constantly see different types.
You mention how paid towels absorb some of that precious mushroom broth while straining-- they are explicitly designed to hold on to as much liquid as possible, after all. You might try coffee filters instead, it would take a bit longer to drain but they're not nearly as absorbent.
I followed a recipe for mushroom risotto recently that used dried and soaked porcini mushrooms and I only noticed the worms after I had added them to my pot. I also found a ROCK in my risotto so I'm definitely following these tips in the future
I try to bring some porcini from back home every year. I usually make a "buckwheat risotto" ("grano-saracento"?) by cooking buckwheat in a Dutch oven with porcini liquid, sautéed yellow onions and carrots, a bay leaf, and of course the sliced porcinis after soaking them. Very curious to learn how you're cooking these mushrooms!
That sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
buckwheat with mushrooms is my favorite combo
Helen. Good info ! However, no need to throw out the soaked porcini !!! I soak the porcini as you do but soak them in stock! After soaking squeeze as much liquid out of the shrooms as possible then dress them with a good olive oil and season with salt and pepper, spread shrooms out on a some foil and broil them til they just start to caramelize, remove and let cool. They are now ready for use in any recipe, on crustini, omelets, and so on. My favorite way to use the soaked shrooms is to use my smoker with alder wood for the carmalization! Mushroomy, nutty, omami, smokey, over the top flavor!!!
I love to forage. Worms love porcini more than any other mushroom. I tend to be pickier than some foragers, but it is common to have to cut off parts of the fresh mushrooms in order to get rid of worms and their little tunnels, and it's even more common to find a porcini that is too full of worms to consider.
The best porcini (meaning with no worms) get used fresh. Leftovers and slightly worm bitten porcini go on the dehydrator.
Very informative. I had a bumper harvest this year, and that means a lot of dehydrated porcini. I will definitely be trying this, as I have noticed how it is very difficult to get a good texture from rehydrated.
Where I am from, it is normal to forage for mushrooms in the summer and dry your own porcini. That is probably why i would never think to throw away my soaked dried mushrooms. Also there are all kinds of porcini and having a combination of different ones has the best results imho. Greetings from Prague.
Same here in Norway.
Sweden has entered the chat and agrees!
I clean my mushrooms and would never bother to keep one with signs of worms.
Funnel chanterelle, aka yellowfoot is also an awesome mushroom to dry and use to flavor food.
There are many reasons why this can't happen. For the Boston area of the US, there won't be any wild forrested areas near her. I'm talking a two to three hour drive. The other issue is that most of the US land is under private ownership, and you cannot set foot on that property. The government owned land [State or Federal Parks] are heavily used, and hopes of foraging for anything are low. The density of people is unimaginable for me. The entire eastern seaboard of the US is highly populated from the border of Maine, to the Carolinas. Try googling a night time map for the US. The bright streak on the eastern seaboard, Massachusets is at the top of that streak.
Now looking at Latitudes, which affect the weather and overal growing capabilities. Boston is much farther south, than either of these two cities, which will change the nature of what can grow in the areas she could reach. I've never heard mushroom enthusiasts in the US, foraging for Porcinis. Morels are the gourmet mushroom folks forage, and a variety of other fungii.
Yep, same thing here.
@@Objective-Observer uhh there's LOTS of public land to forage and do various things in the US, especially where I'm at out West.
Here in Latvia, where we have a huge berry and mushroom foraging culture, having to clean and deworm them afterward goes without saying. :) And of course, porcini are still _the_ biggest treasure, though chanterelles are great too.
My mom clean them, but she usually just leave the wormy ones in the forest.... at least those visibly wormy, if the worms are tiny, we probably ate some of them XD
@@krankarvolund7771 Same! :D Looking at how much time the cleaning and sorting takes, I'm convinced it's 50% cooking and (at least) 50% meditative activity. :)
@@Bannedforfun Yeah she absolutely do it for the stroll in the forest XD
I am in Austria, wormy ones we leave in the forest too, we partly clean them in the forest, and few worms for us are not big deal. Some years mushrooms are beautiful, some are bad…so, lets say that we see worms as proteins :D
Yes chanterelles are also my my favourites next to porcini. I grew up in Austria and we forage a lot.
