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If you have grown your own mushrooms, it is wise to store them properly once they are harvested. If you don’t, your fresh mushrooms will be no good within a few days. By storing them properly, you can enjoy your harvest for months to come. In this blog, we’ll give you tools you can use to do just that.
Mushrooms are sensitive to temperature and moisture. After harvesting, you can use your fresh mushrooms immediately. But a grow kit can yield a large quantity that you generally can’t finish within a few days. Fresh mushrooms can be stored in the refrigerator. They do not keep as long then, because they have firm protective coating. They lose moisture quickly, color changes may occur, they become limp and are also prone to spoilage by bacteria or mold.
In the refrigerator, mushrooms will keep for 5 to 10 days at most. The size of the mushroom partly determines how long it will keep. This also applies to common mushrooms. A large variety, such as the portobello with its large hat, lasts longer than small mushrooms or mushrooms. Also, mushrooms that are uncut keep longer than if you cut pieces from them.
On the contrary, vegetables stay good longer if you wrap them in plastic; this is not true of mushrooms. They contain a lot of moisture (they consist of 80 to 90 percent water), so it is important that the air can circulate, otherwise they quickly become mushy. That’s why the boxes in which mushrooms, for example, are stored have holes in the lid.
But your home-grown mushrooms don’t come ready-made in a package. You have to take care of that yourself. So how best to store them? The easiest way is to put them in a paper bag. Paper absorbs excess moisture. If you do want to put them in plastic, make sure there are holes in the packaging so that enough air can get to them. Do not place your mushrooms in the coldest part of the refrigerator or in a vegetable drawer. In general, air cannot circulate as well there.
Mushrooms have the longest shelf life if you dry them and then freeze them. Above all, do not freeze them fresh, as the mind-altering substances (psilocybin) will break down. Below we explain how to go about drying.
There are three ways to dry mushrooms. Whichever way you choose, it is important to first air dry the mushrooms after harvest to get rid of excess moisture.
You do this as follows:
Once this step is complete, you can use one of the following drying methods.
You can continue drying the mushrooms as you did in the first step. This is the easiest way, but not the most effective, because with this you won’t get all the moisture out of the mushrooms. It also works only when the humidity in the room is 55% or lower. It also takes a little more time, as you have to let them dry for at least 2 days. If you want to use this method, just let the mushrooms continue drying after step 1. Change the cloth or kitchen paper every day. They are dry enough if you can break a mushroom in half without it bending.
With a food dehydrator, you can dry mushrooms easily and quickly. It gives reliable results and provides less risk of contamination. Place your mushrooms on a tray in the unit and set the temperature to 45 degrees. This is low enough to assure you that the mind-altering substances are retained. Dry your mushrooms between 4 and 8 hours. Check regularly to make sure they are thoroughly dry.
It’s important to really get your mushrooms as dry as possible before storing them for long periods of time, which is why you can use silica gel. This gel absorbs moisture well and is non-toxic. Purchase it from an online shop. Place the gel in a container that you can seal tightly airtight and that is large enough for a rack on which to place your mushrooms. Make sure the mushrooms do not touch the gel. Put the lid on and check every day to see if the mushrooms are already dry.
Now your mushrooms are dry and the key is to store them properly. This can be done using airtight containers, vacuum sealed containers and by freezing them. It is very important that no oxygen can get to the mushrooms.
Therefore, use an airtight container to store your precious mushrooms. This can be a glass, plastic or silicone container. The less moisture and oxygen can get to them, the longer your shrooms will stay good. You can also add a small silica gel pack. Place the mushrooms in the refrigerator or in a cool, dark place.
If you can vacuum seal a package, that’s also a good option, especially if you want to store a lot at once. The downside, of course, is that if you want to take some out of the package, it is not vacuum afterward. You will then have to re-seal it. So this is especially useful for large quantities that you won’t need for the time being.
Finally, you can freeze your mushrooms and this is a very effective method of preserving them. You can only do this if you have dried them really well. If there is still moisture in it, you have a chance of psychoactive substances being lost through freezing.
With these methods, you can store your mushrooms for a long time, provided you’ve done everything right. Dried and stored properly, magic mushrooms stay good for at least 6 months to a year.
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