There's not much to a mushroom when you dry it.

[Bushwhacker]

Just thought I'd put these 2 pictures up just to show the effects of drying
I picked these and dried them out.

This is all of them in one little jar - a lot of flavour for stocks and gravies in a handy little size.
It's amazing how much moisture they initially contain.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

They contain Something llike 90% water, .......that's a great idea, how did you dry them.?

 

[Bushwhacker]

They contain Something llike 90% water, .......that's a great idea, how did you dry them.?

Nearly the same way that I do jerky.
With mushrooms I make sure they are cut into small pieces to allow moisture to escape easily.
I set the oven to a low setting - 70 deg C or thereabouts - place on a baking tray and, in this instance, used a hazelnut (shell on) to keep the oven door propped open to allow moist air to escape.
I then went to bed and woke up in the morning to the cabin smelling very nicely and some very dry mushrooms, somewhat reduced, on the baking tray.

It pays to give them a shake and a bit of a turn which I did when I got up in the night.
Keep them drying until they go proper crunchy, this means there is absolutely no water in them at all.

 

[Harvestman]

I got two Brown Birch Boletes, each about 5-6 inches across. My book said "edible, but not worth it", so I tried drying them. Sliced them up, stuck them in the airing cupboard, and 2 days later the scraps that remained probably weighted less than a postage stamp.

So much for that.

I normally dry fungi for use in stews, but I won't try that species again.

 

[listenclear]

I dried brown birch bolete a couple of years ago and put it in a soup - never again. Total waste of time and effort.
Dried some chanterelles yesterday and looking forward to using them and seeing if the flavour gets stronger - apparently it does after drying.
Fingers crossed

 

[mrcairney]

I'm drying a birch polypore right now. I'm freezing it first to kill the nasties. Then I'll hang it under the stairs. It's MASSIVE. A foot across easy. Wonder how big it'll end up?

 

[xylaria]

Birch polypore doesn't really change size much. The inhabitants leave fungi when you dry them, except king alfred cakes, the beatles in them can still be claiming housing benifit months later. Maggots just need shaking off the drying sheet. The dried maggots can be legally added to wild mushroom comercal products as long as they arent over 10% in wieght of the product.

I think birch boletes are well worth it. Really big meaty speciums, sliced thin and dried, stems and all, then further shredded add depth to stews. The stew has to be slow cooked though.

 

[Geoff Dann]

The inhabitants leave fungi when you dry them, except king alfred cakes, the beatles in them can still be claiming housing benifit months later.

OK...why would anyone in their right mind try to dry Kings Alfred's cakes?

They are pretty dry to begin with, and you can't eat them anyway. What were you keeping them for?

This fungus has another name, which originates on the Kent/Sussex borders, of "cramp balls". Apparently people believed that if you carried them around with you, it prevented cramp.

 

[FGYT]

OK...why would anyone in their right mind try to dry Kings Alfred's cakes?

They are pretty dry to begin with, and you can't eat them anyway. What were you keeping them for?

This fungus has another name, which originates on the Kent/Sussex borders, of "cramp balls". Apparently people believed that if you carried them around with you, it prevented cramp.

Cos its good to catch a spark for fire lighting

ATB
Duncan
from tapatalk phone

 

[Geoff Dann]

Cos its good to catch a spark for fire lighting

ATB
Duncan
from tapatalk phone

Ahh...another "tinder fungus".

 

[xylaria]

they are light and clean to carry and they burn very hot like coal, and once they are lit they keep burning so they are used to hold embers when using traditional fire lighting method. There are quite a few videos on them, including lord mears himself. The use is a bit differant to tinder fungus. Fungi have some very wide uses. dont get me on birch polypore I can go on for hours