I have found a few wild porcinis but they have all been full of worms. I am lucky to get dried ones at my local farmer's market that are clean and worm free.
Last year I was able to find lots of fresh wild porcini where I live. There was not a single worm among them.
This was so helpful and elucidating! I made a stellar cream of mushroom soup over the holidays with all manner of fresh and dried shrooms, and the flavor was unparalleled, BUT there was a small amount of grit, which was absolutely demoralizing. I was stumped, because I must have rinsed, soaked, and scrubbed the reconstituted mushrooms four or five times, but as you've pointed out, some mushrooms simply will not let go of their grit.
That's why my default dried mushroom is shiitakes-they're the most affordable, and because they're cultivated, they're usually extremely clean and require minimal processing. They do have that distinctive shiitake funk, but they also have the underlying woodsiness of boletus varieties that helps fresh mushrooms in the same dish "respond to the call of the wild," as Nigella Lawson says. And, of course, they're chock full of glutamates.
I'm with you on the shiitakes. They have their own dry storage container in my pantry, but I've never really thought about mixing East and West when it comes to their use. So, is what you're saying is that you would combine shiitakes and fresh mushrooms (I'm assuming button?) to achieve a close approximation to the flavor of boletus or is it more to improve the flavor profile in general? Either way it sounds interesting.
@@wayneparks Yup, I think I've made risotto before using dried shiitakes and fresh cremini mushrooms, not necessarily to approximate the flavor of porcinis but to achieve the high level of umami they provide. I think shiitakes can have a place in dishes with traditionally European flavor profiles, as their musk is certainly no more distinct and penetrating that that of truffles, just different. They're distinct enough from boletus varieties to not be a direct substitute, but they do provide glutamates, earthy mushroominess, and meaty dried mushroom texture (which I like); this combined with their ease of use and affordable price makes them my go-to dried mushroom of choice.
@@v0zbox That's very insightful. I just might give this a shot. Thanks for the idea! 🙂
BRAVA, THANK YOU! The comparisons were perfect! I don't like bugs in my food, either. I'm also a texture-phobe, which is why I could never enjoy dried mushrooms.
Thanks for a very nice video of the question about dried mushrooms 👍
I'm going to make a stuffed mushroom recipe with porcini in the stuffing, and I was looking for a vid on porcini worms to reassure me that they are harmless. Despite acknowledging your own psychological aversion, this helped. That and knowing that the recipe calls for cooking the strained mushrooms in the porcini liquid until it entirely evaporates. Whatever bugs that are there will be cooked to death.
Great video, you make some excellent points that I hadn't considered before.
It would be interesting to see what fungus among us says about their labeling. You should email them for an explanation.
I found out the hard way that dried mushrooms do not rehydrate well when I dehydrated some baby Bella mushrooms a while ago. So I ground them into a powder. The powder is so wonderful!
I might be from another planet, but where I come from, people can pick up their own mushroom(no regulations on where, how much and what type), you need to learn about edible/toxic ones, but... when you dry mushrooms at home(not industrial speeded up procedure), all warms will crawl out during the process. We would often choose mushrooms with worms for drying, where there is enough "meat" left on the mushroom, to save them. Healthy ones are used straight away, or pickled. I used to dry mushrooms around a fire on old newspapers and the warms would be left dry on a paper after. When you have good, clean dry mushrooms, you can grind them, to create a sort of spice. Gives all the flavour and none of the texture.
Also, a quick question, what is the difference with mushroom warms and fish worms for you? I recall one of your old videos, when you just cooked the fish with those(monkfish i think).
I do NOT like to eat worms, just the thought of it... Luckily I live at the countryside up north in Sweden, having a forrest filled with funnel chatarelles and a sandy area with pines on one side of our village where I pick porcini...a LOT of porcini. With the amounts of thoose mushroms I can pick the best ones and still dry enough to feed the whole family with a mushrom risotto/sause/pie and so on every week...I feel blessed!
With ceps one have to soak them properly, as you say for at least 30 minutes/boil them for 15-20 min though they can give you a stomach ache if you are sensitive, not poisonous but hard to digest. Love your channel!
Helen, thank you for mentioning Adam's video! I watched all of his videos as they are an excellent guide for a mushroom hunter like myself.
