How to best preserve fresh shiitake mushrooms?
I was gifted a large amount of shiitake mushrooms and am planning on gathering some friends to make some dumplings and use the mushrooms in a meat mix for filling. The mushrooms are so fresh that they are already showing signs that they'll be bad by the time the party is. How should I go about preserving them? Would an early marinade work or would they be too salty by the time we work with them. Drying them out feels like a waste of fresh mushroom.
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2 Comments
One thing that happens to shiitakes in the drying process is a large increase in umami. The very best dried shiitakes are referred to as "donko" in Japan and are highly prized for use in dashi.
When I buy shiitakes I'll keep what I think I can use fresh and dry the rest. I also dry the fresh stems which are often thrown out for being too tough; the flavor of the dried stems is still very good.
Best of luck.