Is it possible to dry boletus for the winter: rules for harvesting (drying) mushrooms at home

Is it possible to dry boletus mushrooms?

Butterflies are edible mushrooms with an oily, slippery skin on a cap 4–10 cm in diameter. They are popular among mushroom pickers due to their wide distribution, pleasant rich taste and beneficial properties. They rarely grow alone, most often uniting in small clearings into numerous colonies. More than 40 species of these mushrooms can be divided into three groups:

1. Late - grow in pine and young deciduous forests in the central zone. Their collection continues until mid-December.

2. Granular - common in pine forests on limestone, slightly acidic soils.

3. Larch - found infrequently, mainly in deciduous forests.
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Important!
For safety reasons, if there is the slightest doubt about the type and quality of the mushroom, its use should be abandoned. Butter can be dried for the winter. This is the most gentle and ancient way of preparing them. With this processing, they do not lose useful components: resinous and mineral substances, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, amino acids, trace elements, polysaccharides, vitamins B and D. Thanks to this richness of composition, they have valuable properties:

• due to their low calorie content, they can be used in dietary and therapeutic menus;
• stimulate the immune system;
• can be used in the diet of gout patients, eliminating excess uric acid in the body;
• help reduce headaches;
• take part in cell regeneration;
• normalize hormonal levels and increase hemoglobin in the blood;
• stabilize the functioning of the nervous system;
• help reduce cholesterol;
• have a positive effect on potency.

Important! People with diseases of the digestive tract should eat butternuts, including dried ones, in a limited manner. It is contraindicated for children under three years of age to introduce any mushrooms into their diet.

Butter fried with potatoes

If you are lucky enough to find or purchase boletus mushrooms, be sure to fry them with potatoes. We assure you: such a seemingly simple dish will amaze even gourmets. Therefore, we advise you to immediately prepare a large frying pan.

The range of products is quite small. You will need:

• boletus - 500 g;
• potatoes - 700 g;
• onions - 200 g (two large heads);
• vegetable oil - 100 ml;
• butter - 50 g;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• salt, pepper, seasonings - to taste.

These are the main ingredients that are needed for a delicious meal. However, there is one more secret product that will make the dish unforgettable. Would you like to try this option? Then stock up on another 100 g of sour cream.

How to dry boletus mushrooms at home

Butterflies are very common mushrooms. Having discovered their mycelium, it is not difficult to collect a good harvest from a small clearing. It is recommended to dry these mushrooms, adhering to the following rules:

• use fresh, strong, recently harvested, young specimens;
• boletus absorbs moisture well, so there is no need to wash them, otherwise the drying process will take much longer;
• prepared mushrooms must be dried immediately, this will preserve their color and taste;
• Unlike other harvesting methods, the sticky film from their surface does not need to be removed before drying.

To dry the butter, prepare it as follows:

1. Clean the oily caps from adhering forest debris, leaves, and twigs. This is best done in the forest, immediately after collecting them. Then, at home, remove any remaining dirt with your hands or a slightly damp sponge.
2. Sorted. Overripe, wormy, soft specimens are not suitable for drying.
3. The selected batch is divided by size. Small boletus can be dried whole, large ones can be cut into pieces before drying, and often the stem is cut off.

Advice! Before drying butternuts, they are cut into equal slices, quarters or thin slices, about 1 cm thick, to preserve the attractive appearance of the finished product.

The choice of drying method depends on the preferences and capabilities of the mushroom picker. At home, boletus can be dried in the oven, microwave, convection oven, dryer, oven, on a thread, on trays in the air. Dried, they become compact and take up little space, while retaining all their properties. From 10 kg of raw butter, 1 kg of dried butter is obtained. The readiness of the dried oil can is checked by breaking it.

Attention! Properly dried boletus is elastic and does not break, has a delicate aroma, gray or light brown color. Overdried ones are fragile and crumble.

Attention! Oilseeds absorb harmful substances contained in the environment. Therefore, they should be collected in environmentally friendly places.

