Freezing Mushrooms
How to freeze mushrooms so they are still worth eating: cook them first. Raw mushrooms freeze badly. Their water forms ice crystals that wreck the texture, and they thaw into a limp grey mass. This is the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s tested method: an anti-darkening dip, then a short steam (or a quick sauté), then into the freezer. Steamed mushrooms keep longer than sautéed ones.
A reference card: the tested NCHFP procedure, reproduced faithfully.
Ingredients
Fresh mushrooms, free of spots and decay
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice or 1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid per pint of water
- Butter (for the sauté method)
Directions
Key ingredients
- Prepare. Sort the mushrooms by size, wash thoroughly in cold water, and trim off the ends of the stems. Slice or quarter any over 1 inch across.
- Dip. Soak 5 minutes in the lemon juice or citric acid solution, to prevent darkening.
- Steam. Whole mushrooms 5 minutes, buttons or quarters 3 1/2 minutes, slices 3 minutes. Cool promptly, drain and package.
- Or sauté. Cook small quantities in butter in an open pan until almost done. Cool quickly by setting the pan in cold water, then package.
- Pack and freeze. Leave 1/2 inch of headspace, seal and freeze.
Notes
Where this came from The National Center for Home Food Preservation, “Freezing Mushrooms”, nchfp.uga.edu. The NCHFP notes that steamed mushrooms “will keep longer than those heated in fat”.
Morels Morels are widely frozen after a quick sauté in butter, which is the sauté route above. They must be cooked through before eating in any case. See Fried Morels.
Related Drying Mushrooms.
About the photo The photo shows fresh cremini mushrooms before any preparation.