In article >,
Gorio > wrote:
> Just to touch on the water to mushroom ratio. The general rule in
> mushroom dehydration (in terms of mass) is 10:1. I suppose, in a perfect
> universe, one would measure the mass of the dried mushrooms and use ten
> times that in water mass. We all know, though, that all that water may
> not be absorbed. Who cares, though? Save the water for cooking and
> resulting sediment, and toss it in the yard. Spores are very resilient,
> unbeknownst to Sheldon, and 3,000 year-old , viable spores have been
> found in sealed vaults in the great pyramids. Let 'em do their thing. If
> higher heat was used to dehydrate the mushrooms, most of the spores may
> be knocked off. But I'd bet some survival-of-the-fittest could go on.
> I'll bet the nice folks of Slovakia stick to older tried-and-true
> methods of air drying them and that these spores might find a happy
> place in your yard. If the Slovak mushrooms happen to be (king or
> edulis) boletes, then they can handle pine needles to oak leaves as
> substrate, and they are just awesome in size and flavor. If you'll look
> at the underside of the cap, there will be pinholes instead of gills if
> they are boletes.
Interesting info about rehydrating. I probably used 1 cup water to 1
cup dried mushrooms. Regrettably, I chucked the sediment ‹ wrong time
of year here for tossing in the yard, anyway. One of the kinds my
cousins pick us referred to as sosnak (spelling is way off, I am quite
sure ‹ they pronounce it SOS-nyak) ‹ "the kind that grows under pine
trees." :-) The ones I picked as a child were found in cow pastures
with dead oak trees around. Mom dried the ones with big heads ‹ they
had gills. There was also a kind she referred to as "spongy ones." :-)
Alex rest her weary soul.
I have a photo of Cousin Maria's mushroom dehydrator, but not in a
digital format: a metal rack the size of her wood stovetop, propped on
four wood sticks at the corners, about 6-8" above the surface of the
stovetop. :-)
--
Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
Holy Order of the Sacred Sisters of St. Pectina of Jella
"Always in a jam, never in a stew; sometimes in a pickle."
Pepparkakor particulars posted 11-29-2010;
http://web.me.com/barbschaller