Dried Mushrooms: The Complete Guide to Buying, Rehydrating and Cooking Them
A jar of dried mushrooms can look like a small amount of very unpromising material.
The mushrooms are light, brittle and considerably less glamorous than they were in the forest. Then warm water reaches them.
The pieces soften. Their shape returns. The water turns amber or deep brown. What appeared to be one ingredient becomes two: the mushroom itself and a remarkably flavorful broth.
This is the advantage of dried mushrooms. Drying makes a fleeting ingredient shelf-stable, concentrates its character and creates a pantry tool that can transform pasta, risotto, soup, beans, eggs, sauces and braises.
The method is simple. The details determine whether dinner tastes deeply of mushrooms or unexpectedly of sand.
What are dried mushrooms?
Dried mushrooms are edible mushrooms from which most of the water has been removed.
Without that moisture, the mushrooms become much lighter and more resistant to spoilage. Their texture changes, their aroma becomes concentrated and some varieties develop a character that is different from the fresh mushroom rather than merely a weaker version of it.
Porcini become especially intense and savory. Black trumpets retain a dark, haunting aroma. Morels preserve their distinctive honeycombed form. Candy caps develop a powerful maple-like fragrance that belongs as naturally in dessert as in savory cooking.
Dried mushrooms are therefore not simply emergency substitutes for fresh mushrooms.
They are ingredients in their own right.
Why dry mushrooms at all?
Many wild mushrooms have short seasons and do not travel particularly well when fresh.
Drying allows a harvest to remain useful long after the forest has stopped producing it. It also collapses a large volume of mushrooms into a container small enough to keep in an ordinary pantry.
The loss of water concentrates flavor. A modest handful can season an entire pot of risotto or sauce.
Fresh and dried mushrooms are not always interchangeable, however. Drying changes texture. A fresh chanterelle's springiness and a dried chanterelle's texture are not identical. A fresh porcini can be cooked as a substantial piece of food; dried porcini often work best as a source of concentrated flavor woven through a dish.
Which dried mushrooms should you buy?
Choose by the food you want to cook.
Porcini are the versatile starting point. Morels belong with butter, cream, eggs and meat. Black trumpets are excellent with pasta, potatoes and fish. Chanterelles suit sauces, soups and braises. Mousserons bring concentrated mushroom and hazelnut-like character. Yellow foot mushrooms become silky in slow-cooked dishes. Candy caps can cross into baking and dessert.
There is no reason to open seven varieties at once.
One or two mushrooms that suit your cooking will do more useful work than a collection you are reluctant to use.
Dried porcini
Porcini are the default dried mushroom in many European kitchens for good reason.
Their flavor is deep, woodsy and almost meaty. Even a few pieces can change a tomato sauce, ragù, soup or pan sauce.
After soaking, chop the softened porcini and cook them with shallots, onion or garlic. Add the strained soaking liquid to the same dish so the flavor carried into the water is not lost.
Porcini are particularly good with butter, olive oil, cream, beef, pork, polenta, beans, potatoes and pasta.
Dried morels
Morels are among the most prized wild mushrooms. Their hollow bodies and deeply ridged caps give them a texture unlike smoother mushrooms.
Dried morels rehydrate especially well and can retain enough structure to leave whole, halve or even stuff.
Their affinity for butter and cream is famous, but they are equally persuasive with roast chicken, veal, pork, eggs, asparagus and peas.
Morels can hold grit inside their cavities, so clean them carefully after soaking. Cut larger specimens lengthwise and inspect the interior.
Never eat morels raw. They should be thoroughly cooked before serving.
The store's Wine Forest dried morels are harvested in Montana and Idaho and maintain enough shape after rehydration for sauces, sautéing and stuffing.
Dried black trumpets
Black trumpets look delicate, but their flavor is substantial.
They are dark, aromatic and particularly good with eggs, potatoes, cream, fish and pasta. Their almost smoky character can give a simple cream sauce unusual depth without tasting like a generic mushroom mixture.
Because black trumpets grow as hollow funnels in debris-prone environments, grit can hide inside them. Wine Forest recommends opening rehydrated trumpets lengthwise and giving them an additional rinse or soak.
Try dried black trumpets in a potato gratin or sautéed with shallots before being folded into pasta.
Dried chanterelles
Chanterelles are known for a fruity, peppery aroma and firm texture when fresh.
Drying preserves their flavor more readily than their precise fresh texture. Rehydrated chanterelles therefore perform best when they have time to cook gently in liquid.
Add them to soups, cream sauces, braises and gravies rather than expecting a quick dry sauté to recreate a fresh chanterelle.
The current Wine Forest dried chanterelles can be used whole or chopped depending on the dish.