How to prepare boletus for drying

First, I carefully sort through the mushrooms - throw away the wormy ones, sort them by size. Next, I clean them of dirt, while trying not to damage the thin sticky skin on the cap. I usually do this with a slightly damp sponge or cloth.

Attention! When cleaning, oils should not be soaked in water, otherwise they will swell and become unsuitable for drying.

How to dry boletus in the oven

Drying boletus in the oven of a gas stove is an easy and quick way, feasible even in a city apartment. The process will take no more than 5 hours, and it is performed in the following sequence:

1. Prepare baking sheets by lining them with foil or baking paper.
2. Place peeled and chopped butternuts on a baking sheet in one layer and place them in the oven.
3. At a temperature of no more than 50 degrees, they are kept in the oven for 1.5 - 2 hours, slightly drying.
4. Raise the temperature to 70 degrees and continue to dry the butter for another 30 - 60 minutes.
5. Dry completely, lowering the temperature to 50 degrees.
6. Check readiness by breaking a mushroom slice.

Advice! To prevent moisture condensation on dried mushrooms, do not close the oven door tightly during drying, allowing air circulation. To ensure uniform drying, the mushrooms are periodically turned over and the baking sheets are rearranged.

In the oven

Do not expose butter to hot air at temperatures above +70 °C, as this will lose most of the beneficial properties of the product. In addition, in such conditions, butter can burn.

Drying algorithm

1. Place the prepared and peeled mushrooms on a baking sheet, having previously covered it with two layers of parchment. Make sure that the pieces do not touch each other, otherwise they will stick together.
2. Preheat the oven to +45 ... +50 °C and dry the butter on its upper level for 5 hours.
3. Leave the door open so that moisture does not remain trapped in the oven, but is constantly released if your stove is not equipped with a ventilation system.
4. As soon as the mushrooms wrinkle and decrease slightly in size, move them lower and raise the temperature to +70 °C.
5. After two hours, lower the tray to the lowest level and lower the temperature to +50 °C.
6. Keep the butter in this mode until they are cooked. Cool the mushrooms regularly between all drying stages. The more often you do this, the better their appearance will be.

Drying oil in an electric oven

Modern electric ovens can operate in convection mode, providing forced ventilation and creating optimal drying conditions. If there is no such function, then the oven door is also kept ajar to evaporate the liquid.

Advice! If the butter is placed not on baking sheets, but on racks or strung on skewers, then there is no need to turn them over when drying.

In an electric oven, butter can be dried according to the following scheme:

1. In convection mode - at a temperature of 40 - 50 degrees they are dried for about 3 hours to remove most of the moisture.
2. Having raised the temperature to 70 degrees, they are kept for another 1 - 1.5 hours.
3. Dry until ready, lowering the temperature to 45 - 50 degrees.

Important! When drying in an electric or gas oven, the temperature is adjusted smoothly, avoiding sudden jumps. Its increase above 70 degrees leads to overcooking of proteins and darkening of mushrooms.

Drying in an electric oven

My friend, the owner of an electric oven, dries the butter in the following way: she wilts the mushrooms at a temperature of 45-50°C, then raises it to 70°C, keeps it in this mode for 3-4 hours, and then lowers the temperature again to 50° C and cooks the mushrooms until fully cooked. Naturally, all this time the mushroom mass must be carefully mixed.

How to dry boletus for the winter over the stove in the dryer

To dry over an electric or gas stove, you can use a universal dryer. Its dimensions correspond to the dimensions of most domestically produced slabs. This dryer can accommodate a batch weighing up to 5 kg. The device is designed in such a way that its use does not interfere with normal food preparation.

Dry the boletus in the dryer in the following sequence:

1. Install the device above the stove.
2. Mushrooms are prepared and chopped.
3. Lay them out on the tiers of the dryer in one layer at a distance of 2 - 3 mm from each other.
4. Periodically, as the butter dries, turn it over.
5. Drying is a long process, taking, depending on the frequency and time of use of the stove, about a week.
6. The readiness of dried butter is checked by breaking a piece.

Advice! You can make a stove dryer yourself from a metal shoe rack. To do this, remove its lower tier by carefully unscrewing the bolts, and lay the mesh on the upper tiers.

