You can feel it when you touch them: they’re very delicate vegetables and need to be handled with care. So, what is the best way of keeping mushrooms fresh? Let’s find out right now.
I was recently away for the weekend and when I came back home and peeked in the fridge, I was dismayed to see that the mushrooms I had stored in there had gotten all brown and moist and I had to throw them out. Which is something that I absolutely hate doing. It seems like such a waste. The beautifully textured items get slimy and frankly gross. So I decided to learn the best way to keeping mushrooms fresh so that I don’t waste those beauties again.
Picking the right mushrooms
Before you even get to storing them, you should make sure that your mushrooms are fresh when you buy them. Otherwise, there is not much you can do to help them. Every mushroom looks different, so you can’t really judge them by their color. Some are white, some brown and all of the shades in between. Find out more about mushroom types right here. So, touching them is your best bet.
Make sure that the ‘shrooms have an intact structure and also texture. They should have their caps intact. And also see if there are any shriveled or dried patches on them because that’s a sign that the mushrooms have gone bad. Also make sure they’re not slimy to begin with, when you buy them.
Keeping mushrooms fresh in the fridge
Mushrooms have about 80-90 percent water content, so they should always be damp. And also because of that, keeping them fresh is a challenge and the best place to store them is the refrigerator. If you keep them at room temperature, then they actually keep growing, but they lose their freshness in the process.
When you keep them in the refrigerator (for a week, at most, after that they’re lost to the world), make sure that they have room to breathe. Don’t leave them in airtight containers or in plastic bags – the latter being the mistake that I made, one I will never repeat. Containers and plastic bags lead to condensation which in turn leads to sliminess. And make sure you don’t add even more moisture to them. If you only cook a few, then grab them from the fridge with a dry hand. Which is the other fatal error I made before my weekend away.
And now that you’re just about ready to cook, find out which are some of the mistakes you might be making.