Mousserons or fairy-ring mushrooms
Mousserons are small, lightweight mushrooms with a surprisingly concentrated flavor often compared with porcini and hazelnuts.
Their thin size means a container holds a great many individual mushrooms. They work beautifully in omelets, risotto, sauces and dishes where the small caps can remain visible.
They grow in sandy ground and need especially attentive cleaning. The Wine Forest mousserons should be rinsed through more than one change of water if grit remains.
Yellow foot mushrooms
Yellow foot mushrooms are related to chanterelles but are smaller, thinner and especially suited to braising.
They soften into sauces and the liquid at the bottom of a pan rather than remaining dominant, chewy pieces.
Use dried yellow foot mushrooms with braised meat, beans, potatoes, kale or a restrained cream sauce.
They can also be ground dry into a powder for gravies, soups and sauces.
Candy cap mushrooms
Candy caps are the exception that rearranges the category.
When dried, they develop a pronounced fragrance often compared with maple syrup, caramel or fenugreek. That aroma makes them useful in cookies, cakes, custards, ice cream, hot cereal and infused cream.
They can still be used in savory food, particularly with squash, nuts and browned butter, but dessert is where their unusual character becomes clearest.
Dried candy caps can be rehydrated or ground directly into sugar, flour or another dry ingredient.
How to rehydrate dried mushrooms
Place the mushrooms in a tall bowl or heatproof container and cover them with tepid or warm water.
Leave them until completely pliable. Thin black trumpets may soften in five minutes. Porcini and yellow feet may take around 10 to 15 minutes. Thick morels can require 20 minutes or longer.
Do not rely entirely on a timer.
A rehydrated mushroom should bend easily and should not have a hard, dry center.
After the first few minutes, gently agitate the mushrooms. This encourages grit to fall to the bottom of the container.
When the mushrooms are soft, lift them out with your hands or a slotted spoon. Do not pour the entire bowl through a colander, which sends the settled debris back over the mushrooms.
Warm water or boiling water?
Warm water is a dependable default.
Very hot water softens mushrooms more quickly, but it also pulls more flavor into the liquid. That is not necessarily a problem if the soaking liquid is going into the finished dish.
Tepid water takes a little longer and can leave more flavor in the mushroom itself.
Use enough liquid to submerge the mushrooms without filling an unnecessarily large bowl. A concentrated cup of mushroom broth is more useful than a quart of weak brown water.
Can you use stock or wine?
Yes, provided the liquid belongs in the final recipe.
Stock reinforces a soup, braise or risotto. Wine can work when its acidity and flavor suit the dish.
Water remains the most versatile choice. It lets you evaluate the mushroom clearly and produces an unsalted broth that can be adjusted later.
Do dried mushrooms need to be washed?
Wild mushrooms can carry sand, soil, pine needles and other evidence of where they grew.
That is not a reason to avoid them. It is a reason to clean them intelligently.
Agitate the mushrooms while they soak, lift them away from the sediment and inspect them after rehydration. Rinse any visibly gritty pieces briefly under clean water.
Black trumpets, mousserons and morels deserve particular attention because their shapes can hide debris.
If the mushrooms remain gritty, give them a second short soak in fresh water.
Save the soaking liquid
The soaking water may be the most valuable part of the process.
As the mushrooms rehydrate, flavor and color move into the liquid. Properly strained, it becomes an instant mushroom stock.
Use it in risotto, soup, gravy, pan sauce, beans, braising liquid or pasta sauce.
Do not pour directly from the soaking bowl into dinner. Sediment accumulates at the bottom.
Strain the liquid through a coffee filter, clean cloth, paper towel or very fine sieve. Stop pouring before the last gritty spoonful reaches the filter.
If the liquid smells unpleasant rather than cleanly earthy, discard it.
Rehydrating is not the same as cooking
Soaking softens a dried mushroom. It does not necessarily finish it.
Once rehydrated, most mushrooms benefit from additional cooking in fat, sauce or broth. Sauté them with butter or olive oil, simmer them in a sauce, or allow them to finish inside a soup or braise.
Morels must be cooked thoroughly. Other varieties also taste better once heat has softened their remaining structure and integrated their concentrated flavor into the dish.
How much dried mushroom should you use?
Dried mushrooms are light and concentrated, so a package that appears small can season several portions.
For a pasta, risotto or sauce serving four people, roughly one-half to one ounce of dried mushrooms is often enough, depending on the variety and how prominent you want the flavor to be.
Porcini can season a dish in small quantities. A plate intended to showcase whole morels may require more.
Begin modestly. You can combine dried mushrooms with fresh cultivated mushrooms when you want abundant texture without spending an entire package of wild mushrooms.