The Mono Lake Paiutes (a Native American tribe living in Eastern California, near the Nevada border) ate these sorts of larvae just as we eat tapioca pudding.
Apparently it's a very nutritious dish.
The larvae found in Mono Lake are similar to the ones inside porcini mushrooms.
Blessing to all dry mushrooms I must say. Porcinis/Ceps in my own pantry are from Balkan, like Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - never faced that problem with worms and dirty bits. BUT, because I´m always freaking out with "Stuff", there are more than 18 other dried wild mushrooms in a jars in pantry and +10 cultivated ones... Even one friend of mine as professional "wild mushroom hunter" asks me every year, if I have any "special" request to have for that year... I dry quite a bit myself also - It is wonderful world of flavours in Risotto, Pasta, Stew, Steak, Fish, Stuffings, Fillings, Salads, Component in Bento, Wok, al Forno, Pies, Baking, selfmade seasoning Salt, Marinade etc. Versatile to use many, many ways...
I was bought porcini powder as a Christmas gift, but haven’t had much excuse for using it. I wonder if it might be an effective route to imparting the same aroma another way.
Powdered dried yellowfoot (or any cratherellus mushroom) is also a good source for intense aroma. Mushroom powder is a great thickener for gravy.
There's a cooks' illustrated recipe for mushroom soup which uses dried powdered mushrooms as part of the flavor base for the soup.
Do you ever throw away the first rince water, or double rince the dried mushrooms? When I get clean dried mushrooms, I'll clean/rince them sometimes and reuse the mushrooms for a soup so you can't notice the very small grit / worms leftover. I was just going to say that the first recipe looked like Kasha! Would love to see a Kasha recipe on here!
This is why I go out into the woods and find my own mushrooms. I clean them before dehydrating, then I'm all set. A few stray worms may fall into the bottom of the dehydrator. One of the best things I like to do is grind the dried porcini, especially the sponge. That stuff not only flavors it thickens soup or gravy like it's a miracle.
I forage for porcini mushrooms in the late summer every year in Colorado (along with Oregon, California, and Washington), it is my second favorite mushroom next to Morels, which I also find in Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington. I have never seen a worm or larvae in any of the Porcinis I have foraged. I love to use them fresh, but I always find more than I can eat fresh, so I dehydrate them. I always use rehydrated mushrooms in my dishes. I am sorry you find worms in yours, but it is actually unusual for Porcinis from Italy, and from the ones I find in Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington to contain worms.
Saya punya pertanyaan sir, untuk memasak boletes mushroom yang segar apa harus di rebus dulu beberapa menit sebelum kita mengolahnya menjadi olahan seperti yang kita ingin ? Saya dari Indonesia dan ada banyak tumbuh jamur boletus tapi banyak yang beranggapan itu mushroom beracun sehingga mereka tidak berani mengolah dan di biarkan begitu saja, setelah saya melihat di negara eropa itu jamur mahal saya berfikir setiap dapat mushroom boletus ingin mengolah tapi saya tidak tau step by step pengolahan, terima kasih semoga anda mau merespon pertanyaan saya 🙏🙏🙏, salam sehat dari Indonesia 🤲
I collect mine outside my house. Check them myself. Eat them fresh. Then I dry the surplus. With a strong mixer you can make a porcini flower that makes almost anything taste better. Porcini are a magic wand for savory meals. Braises, rice, sauces, soups etc. Just about anything but desserts. Listen to auntie Helen, she knows what she's talking about.
Porcini are great but one commenter mentioned morels which I like even better. Fresh ones show up here in Northern California in the Spring and cleaning them is a major pain--I give them a soak and take it from there, but I'm probably not getting rid of all the grit and possible creatures. Dried morels are a reasonable substitute if you can find them.
Interesting video, thank you. My wife and I love fresh porcini mushrooms - I would forage for them. If I remember correctly: We all consume about 2Kg of bugs/per year - they are in grains, dried fruit and beverages like chocolate etc., I love chocolate. The worst I can remember was eating Cod and chips - the Cod had a, still alive after deep frying, large and cut parasitical moving worm in its meat! :)
I learn so much from you Helen. I never knew this about dried porcini mushrooms. Thank you.