Recipe 8: baked champignons in the oven whole with cheese and filling

1. Bacon – 100g.
2. Champignons – 250g.
3. Onion – 1 onion
4. Cheese – 150g.
5. Butter – 2 tbsp.
6. Rosemary – 1-2 sprigs for scent

• We cut the mushrooms as follows: caps in one direction, legs in the other.
• Finely chop the onion, bacon and mushroom legs with a sharp kitchen knife.
• Fry the onion in a frying pan with butter for about 3-5 minutes until transparent. At the end of the specified time, add the chopped mushroom stems and fry for another 5-7 minutes.
• In a separate frying pan, fry the bacon until dry, remove any liquid lard that will be released. After frying, add to the onion.
• Prepare a baking sheet, preheat the oven to 200 degrees, fill the caps with the prepared filling, bake for about 15-20 minutes.

I have been making this appetizer for several years now for almost every holiday. The simplicity of preparing champignons with cheese in the oven and the availability of ingredients are captivating. In addition, mushrooms in this design have their own peculiarity: their taste changes after cooling. When hot, they can be served as an independent dish, and when cold they turn into an excellent snack.

If the presence of strong alcoholic drinks is planned on the New Year's table, then I guarantee that champignons with cheese will be one of the first to be sorted out. Can be made ahead, covered with cling film and stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the Apricot jam recipe, apricot jam preparation for the winter on the website

Champignons - 450 g. Hard cheese - 100 g. Garlic - 3 cloves. Mayonnaise - 3 tbsp. Butter - 20 g. Utensils and utensils: grater, knife, baking dish, plate.

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Rinse the champignons. Cut the mushroom stems as close to the cap as possible. Place the mushrooms in a baking dish. It is necessary to spread it more densely, since during baking the mushrooms will lose a significant part of the water they contain and decrease in size.

Place a small piece of butter in each cap (it will make the mushrooms more tender). Make the mushroom filling.

To do this, grate the cheese on a fine grater, mix with crushed garlic and mayonnaise. Mayonnaise serves as a thickening agent for the filling - with it, the mushrooms will be stuffed more densely and, therefore, tastier. But if champignons with cheese are cooked in the oven at the height of the diet, then mayonnaise and butter can be omitted.

That's it, the appetizer is ready. You can eat it either hot or cold. I usually wait until it cools down and only then serve it - I like the taste of cold champignons baked with cheese in the oven better.

Perhaps this is where you can go wild, because thanks to the good compatibility of champignons with other products, the filling that is used to stuff these mushrooms can vary and surprise you.

This could be onions, turkey, chicken, eggplant, minced meat, rice, ham, bacon, seafood, crab sticks, eggs, mashed potatoes, porridge, smoked meats, and so on. Ingredients needed to prepare baked stuffed champignons:

• 8-10 pcs. - Champignon;
• 1 PC. - onion;
• 80 gr. – ham;
• 20 gr. – mustard;
• 3 cloves – garlic;
• 1-2 pcs. – zucchini;
• 1 bunch – parsley;
• 80-90 gr. - hard cheese;
• 2 tablespoons - dry wine (white);
• 2 tablespoons – olive oil;
• 2.5 tablespoons – sunflower oil;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Step-by-step cooking recipe:

1. Wash and dry the mushrooms.
2. Use a knife to remove the mushroom stems.
3. Grind garlic, parsley. Mix and add olive oil with salt and pepper.
4. Rub the mushroom caps with the resulting mixture.
5. Cut the ham into cubes.
6. Chop the previously removed champignon legs, onion and zucchini.
7. Mix chopped mushroom stems with onions, add white wine and place in a frying pan. Fry lightly until all the moisture has evaporated.
8. Add the zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes.
9. Next, without removing from the stove, add ham cubes, mustard, and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
10. Season with chopped parsley and garlic.
11. Stuff the champignon caps with the resulting filling.
12. Grease a baking sheet, arrange the mushrooms with their caps down and a short distance from each other. Grate hard cheese on top.
13. Place in the oven. Bake at 200°C for 17 minutes.
14. Take out the resulting baked mushrooms.

