If you boil potatoes, put mushrooms on a plate, chop an onion and pour vegetable oil or country sour cream over it all, then it’s hard to think of a better snack. Salted milk mushrooms are very rare in stores and cost a lot of money.
Industrially prepared mushrooms do not always taste good; they are often over-salted. But if you walk through the forest, collect them yourself and cook them correctly, then you can get not only moral pleasure, but also please yourself, your family and friends with a real delicacy.
Collection of milk mushrooms
Milk mushrooms prefer to grow in deciduous or mixed forests, hiding under fallen leaves, grass, moss or in the ground. And the aspen forest is a real paradise for them.
Young mushrooms are very difficult to see in their hiding place - you have to check every tubercle. And having found one, search the area around, moving in a spiral. The trick is that milk mushrooms rarely grow alone - more often they form a whole ridge. If you are careful, you can collect it from one place to a bucket.
Adult mushrooms are not always whole - this is also a delicacy for worms and bugs.You shouldn’t disdain them and throw them away: of course, you can’t put them on the table. But if you chop the salted milk mushrooms finely and fry them with onions, then there is simply no tastier filling for pies, puff pastries, and pancakes.
Preparing milk mushrooms for salting
This species is considered a conditionally edible mushroom. Therefore, before salting them, you need to soak them for 3 days. To do this, milk mushrooms are placed in a large container and filled with cold water.
Place a plate or wooden circle on top so that they are completely submerged in water.
There is no need to pre-wash or clean them; this will be easier to do when they are wet. The water must be changed in the morning and evening. If the house is hot, then you need to do this more often, or place the container in a cooler place. It is very important that the water does not begin to sour.
It is most convenient to rinse milk mushrooms the next day:
- clean mushrooms will sour less;
- you can finally decide which milk mushrooms are good for nothing - they need to be thrown away;
- soaked mushrooms are more difficult to clean and trim.
It is better to rinse under running water - this will make it possible to remove all debris between the plates on the bottom side. Cut off the legs right up to the cap.
After 3 days, wash the milk mushrooms again.
Bring a large pot of water to boil, add citric acid to it using the tip of a knife. Prepare another container with cold water. Immerse mushrooms, several at a time, in boiling water for 2 minutes, and then transfer to cold water. This is done so that they do not darken during the salting process.
After the mushrooms have cooled, drain them in a colander.
Salting milk mushrooms
While excess water is draining from the mushrooms, prepare the herbs and spices. For this you will need:
- dill;
- currant leaves;
- garlic cloves or stalks;
- horseradish leaves;
- salt;
- Bay leaf;
- peppercorns: black and allspice.
Stage I
Rinse the greens thoroughly. Place spices, garlic, dill, currant and horseradish leaves at the bottom of the container in which the milk mushrooms will be salted.
Next add a layer of mushrooms, caps down.
Sprinkle them with salt. You can take it by eye, but in total, no more than 2 tsp. Next, add the seasonings again, then the milk mushrooms, in layers until the mushrooms are gone.
Cover the top with a plate or plastic lid of such a size that the gap is minimal, and place a weight. The heavier it is, the better.
Stage II
After 3-4 days, the milk mushrooms should be transferred to jars, which should be washed thoroughly. It is better to use small ones so that once opened, you can eat the mushrooms in 1-2 times.
You should not put milk mushrooms into jars haphazardly, but sort them: which ones will go on the table, and the worse ones can be used as a filling. Remove the herbs and spices from the container where the mushrooms were salted and place them on the bottom of the jars.
Place milk mushrooms there, caps down, cover with horseradish and currant leaves on top. If the mushroom is large, cut into 4 parts.
Now you need to prepare the brine:
- pour water into the pan, you can use the liquid remaining in the container, but it will not be enough;
- add salt: per liter - 1 tbsp. l. without slide;
- boil;
- remove the pan from the stove and add vinegar at the rate of 1 tsp. per liter of water.
Fill the jars with mushrooms with this hot brine so that there are no air voids left. Close with lids and place in the refrigerator to salt for 30-40 days.
Milk mushrooms prepared using this technology will be crispy, not over-salted, and beautiful. A delicious appetizer for any holiday or New Year's table.