I pick wild porcini mushrooms where I live. I clean them carefully slicing off the bits of the base that were in the dirt, and thoroughly wiping away dirt, dust, debris.
I dehydrate them myself. And then I freeze them in airtight container as the dehydration process may not destroy any little bug eggs that may have been hidden within pores or anything.
The problem with eggs hatching would be that the larvae would bring moisture back into the porcinis and they can go bad.
So I’m now wondering why you have worms AND perfectly dehydrated mushrooms. Would there be a pesticide process used with commercially dried mushrooms?
Never had worm issues. The worms could be larvae that hatched from the eggs after dehydrating but then why is it all dry?
I’d personally be wary about commercially sold dry porcinis. I could be wrong.
Mushroom soup is my favorite I was born in Russia and porcini mushrooms were widely available There’re variants in recipes but I never heard of anyone disposing the mushrooms Most soak them in cold water overnight then drain and filter the liquid and then clean and cut the mushrooms But that thing about the worms got me thinking so thank you for the info
Thanks so much for your explanations. Your a really smart teacher ❤️👏🏻
So excited for those upcoming videos, that risotto looks incredible!
We clean the mushrooms we pick before eating them, that goes without saying, but we also don't pick mushrooms if they are too old or wormey. Cleaning like 5 kilogramms of porcini takes a whole afternoon and usually we just call the whole family to help and dry all the mushrooms we can't eat so they don't spoil. Really don't even notice the bit of dirt, there is barely any on it anyways after cleaning them.
I'm glad we're still in a day and age where eating bugs is not "the new trend".
I don’t really know if I want to enter into this but…as a mycologist of god knows, forty years I suppose, I have met many a maggot riddled mushroom. And I have rejected the obvious rotten specimens. I mean you would not believe how many times someone has asked me “is this edible” and I’ve had to say “do you eat rotten vegetables?” That said, a mildly worm holed porcini has never stopped me. And everyone has survived as well as marveled at my meals. It’s protein folks, and who knows, perhaps it’s the secret to my risotto Milanese.
Lastly, porcini is graded on an alphabetical scale, which I am too tired at midnight to explain. Just realize you can get grade A etc. the grading will be based on the wholeness of the mushroom. Nice clean dried full slices on one end…..and mushroom crumbles on the other. As well the higher grades will have no or at least little worm damage. But, of course the price changes with the grade. I have been lucky and when not harvesting fresh porcini I have purchased beautiful ones from….Spain!
I hardly cook but I love watching ur videos!! Love how you speak too!
The drying method is the most important factor in the flavour of dried mushrooms, those from america look like theyve been freezedried. I never heard porcini taste different in other areas, i couldnt imagine why, because they have the same compounds. I dry porcini for 10 hours on 45 degrees celsius, then they develop the most umami. I know some big factories dry at 80 degrees celsius, i tried that myself and youll end up witch a much smaller product in the end with less flavour.
This was fun and informative. I've never carred for the texture of dried mushrooms after rehydration. Didn't know I was just after the , well I'll call it the mushroom "liquor". Ok maybe not correct but what the heck 😁👍. Anyway looking forward to the next couple of vids you showed us using porcini. Have a great day 🌤 🍄.
Maybe a blender would help in separating out the dirt? It would also extract more flavor and leave the protein in the food.
After blending, let the dirt settle to the bottom.
I haven't tried this yet, but it seems promising.
You always such amazing information. I love watching your videos and adding amazing information to my knowledge base.
Interesting. I love Mushrooms and use them often in cooking.
Thank you as always for your information and well thought posts. I hope you are doing ok in these trying times.
thank you this information is so valuable! Helen you are the best!
This is another reason I throw all my dried mushrooms in my coffee grinder & blitz them into a fine powder. You can then add the powder to any dish you wish for that “umami bomb” just like msg . You can add it to water to make a liquid or just add it directly to whatever liquidy sauce or dish you’re making. Try it, you’ll love it.
I'm from Poland and foraging for mashrooms is very common hobby here. My family goes on at least one big trip a year to gather different types of mashrooms. Last year we had three trips and together around 10 buckets (this 15l/4 gallons ones) of mashroom. Also my mother would kill me if i ever dared to throw away porcini, we don't spend so much time cleaning and sorting everything by hand to just get rid of this later on.
