Keep Your Mushrooms Fresh!

Love mushrooms fresh and crisp? I sure do! Mushrooms easily add to just about any dish. They can be an appetizer or a main dish by themselves. Mushrooms are just plain versatile. Mushrooms, like many perishables, can go from good to bad in a hearbeat. I have had my share of  surpirses when I reached for what I just knew should still be fresh mushrooms. Instead mushy, wet mushrooms beyond useable, and in some cases even recognizable, were waiting in the bottom of the box. Frustrating! Wasting food irritates me! Here are a few tricks to keep your mushrooms fresher, longer. Much longer.  Any chance I get I try and buy mushrooms that are not prepackaged.  Picking through the ones you want is a bit time consuming but worth the few minutes it takes. Buying them not prepackaged insures the mushrooms had a chance to breathe, which they need.  If you have to purchase mushrooms prepackaged buy them whole as there is less surface area to pick up moisture and seriously, why pay some else to slice them for you?  There are the rare opportunities to purchases sliced mushrooms on sale, for less than whole, like those in the photo. Always save a penny! Once you get your mushrooms home, never wash them with water.  If they have come in a sealed box you will notice a bit of moisture on the bottom, definitely an enemy of keeping mushrooms fresh! Take a damp towel and wipe off any clumps of soil that may be clinging o them.  Once clean, lay all your mushrooms out on a large towel and carefully roll up the towel with mushrooms inside applying absolutely zero pressure. You are just trying to remove any extra moisture.  Once this task is completed, label a clean, brown paper bag meant for food and place your mushrooms inside.  Close the bag and lay the bag on its side in the crisper of your refrigerator.  Your mushrooms will be fresher longer. Infact, you will be surprised how long mushroom will last now that they are stored properly. After all, you didn’t intend them for the compost bin in the first place! Check out the blog, Portabellas! Waste Not – Want Not! for more mushromm saving ideas.