Many mushroom pickers admit that if they get great pleasure from walking in the forest and the mushroom hunting itself, cleaning mushrooms is not a very pleasant procedure for them. Some mushrooms take almost longer to wash and prepare for processing than to collect. In this regard, the porcini mushroom is a pleasant exception.
General rules for picking mushrooms and preparing them for processing
The feeling of excitement, familiar to every mushroom picker, does not allow you to waste a lot of time sorting mushrooms when picking them. But still, try to peel it before sending each mushroom to the cinnamon, this will save time during subsequent processing at home. Shake off or remove forest debris from the hat with your hand: needles, moss, small branches, leaves. If you see that the worms have already begun to feast on part of the mushroom, cut it off so that they do not continue to sharpen this mushroom while you walk through the forest with a basket. If several moves made by these gluttons remain, it's okay, with further processing all the worms will be expelled. You can sort out bad and good mushrooms and carry out their primary processing at a halt.
At home, when you bring your "catch", the mushrooms should be sorted again. As a rule, each type of mushroom has its own flavor characteristics, it can be processed according to its own technology, so sorting is a mandatory process. Going through the mushrooms and sorting them by type, at the same time separate the mushrooms that will be used immediately and those that will be processed. After spreading the mushrooms in piles, proceed to cleaning them.
The best way to fully preserve all the beneficial properties of porcini mushrooms is cold salting.
How to properly peel porcini mushrooms
The porcini mushroom has its own characteristic features, most often it is dried, salted or pickled, while it is eaten together with the leg. Naturally, it is better not to wash mushrooms intended for drying. And in general, you need to soak mushrooms in water as little as possible - it only leaches useful substances from them. But the porcini mushroom is also good because, as a rule, it grows in dry sunny areas, and therefore dirt on it is very rare, it only needs to be thoroughly cleaned. Using a sharp small knife, cut off the dirty, softened or damaged areas from the legs, and scrape off the debris adhering to the caps with it. Cut the porcini mushrooms to be dried into small pieces of approximately the same size so that they all dry evenly.
When cutting, separate the caps from the legs, cut the legs into circles, and the caps into four or six identical parts.
If you wish to salt or marinate porcini mushrooms, they can be rinsed quickly in cold water after dry brushing, using a soft toothbrush if necessary to clean up debris or dirt more thoroughly. Remember that porcini mushrooms do not need preliminary heat treatment - they can be immediately put in a pan and fried.