Herzliche Grüße aus Österreich!
Greetings from Austria!
👍 Danke fürs Hochladen!
👍 Thanks for uploading!
👍 Very good and beautiful, thank you!
👍 Sehr gut und schön, danke
Thanks for sharing, I think I'll just stick to fresh mushrooms. Stay well and safe.
drying temperature affects taste, color and aroma too
3:55 as a fellow bug disliker, I can totally understand
Your farro mushroom risotto is the best! I sometimes use other dried mushrooms, but add porcini powder for flavor. Works well. Maybe not as delicious, but pretty close.
"Those annoying wine people"! I had to stop the video right there and comment. Love that. :D
I was grossed out by the thought of worms in the mushrooms. I had no idea! I wish I hadn't heard this. I'm wondering if kosher dried mushrooms would be worm-free as worms are not kosher. Perhaps that's a way of not getting wormy mushrooms. (Perhaps I should clarify that in order to have kosher certification, the manufacturing is tightly regulated, supervised, and checked by rabbis trained very specifically in kashrut. If they see anything unkosher, the product will not be certified as kosher. Therefore, any product with kosher certification has been checked and there are no worms. Especially if the certification comes from highly respected certifiers like OU, Kof-K, Circle-K, etc.)
You cannot regulate the growth of porcinis. They can only be found in the wild, they need dirt, their mycelium requires a symbiotic relationship with the trees they grow under so a rabbi can do whatever they want but the porcini is growing in the wild where there are bugs. And worms. I’d say the worm ridden ones are the really large porcinis, allowed to grow to 1-2kg.
Helen...I live aboard a sailboat and do not use papertowels/papercoffeefilters/etc. I have seen reusable coffee filters of cloth and do have a nut milk bag...would you recommend using those to strain dried mushrooms? Thanks for your reply .
Im happy to send you some freshly dried porcini picked today with no worms, from uk have plenty
WOW! i didnt know all this!
im not able to get dried mushrooms where i am but i eat fresh mushrooms EVERYDAY!!!
This is VERY INTERESTING!
Thank You 🏆🎯❤🌹
So many grow around where I live I can leave bad/wormy ones and look for perfect ones, they grow like crazy here, im pretty lucky
Incredibly informative and helpful video - thank you! I'm looking forward to the next videos in which you use the dried mushrooms
I wish you talked about how to clean a fresh mushroom from worms!
I wonder if it would be worthy drying the mushrooms ourselves, after cleaning them. Also, if plain white or brown mushrooms would taste good. A home dehydrator isn't expensive or we might even be able to use our ovens at the lowest setting, maybe?
What do you think of dried shiitake ? i bought some at an asian market and it's great, th soaking juice is very aromatic. fresh shiitake are delicious too with a nutty flavour.
I use both fresh shiitake and porcini, but they are very different aroma wise.
Short pasta with dried mushrooms and canned tuna is amazing
Thank you!! New video :)
Do you have the recipe for what you were making in the video?
Oof I hate grit too!! I love clam chowder but I haaattee grit from sand! I've only had one batch that isn't with grit.
Thank you very much for very very useful video. I thought I know things about dry mushrooms. Now I finally know something.
I'm wondering if a waterpik would really get in those crevices and get it clean?
I live near Boston -- what market do frequent to buy the porcini? I would love to take a little field trip. any other items I should buy when there? I live in seacoast NH. so glad to have discovered you!
Great video. Though a very different attitude about worms compared to your fish video.
Yep, I was also confused.
Wow your channel is amazing! Especially for me as becoming a cook right now :) Why u don't wash ur mushrooms. In the soaking liquid?