Combine dried and fresh mushrooms
This is one of the best ways to use them.
Fresh cremini, oyster or shiitake mushrooms provide bulk and a juicy sautéed texture. Dried wild mushrooms provide concentrated aroma. The strained soaking liquid connects the two.
Brown the fresh mushrooms well. Cook the rehydrated mushrooms separately or add them after the fresh mushrooms have released their moisture. Deglaze with the strained soaking broth and reduce.
The result tastes more complex than either mushroom would alone.
Dried mushrooms in pasta
Rehydrate the mushrooms and reserve the broth.
Sauté shallot or onion in butter or olive oil. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook until tender. Add a small amount of soaking liquid and reduce it until concentrated.
Finish with cream, tomato, cheese or simply more butter, depending on the mushroom.
Add the cooked pasta and enough pasta water to bring the sauce together.
Porcini, black trumpets, morels and yellow feet all work particularly well. Choose a pasta with enough surface or shape to hold the pieces and sauce from our artisan pasta collection.
Dried mushrooms in risotto
Mushroom soaking liquid is almost purpose-built for risotto.
Strain it and combine it with the hot stock used to cook the rice. Chop the softened mushrooms and add them during cooking, reserving a few attractive pieces for the top.
Porcini create the classic deeply savory version. Morels produce a more luxurious risotto. Mousserons give the finished rice small, distinct mushroom pieces and a nutty aroma.
Dried mushrooms in soup
For clear soups, strain the soaking liquid especially carefully.
For puréed soups, dried mushrooms can be simmered with potatoes, beans, onions or cultivated mushrooms and blended into the finished dish.
Shiitake and porcini provide depth to broths. Yellow feet and chanterelles are excellent in creamier soups. Black trumpets can turn an otherwise pale mushroom soup dramatically dark.
Dried mushrooms with eggs
Rehydrate and cook the mushrooms before adding eggs.
Sauté them gently in butter until tender, then add them to scrambled eggs, omelets, quiche or baked eggs.
Morels and black trumpets are especially good here because eggs give their aroma room without surrounding it with a complicated sauce.
Turn dried mushrooms into powder
If the mushrooms are clean and completely dry, grind them in a spice grinder or high-powered blender.
Mushroom powder disappears easily into soups, sauces, gravies, compound butter, meatballs, beans and seasoning blends.
Porcini powder is the most familiar. Black trumpet powder is darker and more aromatic. Yellow foot powder creates a smooth, savory foundation. Candy cap powder belongs in baking.
Add a small amount, cook the dish and taste before adding more. Powder disperses flavor more thoroughly than visible pieces do.
Keep a grinder used for candy caps separate if you do not want the next savory ingredient to smell faintly of maple.
How to store dried mushrooms
Moisture is the enemy.
Keep dried mushrooms in a tightly closed container somewhere cool, dark and dry. A glass jar, sealed original package or airtight storage container works well.
Do not store them directly above a stove, beside a kettle or anywhere exposed to steam.
The mushrooms should remain dry rather than flexible, damp or sticky. If moisture enters the container, mold can follow.
Dried mushrooms remain usable for a long time when properly stored, but their aroma gradually fades. Buy an amount you will cook rather than treating them as permanent decoration.
Can dried mushrooms go bad?
Yes.
Discard mushrooms showing mold, insects, unexplained moisture or an unpleasant odor. A dry mushroom can smell powerful and earthy; it should not smell rotten or damp in the manner of a neglected basement.
If the mushrooms have simply lost aroma, they may not be dangerous, but they have lost the quality that justified saving them.
What to buy first
Begin with porcini if you want one broadly useful savory mushroom.
Choose morels if you regularly cook with butter, cream, eggs or meat and want a more luxurious ingredient.
Choose black trumpets if you want something darker, more aromatic and excellent with pasta or potatoes.
Choose candy caps if you are interested in baking and want to encounter a mushroom that behaves almost like a spice.
After that, explore chanterelles, mousserons and yellow feet according to the food you actually cook.
The complete dried-mushroom method
- Place the mushrooms in a tall bowl.
- Cover with tepid or warm water.
- Soak until fully pliable, usually 5 to 30 minutes depending on variety and thickness.
- Agitate gently so grit falls away.
- Lift the mushrooms out without disturbing the sediment.
- Inspect and rinse the mushrooms if necessary.
- Strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter or very fine sieve.
- Cook the rehydrated mushrooms in the finished dish.
- Add the strained broth wherever its flavor will help.
Nothing has been wasted, and an ingredient that occupied almost no pantry space has supplied both the substance and the seasoning for dinner.
Explore dried mushrooms and mushroom products at The Ambrosian Pantry.
