How to Freeze and Preserve Chantrelle Mushrooms

[ICEMAN]

Deer Hunting this weekend for us really sucked bad, so I took a few hours to gather 11 gallons of chantrelle mushrooms. Sunday I spent dealing with the mushrooms so that I can enjoy them all year. Good thing my freezer is already bulging with deer and elk steak.

Disclaimer; first off, I am not going to help new shroomers identify Chantrelle mushrooms. Go spend a couple of bucks and purchase a good mushroom identification book for yourself.

Here is how to freeze your mushrooms.

1. Trim and cleanse your mushrooms at the sink. Many folks like to use an airhose to clean debris from mushrooms, I prefer to use water and a basting brush to rinse away all  the debris, squirrel, bird and slug dung.... Rinse your shrooms, and place in a collander to drip......

2. Dry your mushrooms. Place your mushrooms on a card table, countertop or the hood of your car in the garage.... I use a fan to keep air moving around, this seems to speed things up nicely. Check them often. Your goal is a dry mushroom like you would find at Freddy's, not wet, not damp, not crispy, just dried off, retaining some heft...

3. Prepare for sauteing. I cut my shrooms into pieces so that nothing is over 1/4" inch thick. Cut stem long, or across at an angle....

4. Saute your mushrooms. In a 300degree pan, saute the mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, a bit of butter, and some pepper. Keep them moving in the pan every couple of minutes. Your goal is to lightly brown the edges as they evaporate in the pan.... Moisture will show up in the pan as they cook. Let it evaporate off, and when most moisture is gone, then splash a shot of creme sherry wine into the shrooms, stir them up, coat all pieces, and quickly remove from the heat. Your reduced mushrooms should look moist on the surface. Cool your mushrooms in a flat pan or cookie sheet.

5. Freeze your mushrooms. Stuff ziplock bags to the desired level. I prefer to use snack sized bags. I stuff them full. This is just about right for two adults, if you need more later for more people...., thaw two bags. I place the baggies in the freezer, and once frozen, I re-store multiple baggies into a large gallon size bag, so later as you dig thru the freezer for your salmon eggs, you do not crack the little plastic bags and let air in, ruining your shrooms...

6. To later use, thaw them on the counter top an hour before dinner. Just as you get your steak ready to pull from the heat, toss in the mushrooms and an extra shot of creme sherry and serve them up!

Enjoy 

[HardCorpsHuntr]

NICE!  Thanks again Iceman.

[robodad]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !!!!!!!!!!! 

[bowsandhose]

  thanks

[billythekidrock]

Great post. After a few pm's with ICE I froze some up a month or so ago. Ate them two nights ago and they were great. I do mine a little different though.

If they are still damp or wet after drying with a fan I will dry saute them. Heat a pan and add the mushroms and some salt to draw out the moisture then when they are about done I will add some butter and garlic.

I have also heated up a large can of cream of mushroom soup (no water or milk) and added the sauted mushrooms. Then I place the pan in the fridge overnight. The next day I will divide the soup/mushrooms into snack sized bags. When I am ready to cook I will add the mixture to a full can of cream of mushroom soup and noodles.

[stumprat]

Excellent post ........... Thank you

[ICEMAN]

Back to the top for guys who are seeing any Chantrelles as they hunt....

[MtnMuley]

Another darn good pictorial ICEMAN!  I'm heading home tonight and rehydrating some morels

[ICEMAN]

Thanks. I was just needing some attention... 

[robodad]

Thanks. I was just needing some attention... 

OK I'll stroke your ego just a bit more there buddy !!! When you pick your chantrelles is it necessary to cut them off instead of pulling them from the ground ?? and also in what locations should I look for them (i.e. fern patches, north slopes, alder flats, etc...!!) I had several patches I used to pick but have since been logged  but never really paid that close attention to what was there for trees !!

Thanks for the information ICEMAN !!!

[ICEMAN]

Robo, it has been argued to cut them at the ground. But, I have heard that by the time you are there to harvest them, their spore has already been deposited onto the forest floor for next harvest so go ahead and pull them up.

I prefer to pull them up to get the whole mushroom, hence my washing with water later, you get some fir needles and dirt this way.

As far as location; you find them where you find them..... When I am looking for new territories for shrooms, I look for Fir trees, ferns, decaying wood on the forrest floor, moist areas. On the other hand, I have found them in the Alder woods...? So go figure.

When you find one, keep looking in the area for the Mother Load. I feel that spore cast down and up the hill more than sideways, maybe from morning or evening winds, or rain.... What I mean is that when I find one, (obvisouly I am looking in all directions for more, but) I look especially hard down and up the hill, like rain or the wind has carried spore from last years crop down.... Know what I mean?

[Skyvalhunter]

Great writeup Ice thanks for posting this.

[robodad]

Yeah I know what you mean, I'm hoping to get out this weekend and locate a new area so I don't know if I'll find any but Thanks for the write-up, these things are YUMMY in chili and stuff this winter !!! 

Thanks again !!!

[NRA4LIFE]

dang Iceman, have you been spying on me?  That is my method of freezing PRECISELY.  Even the ziploc sandwhich bags.  I just froze up 5 lbs last week.

[ICEMAN]

Yeah, it seems to work pretty good compared to dehydrating them if ya ask me...

I am going to wait till elk season-ish to get my shrooms for the year. Found a new honey hole last fall and it should produce tons again this year.