Enjoyed watching this! 👍
Phew, I am happy my Porcini are only ever picked by myself, and I never need to find them in stores
I read ‘The Secret life of Fungi’ by Aliya Whitley and learnt that pretty much all mushrooms are full of worms and maggots, it was a horrible revelation but now I just chow down and try not to think about it. I think the idea of rinsing is great but not really an option with fresh mushrooms…
Excellent explanation. Thanks
Immensely informative, as always Helen and thank you, but I'll be honest this ingredient is a little pricey and the prices vary widely, and I humbly ask for a little guidance when it comes to selecting and buying them. Do you find that paying higher prices correlates with higher quality? Being in Portugal, I can get these delivered via Amazon Spain for between 66,44 €/kg (sold as a 450g (1lb) bag of dried porcini arrowheads for €29.90 ($32.92USD)), and 182,11 €/kg (sold as a 40g package of 7 whole dried porcini mushrooms for 50,99€ ($56.13USD)). I'll look over on Amazon Italy for better prices as I think this ingredient may have a wider market there, but is this the range of prices that you're seeing for these sold in the United States? Will 1lb of dried porcini mushroom pieces be enough for the recipes in these upcoming videos?
I don't find that there is a big correlation between the price and the quality. A student of mine just brought me amazing dry porcini that she gets from a company on Cape Cod. Look in the description below the video. I believe they ship internationally. Unfortunately, it happened after I finished editing the video, so I didn't mention it in the video.
Wow. One of the cooking channels I watch a lot gave a shout out to one of the foraging channels I watch alot.
Thanks for the informative video. Would using dried mushrooms twice be viable (like a tea bag) or is the effort to payoff ratio too low?
If you aren't planning to use the mushrooms, you could soak them twice, but the second time around, the liquid won't be nearly as potent, so I usually don't bother.
Try find kosher ones, a reliable Kosher symbol on the product means a strict inspection for bugs among other things.
Is this the same for shiitake mushrooms?
Is it just the porcini or do the rest have worms as well?
So... Worm and dirt soup is ok as long as it's not chunky?
Are the worms specific to porcini or are all dried mushrooms prone to have them? Also, why then don't fresh mushrooms have worms as well?
Forager here: All kinds of mushrooms will get worms when they have grown large and are on the verge of decay. I guess that is when porcini for drying are harvested - bigger = more $. Fresh fungi are harvested before they get to this stage.
most of the mushrooms you get fresh are cultivated, not wild. most wild mushrooms can have pests.
Thanks for this video.
Wow. This comes too late. I ate every mushroom on my lot in Alaska with no problems. Then unfortunately ate some mushrooms prepared at a Fungus Festival and... Yep, ended up eating some of these worms!!! Yuck!!! Now... How to deal with the stomach aches?!
I have nothing against worms and "creepy-crawly things" as long as they are out-of-doors and NO WHERE near my food.
@@SimonWoodburyForget Dear Simon,
Since you say it does, I take you at your word that your fruit has worms on it; MY fruit has no worms.
That’s too bad. I’ve been picking and drying porcini mushrooms for 30 years, here in Poland. Before drying I clean them when they’re fresh with damp and dry paper towels, scrub with a knife if necessary. Residual sand never was a problem. As for the worms, well, if they have 5-10 wormholes, I keep the mushrooms coz the worms abandon them during drying, at least for the most part. Never seen any during cooking. Oh and age well too when stored in jars. My oldest where 11 years. Always keep 10-25 liters. Never ever have I discarded any neither before or whilst cooking. Cheers.
I have never encountered wormy dried porcini (in the UK).
Organic mushrooms is like gluten free ice cream... Technically true and generally goes without saying, but marketing gonna market.
Pretty sure that in technical terms (in the US) it just means no inorganic pesticides or fertilizer has been used on the land the produce comes from for at least 10 years. This probably applies to most forest settings.
Are porcinis only found in the wild, never cultivated in clean conditions like shiitake or cremini mushrooms?
yes only in the wild
I'm lucky my mom she picking them from the forest and sure they are clean and without worms
I love this. I have been using the liquid, even saving and freezing it for years to use in sauces. Soups etc. Thought i was unusual and creative. Guess not! Haha
So useful. Thanks!
I washed dried porcinis 20 times but still can’t get rid of the sand. Threw them away.
Does this mean fresh mushrooms have worms too, or do they only come during drying process??
Yes, fresh wild porcini can have worms.
Great stuff, thanks👍
have you ever considered growing your own? You can get a kit on amazon and pop it in a dark closet and in a few weeks you'll have your own pestfree mushrooms.
that's not for porcini. porcini only grow in the wild
You can't grow porcini
Oysters are perfect for this, other mushrooms such as porcinis are sadly not.