How to dry boletus on a thread

Drying boletus for the winter on a thread or fishing line is a familiar and proven method that does not require special equipment. This drying process may take up to three weeks. Prepared mushrooms are strung on a thread using a needle. Small specimens are pierced in the middle of the cap, large ones are pre-cut into pieces. To prevent rotting and rotting of mushroom slices, they are placed at a short distance from each other. As they dry, they are moved. The resulting garlands, covered with gauze, can be hung:

• outdoors, in the sun or in the shade, excluding exposure to moisture;
• in a ventilated area;
• in the kitchen above the stove.

Advice! To save space, make it easier to attach garlands and, if necessary, quickly remove them indoors, you can dry mushrooms by building a small structure according to the diagram shown in the figure.

Outdoors

Drying mushrooms in the fresh air is an old way of preparing mushrooms for the winter. String them on a thick thread and hang them on the balcony, preferably in the sun. You can also simply place them on a baking sheet or any flat surface lined with parchment paper. It is important that the product is not exposed to dust from the street. Be sure to bring the mushrooms indoors at night. When leaving them outside, constantly monitor the weather: if it rains, it will wet the mushrooms, and everything will have to be repeated all over again.

You can dry boletus at home. Place the pieces a short distance apart on a baking sheet or flat plate and stir them regularly. This method will take about a week. You can speed it up by placing mushrooms on a radiator or above the stove.

How to dry boletus at home in an oven

At home, butter can be dried in an oven. They are split into sieve, plywood sheets or trays lined with straw and placed in a cooling oven. If the moisture starts to foam, the oven temperature is too high. In this case, remove the baking sheets and wait until the oven cools down. The optimal temperature for drying is 60 degrees: at a higher temperature, the mushrooms will burn, at a lower temperature, they will sour.

This drying is a cyclical process. Mushrooms are placed in the oven each time before finishing the fire. They will dry in at least 4 days, depending on the frequency of kindling.

Storage and use of dried boletus

The main condition that will ensure the preservation of mushrooms for 24 months or more is the complete absence of dampness. Otherwise, mold may develop in the mushrooms, which will completely negate all your efforts - you will have to throw away the preparations.

• Glass jars with tight-fitting nylon or metal lids.
• Ceramic containers.
• Canvas bags.
• Paper bags.

You can leave the mushrooms in “garlands” if there is a suitable place to hang them. Some people prefer to put dried mushrooms in plastic bags and deep freeze them. You can do this, but then it’s better to eat them within 1 year.

Application

Since ancient times, mushrooms have been considered a useful food additive. Our ancestors always dried them for the winter, considering them a worthy replacement for such a high-protein product as meat. They can be used in cooking to prepare many dishes.

• Soups and broths.
• Second courses.
• Salads.
• Porridge, vegetable side dishes.
• Sauces.
• Meat.
• Casseroles.
• Fish.

Boletus mushroom powder can be added to almost any savory dish, giving it a unique taste and aroma. To restore dried mushrooms, for example for salads, they will first need to be processed. Place the pieces in a deep bowl, fill with hot water (not boiling water) and leave to swell for 20-30 minutes. After this, the product can be used in the same way as fresh mushrooms.

Next How to dry mushrooms How to dry boletus at home: different methods

How to dry boletus mushrooms in the microwave

You can use a microwave oven for drying. In this case, the following sequence of actions is followed:

1. The prepared harvest is laid out on a plate covered with baking paper.
2. Place the dish in the oven.
3. Turn on for 15 minutes. minimum temperature mode.
4. After the timer signal and the microwave has turned off, open its door and ventilate it from moisture for 5 - 10 minutes.
5. Steps 3 and 4 are repeated three to five times until the liquid has completely evaporated.
6. Check readiness by breaking a slice.

The main advantage of this method of drying mushrooms is the short drying time, about 1.5 hours. However, this method is energy-consuming and not suitable for large batches of crops.

Is it necessary to clean boletus for drying: the processing process

Where do you need to start the processing process: do you need to clean the butter for drying?

