Submitted by Nicole Marie, Co-Founder of Blue Sky Fungi
Dry Sauté. This is a simple way to properly cook just about any edible mushroom. Slice your cleaned mushrooms as desired and into the empty hot pan they go. Cover with a lid until water boils out and mushrooms are nearly swimming in their own juices.
At this point, remove the lid and let most of the moisture cook out from the pan. When the water is almost gone, add the fat- olive oil, butter, coconut oil, or whatever you like best.
By cooking the water out before adding any oils, we are eliminating the chewy texture that turns some people off to the deliciousness of mushrooms. Coating them in fat before cooking acts as a sealant, trapping that moisture inside. Once oiled, leaving mushrooms in the pan and adding the other ingredients is often the easiest way. Alternately, scraping them into a side dish to add in later is a fine option.
If freezing mushrooms, remove them from the pan, cool and package. Try to get all the
extra air out of your container, as this will prolong shelf life. Freezing is a fabulous way
to store chanterelles, morels, and many other delicious mushrooms when you are lucky
enough to have a bountiful harvest!
There are many reasons why we should be cooking our mushrooms. Fungi contain
chitin and many other polysaccharides, some of which act as mycotoxins when
consumed raw. By cooking these various polysaccharides, breaking them down with
heat, we are simultaneously making the nutrition more available to our bodies and
destroying the mycotoxins that could potentially cause a variety of gastrointestinal
distress and other unpleasantness.
Happy Fungi Feasting!
Nicole Marie is the co-founder of Blue Sky Fungi LLC and has spent 20 years as a professional massage therapist and is a semi-professional chef. She and her partner, Matt Toth, started the mushroom farm in 2018. Together, they do everything from making the spawn to harvesting the mushrooms and all of the steps in between. When Nicole isn’t working on one of her various projects, you can find her hanging with her pet turkey and chickens, foraging for wild mushrooms or playing in the vegetable garden. You can find Nicole and the farm’s offerings at several local farmer’s markets around the Silverton, Oregon area or check them out online at www.BlueSkyFungi.com