Salted milk mushrooms are a favorite dish that has long been mastered by Russian gourmets. Despite the fact that in some European countries milk mushrooms are not considered edible, our ancestors not only eaten these mushrooms with pleasure, but also knew how to properly preserve or salt them for the winter. Modern mushroom pickers also use the basics of old recipes for pickling mushrooms.
In August-September, a large mushroom picking begins and their preparation for future use. Different milk mushrooms grow in Russia - white, black, aspen, pepper, but the most delicious of them is rightfully considered to be the black milk mushroom. He is larger and fatter than his relatives. He has a dark, almost brown cap, sometimes reaching 20 centimeters in diameter.
Before salting, any milk mushrooms are thoroughly cleaned of adhering leaves, debris, and needles. With a knife, remove the film from the cap and scrape out the core, after which the mushroom is washed and soaked in a large bowl - a bucket or basin. Raw milk mushrooms taste bitter. They secrete juice that irritates and inflames the gastric mucosa, therefore, before salting, they must be kept in cold water for 5-7 days.
To prevent the mushrooms from turning black, you need to add a teaspoon of salt or 2 g of citric acid for every liter of water. Every day, the water must be drained and filled with new water. After soaking, the milk mushrooms are ready for pickling.
The most aromatic and crunchy mushrooms are obtained if they are salted in a cold way.
For the preparation of mushrooms in the old days, wooden barrels were used, but not every modern housewife has a wooden tub in the cellar. Therefore, nothing terrible will happen if you prepare an enamel bucket or 3-liter glass jars for salting. Also, horseradish and currant leaves, garlic and dill, a few peas of black pepper are pre-cleaned, washed, and prepared. The laying of the mushrooms is done according to the principle: salt, mushrooms, leaves, pepper.
There is a proven salt to mushroom ratio for cold pickling. For the total amount of mushrooms, 4% salt should be consumed, that is, 40 g (one and a half tablespoons) per 1 kg of mushrooms.
Salt is poured at the bottom of a can or other container, then the milk mushrooms are tightly stacked with the caps down. The next layer is laid out all the fragrant leaves - currants, horseradish, dill umbrellas. They have to close the mushrooms. It is better to put garlic and black pepper in the first layer; under the weight of other mushrooms, they will better give off their aroma. In total, no more than 2 cloves of garlic and 3-4 peas of pepper are placed on a 3-liter jar. Sequentially, like the first, all subsequent layers of milk mushrooms and leaves are laid out. When the container is tightly filled to the top, a plastic or wooden circle is placed on the mushrooms. This can be a smaller lid if the mushrooms are salted in a jar. A press is placed on top - a weight, a bottle or a can of water, something heavy and the container with salted milk mushrooms is removed to a cool place.
Under the weight of the press, the mushrooms will sit down and free space will appear in the container. It is necessary to fill it with mushrooms every two to three days, until the shrinkage of the mushrooms stops.
A fully filled container is sent to a dark, cold place, such as a cellar or vegetable pit, for 30-40 days. After that, the mushrooms must be laid out in separate jars together with brine and leaves and closed with plastic lids.
The cold method of pickling milk mushrooms has been tested by many housewives. It allows you to preserve the taste and aroma of crispy mushrooms throughout the winter.