First you need to sort through the mushrooms collected in the forest: throw away the wormy ones and sort them by size. Next, you need to clean the oil from dirt and grass residues. A simple way: take a kitchen sponge, wet it a little and wipe each mushroom. You can’t soak butternuts before drying, as they instantly begin to absorb water and become heavy. Boletus soaked in water is not suitable for drying.

It must be said that drying boletus mushrooms does not harm the vitamins contained in them. They have an even more pronounced aroma than freshly picked ones. At the same time, the boletus does not lose its taste. A variety of dishes are prepared from them, since boletus is combined with many foods: any type of meat, cheese, cereals, vegetables, fruits and eggs. You can use them to make roasts, sauces, gravies, soups - purees, borscht. Dried boletus is added to a variety of salads as the most delicious ingredient.

How to properly dry boletus in an air fryer

An air grill is a modern universal device in which you can dry butter. For this:

• cover the air fryer grate with baking paper so that small pieces do not spill;
• the boletus is laid out on a wire rack in one layer;
• the grate is placed in the air fryer;
• on the dashboard, set the blowing speed to the maximum value, and the temperature to 70 - 75 degrees;
• The lid is left slightly ajar to allow moist air to escape from the air fryer and the food to dry rather than cook.

Drying time in an air fryer is about 2 - 2.5 hours.

Is it possible to dry boletus?

Fruiting of the described representatives of the mushroom kingdom occurs from May to October. Usually these mushrooms grow en masse, so you can collect a lot of them at one time. And since the shelf life of fresh mushrooms is only 15 hours when stored in the refrigerator, the rest of the harvest can be dried. Butter is perfect for this storage method. Once dried, they retain most of the vitamins and minerals and remain as healthy as the raw product.

You can cook soups from dried mushrooms, after soaking, add them to salads, main courses, and make sauces from them. When dried, the product reduces its size by 5–6 times, while its calorie content increases. This should definitely be taken into account when preparing dishes.

How to dry boletus in an electric dryer

Butter can also be dried in an electric dryer. The principle of its operation is based on the supply of heated air to special pallets. Convective electric dryers evaporate moisture due to the circulation of air flow. Infrared units use radiation that affects the water molecule in the structure of the product.

Drying butter in an electric dryer consists of the following steps:

1. Peeled and chopped mushrooms are laid out tightly in one layer on pallets.
2. The trays are placed in the dryer.
3. Turn on the “Mushrooms” function on the electric dryer. If it is not provided, set the temperature to 60 degrees.
4. Periodically, the pallets are swapped.
5. At the end of the process, dried mushrooms are removed from the pallets.

Drying time in an electric dryer depends on the thickness of the slices and the air humidity in the room. On average, it takes 12 - 20 hours.

You can see how to dry oil in an electric dryer in the video:

Drying chanterelles for the winter

After the preparation stage, they immediately move on to the drying process. You can do this in one of the following ways.

In an electric dryer

Drying time: 10 hours Electric dryers are usually used for fruits and berries, but are also perfect for harvesting mushrooms. The entire cooking process takes on average no more than 10 hours. The electric dryer has several tiers, where chanterelles cleaned of contaminants are spread evenly (in a thin layer).

To speed up the drying process, it is recommended to cut them into several parts. Next, plug in the device and wait until the mushrooms are completely ready. Some electric dryers even have a “mushroom” mode. In this case, the device is turned on and (after putting the raw materials inside) left for 7-8 hours.

If there are no special programs in the electric dryer, the chanterelles are placed inside, and then the device is turned on at 50 degrees and left for 3 hours. Next, the fruits are removed and allowed to lie for several hours indoors or outdoors. After which the mushrooms are put back into the dryer, the device is turned on to 60 degrees and dried until fully cooked.

Another way to check is by weighing (dried chanterelles become 9-10 times lighter than they were raw). Otherwise, the fruits need to be dried.

