Dehydrating Comb Tooth Mushrooms
“I have no idea what to do with all of this before it’s unusable.” Looking at the box in front of me that held several pounds of Comb Tooth mushrooms, I sighed. There was way more there than I knew how to use.
“You could always dehydrate some of them.” Suggested Daniel, my husband, in his ever-helpful way.
It was so obvious I had missed it completely, even though I had known there was no way for me to use all of the mushrooms in the handful of days they would remain fresh. Preservation of mushrooms is a topic I’ve been wanting to cover for some time, so this actually presented me with the perfect opportunity.
Before I started dehydrating, I used some fresh Comb Tooth in a couple of delicious recipes, which you’ll see in future posts. If you’re not familiar with Comb Tooth, I wrote an in-depth post about them and their Hericium relatives a while back.
As I was loading the Comb Tooth into my dehydrator, I looked through it carefully. Any areas that didn’t look fresh I cut off and discarded, while the parts that were good to go I separated into strips about half an inch thick and placed closely together on the trays.
Each of the four racks in my dehydrator was able to be filled completely, not just the first round, but also for the second batch. Once the drying process had begun, I set a timer for 90 minutes and left it alone, except for the occasions I couldn’t resist peeking in through the clear top. During the drying process, an earthy, almost nutty smell filled my kitchen, getting stronger as the time went on.
When the timer went off, I flipped the drying mushrooms and rearranged the racks on the dehydrator. This step likely wasn’t completely necessary, but I wanted to make sure they all dried as evenly as possible. Checking the mushrooms again in an hour, I pulled out pieces that were already dry.
Another 30 minutes went by and the Comb Tooth was completely dry. They were still warm; however, so I let them cool on the racks for another half an hour before sticking them in bags.
Preventing food waste wasn’t the only reason I wanted to dry the Comb Tooth. Using our coffee grinder, we created a fine mushroom powder, which is a great addition to soups, stews, and many other dishes. In fact, pretty much any recipe that you would add seasonings or powder to would likely benefit from some powdered mushrooms, especially if you have a picky eater that could use the nutritional boost mushrooms provide.
Supplements have boomed into a lucrative business, however, there are people who prefer to make their own. Powdering dry mushrooms and adding them into empty capsules allows control over the amounts and ingredients inside while offering endless customizations.
Mushrooms are an extremely versatile food already. Nevertheless, most people enjoy having even more options and saving food that would have gone bad without action is always a plus, too. From a simple and fairly hands-off process, I now have enough dried mushrooms to last me through several different meals in the months to come.
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