Drying Mushrooms

I just love the produce section of the grocery store in the fall! All those bargains, and just when my own garden has about quit producing. This week, I came upon a wonderful deal on Portabello Mushrooms- $.99 for 8 ounces! You can bet I loaded up. And then I came right home, and loaded up the dehydrator with my precious produce! Drying Mushrooms is quick, easy, and yields a delicious product to be enjoyed all winter in soups, stews, and on pizzas! Here's how you do it:

**Note: Do NOT dehydrate any mushroom that may be of questionable safety. Preferably, you should only dry the freshest mushrooms, bought from a grocer. However, if you forage for your own mushrooms, be absolutely certain of the variety, and select only the freshest for drying.

Preparation: Rinse quickly (you don't want them wet before drying), and brush with a mushroom brush; or, wipe well with a damp cloth, to remove any dirt that may be clinging to the mushrooms.

Button Mushrooms: Trim 1/8 inch from the stem, and then slice thinly. I prefer to slice my button mushrooms in 1/8 inch slices, through the stem, but you can slice the stems and caps separately, if you like. The stems dry well when sliced in 1/8 inch rounds. Dehydrate 8-12 hours at 120-125 degrees, checking about half way through the drying time. Mushrooms will be tough and leathery when dry (some button mushrooms will become brittle when dry, and these make an excellent mushroom powder for seasoning vegetable and meat dishes).

Morels: I like the morels dried whole, but you can slice them as you do the button mushrooms, too. Do not rinse morels, just dust them as best you can, and dry. Add a couple of hours to the drying time, if drying whole.

Portabello Mushrooms: These are my absolute favorite! Because of their "meatier" nature, these take a bit longer to dry. I cut these in ½ inch cubes for drying. They will take close to 12 hours to dry, maybe a bit longer with larger cubes.

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