In the oven

Drying time: 3-4 hours It is very important to monitor the temperature at which the product dries in the oven

Drying mushrooms in the oven consists of the following steps:

1. Place the prepared pieces on a baking sheet, placing foil or baking paper under them. If there are a lot of raw materials, use 2 baking sheets or more.
2. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees and place a baking sheet in it, clamping the door with an oven mitt or towel (so that it is slightly open). This allows steam (liquid) to escape from the fruit and speeds up the drying process.
3. After 1.5-2 hours, the temperature is increased to 60 degrees.
4. After another 1-1.5 hours, the baking sheet is periodically removed from the oven (using a grip) and the mushrooms are turned over. This helps avoid burning and drying out.

The duration of drying depends on several factors - harvesting conditions, the number and size of pieces, age of the fruit, etc. Therefore, everyone determines the readiness of the mushrooms independently (so that they do not crumble and are dry inside after breaking).

In the microwave

Drying time: 1-2 hours

The preparation method is as follows:

1. Place the mushroom pieces in a thin layer on a plate.
2. Place in the microwave to evaporate for 20 minutes (power 180 W).
3. Remove the container and drain the resulting liquid. The microwave door is left open for 5-10 minutes.
4. Place the container with mushrooms in the microwave again and after 20 minutes drain the liquid, then wait 5-10 minutes.
5. Next, the chanterelles are again placed for evaporation, the liquid is drained, and this procedure is repeated several more times in a circle (until the raw material is ready).

Outdoors/sun

Drying time: 7-10 days Drying chanterelles naturally (in the air or in the sun) is carried out in two ways:

String the whole fruits, cleared of dirt, onto a thick thread and hang them in the open air. Mushrooms need to be turned periodically to ensure uniform drying. If the weather is sunny, they will be ready in 7-10 days

At the same time, it is important to protect the raw materials from flies and other insects (for example, using gauze or thin, breathable fabric). Place the mushrooms on any horizontal surface (for example, on a cabinet), covered with paper and wait until they are completely ready, similar to the previous method.

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Drying oil in the sun

Drying boletus in the open air is only possible in hot sunny weather. After preparing them:

• strung on threads or fishing line and hung outside;
• laid out on sieves, baking sheets or sheets of plywood and placed in a sunny place;
• placed on gauze folded in several layers, stretched horizontally on a wooden frame.

Important! Dried oils should not be allowed to come into contact with moisture. It is good to cover them with gauze in one layer - to protect them from insects and dust.

At night, trays or garlands are brought indoors so that the mushrooms do not begin to become saturated with moisture. Drying time depends on weather and placement method. On hot sunny days, boletus hanging on threads will dry in 12 to 30 hours, while on pallets it will take up to 4 days.

Drying methods are oily

Since ancient times, villages have had a special tradition of drying mushrooms, which they try not to break. Mushrooms are dried by placing them on oak boards or a pine tray. The preparations are stored in the open air and in a place where almost no light penetrates. If this is not possible, then dry it in a sunny place, but be sure to cover it with a mesh cloth.

On a thread

The easiest and most common way is to dry the oil on a thread. Take a needle, thread a thread through it and, one by one, thread the boletus onto a cotton thread through the cap. If the mushrooms are large, then you need to cut them into several parts, you will get a kind of beads. The drying process will take about 4 days, but the smell they will create in your kitchen will make you forget about time!

REFERENCE! During the drying period, try not to cook dishes with a strong smell, as they very easily absorb foreign aromas. It is recommended to remove the workpieces to another part of the house during this time.

In the dryer over the stove

To dry butter for the winter over a gas or electric stove, use a multifunctional dryer. It is sized to fit on most modern stoves. The rows of this unit accommodate a batch of mushrooms up to 3-4 kg. When used, the dryer does not interfere with cooking - this is a huge plus for any housewife.

Recipe:

1. Butternuts are cut into slices.
2. Lay out on each tier at a distance of half a centimeter from each slice to prevent gluing.
3. Dry for about six hours.

IMPORTANT : every 40-50 minutes, turn over and change tiers so that the mushroom dries evenly.

In the Russian oven

An oven is suitable for drying butter at home. In this recipe, the mushrooms are spread on plywood sheets or a baking sheet with straw and placed in the oven while it cools. At the initial stage, it is necessary to monitor whether foam appears from moisture - this means that the heat of the oven is still too high. The workpiece is removed and waited for it to cool. The recommended temperature for this is 50-55 degrees, but not lower, as the boletus may begin to deteriorate.

