If you bought mushrooms, but do not plan to cook them immediately, you need to make sure that they do not deteriorate. Toxins that form during rotting can lead to serious poisoning. Therefore, it is important to know how to store fresh champignons.
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How to determine the freshness of mushrooms when buying
Even with proper storage, the mushrooms will deteriorate in a matter of days, if they were cut long ago. The following recommendations will help you choose a fresh and high-quality product:
- Consider a champignon hat - it should be white or pink-cream in color. Black or brown spots indicate that the product has begun to disappear.
- Swipe your finger on the surface - for quality specimens, the skin is dry and silky. When the champignon is slimy and wet to the touch, it means that it has deteriorated.
- Press down on the hat. If the specimen is cut off recently, it is elastic, and when it began to disappear - soft.
- Feel the leg. In a fresh mushroom, it is dense, and in a reclining mushroom, it is loose; when pressed inside, it feels empty.
- Look at the slice. Brown is acceptable, but black indicates the beginning of the process of decay.
- Assess the color of the inside of the hat. In a fresh product, this area is light.
- Smell the mushrooms - they should come from a delicate and pleasant "mushroom" flavor. Sour and pungent odor is inherent in damaged specimens.
Tip. For storage at home, it is better to purchase small and medium-sized mushrooms. Large ones may well turn out to be old, and they will not lie for a long time.
Rules and terms of storage of fresh mushrooms in the refrigerator
Fresh champignons should be placed in the refrigerator; in the room, the product will not "live" even for a day. Even unspoiled-looking specimens will already be dangerous.
Before storing the mushrooms, carefully clean them from dust and dirt with a brush or the blunt side of the knife, update the cut on the leg and wipe with a dry cloth. Wet cleaning is highly undesirable! This will result in quick spoilage of the product.
After preparing the mushrooms, choose one of the storage methods:
- Place in small containers in plastic containers and cover with cling film, making holes in it. The shelf life of champignons in the refrigerator when using such containers will be 72 hours. At the same time, change the film every day and air the mushrooms for 10-15 minutes.
- Spread in a single layer in a vegetable tray and cover with a thin, natural cloth. So the mushrooms will remain fresh for up to 5 days.
- Pack in small portions, 300-400 g, in paper bags or cloth bags (it is better not to use a plastic bag so that the mushrooms do not darken). So they will last 5-6 days.
Attention! Mushrooms can spoil before the end of the specified period. If they are covered with dark spots, become slimy to the touch and exude a putrid smell, throw away without regret. And to prevent premature spoilage, “ventilate” supplies daily.
It is safer to store champignons in the freezer. Clean them from dirt, cut off a few millimeters from the leg, wipe with a damp cloth or rinse under a tap, and then dry on a towel. After this, the mushrooms can be laid out in bags or plastic containers, if necessary, cut into slices. So they will remain usable for up to 3 months.