This type of drying requires several cycles. The butter is loaded several times after the furnace is fired. The complete process will take at least 4 days, everything will depend on the frequency of firing the furnace.

In the oven

Drying in the oven occurs due to the movement of a flow of heated air inside. Steam passes through the holes located on the back cover of the unit. Cover the baking sheet with special paper or foil. The boletus is placed on top in one layer.

The drying process takes place in several stages:

1. To begin with, the butter must be dried at 50 degrees for about 2 hours.
2. Next, the temperature is brought to 65 degrees. With it, complete removal of moisture from the product lasts 40 minutes.
3. At the final stage, the heat is reduced to 50 degrees and the product is cooked until cooked.

To ensure uniform drying, the baking sheets with the preparations are changed from time to time and the contents are turned over. To maintain air ventilation, the lid is left slightly open throughout the drying process.

Drying butter in the oven is a lengthy process. Difficulties often arise with maintaining temperature conditions. This method of preparing it in the oven is convenient because it allows you to process a lot of mushrooms in a short time. Everything happens in a flow - taking out the finished baking sheet from above, they put a new one below, and the one that was below, in place of the already finished one.

In an electric dryer

Housewives often ask themselves: is it possible to dry butter in an electric dryer? This is quite simple to do: pre-prepared mushroom slices are distributed on the tray grid (preferably in one layer). It is installed, and the dryer is turned on to the “Mushroom” cooking mode. If the unit is not equipped with this function, then the temperature is set manually to 60 degrees. Turn the butter periodically. On average, drying will take 14 hours, everything will depend on the cutting and moisture content of the raw materials.

In a convection oven

This device has not been used for drying, but this can be easily corrected by adjusting the steam removal. In this method, like the others, the butter is spread on the cooking surface in one layer. It is better to place small mushrooms on special paper, as they can fall into the gap between the bars of the grill.

The temperature is maintained around 75 degrees and the blowing power is set to maximum. It is important not to close the lid tightly, because if the steam is not released, the mushrooms will cook. The whole process will take no more than two hours.

How to cook dried boletus

From dried butter you can prepare:

• soups and broths;
• roasts and stews;
• pilaf, risotto, pasta;
• sauces and gravies;
• filling for pies, pancakes, pizza;
• mushroom croutons.

Mushroom powder is made from dried mushrooms crushed in a blender or mortar and used as a seasoning.

Advice! There are many recipes for dishes made from dried butter. Before cooking, mushrooms are soaked for several hours in water at room temperature. In addition, the dried product can be lightly fried in butter before use to improve its taste and reveal the aroma.

Using dried butter

Proper drying preserves the beneficial properties of mushrooms as much as possible. And dried boletus, after removing the moisture, becomes even more aromatic and develops flavor. The only point is that before use it requires thorough rinsing and then soaking. Only cold water is used. Soaking time is at least 5 hours, it is better to leave it overnight.

Usage options:

• first meal. It makes an amazing broth for soups, cabbage soup, and Lenten pickles. Used for creamy, pureed dishes based on potatoes, pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini;
• main courses, casseroles. First, the soaked mushrooms are boiled, then cooked with potatoes, cereals, and vegetables on the stove or in the oven. The broth is used for other purposes. You can make mushroom spawn;

• hot sauces. Gravy is made only with mushrooms or meat ingredients are added. Butter is ideally combined with white sauces based on cream, sour cream, and milk;
• bakery. After boiling, it is added to pie filling, pizza, and kulebyaki.

Butter can be used as a mushroom seasoning. To do this, the dried product is ground into powder and added to various dishes. This is an excellent base for broth, a replacement for harmful cubes and concentrates.

Storage rules

Store dried boletus in a dry, cool place protected from sunlight for no more than 2 years. To do this, they are laid:

• in glass jars, tightly covered with a lid;
• in paper bags;
• in fabric bags;
• in plywood or cardboard boxes.

Advice! A modern and safe method of storage is in plastic containers under a vacuum lid. This prevents the penetration of moisture and the formation of mold.