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Cook fresh

Cooking fresh — mushrooms with the trait «Cooking fresh»

The "Cook fresh" label is the best news a cook can get. It means the mushroom belongs to the safest category (fully edible mushrooms) and needs no complicated, lengthy preparation such as a week of soaking, fermentation or long, repeated boiling with the water poured off.

You can clean these mushrooms of forest debris and use them right away: fry them in a pan, make soup, bake them in the oven or put them on pizza.

24 species in the database.

Fresh-cooking favorites

According to M.Ya. Zerova, this elite group includes:

1. Porcini (Boletus edulis) and other noble boletes: They show off their flavor best when quickly sautéed in butter or made into a thick cream soup.

2. Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius): A French classic for omelets and sauces. Chanterelles shouldn't be boiled for long at all, or they turn "rubbery".

3. Agaricus mushrooms (Agaricus): Both cultivated and wild ones are ready to cook as soon as they're cut.

4. Saffron milk cap (Lactarius deliciosus): One of the few milk caps without acrid milk. You can fry it fresh straight after picking, and it has a unique, slightly spicy, piney aroma.

Golden rules of fresh cooking

David Arora reminds us that "cook fresh" means it can be cooked quickly, not that the mushroom can be eaten completely raw.

Mushroom cell walls are made of chitin (the same material crab and insect shells are built from). The human stomach has no enzymes to digest chitin. Cooking (frying or boiling) physically breaks down the chitin cell walls, letting your body absorb the valuable proteins, vitamins and minerals inside.

Questions and answers

Do I need to boil porcini before frying them?

No, it's unnecessary and even bad for the flavor. Porcini contain no water-soluble toxins that would need pouring off with the broth. If you boil them, all their wonderful flavor and aroma goes into the water, and what reaches the pan is a tasteless "sponge". Just slice them and fry them right away.

What about autumn honey fungus? Can it be cooked fresh?

No! Honey fungus (Armillaria mellea) is a conditionally edible mushroom. Raw, it contains mild toxins that cause serious stomach upset and cramps. It MUST be boiled in water for at least 15-20 minutes, the water poured off, and only then can it be fried. It isn't suitable for quick "fresh cooking".

Sources

1.Зерова М.Я. та ін. Визначник грибів України. 1979
2.Roger Phillips. Mushrooms (Roger Phillips)
3.David Arora. Mushrooms Demystified
4.Index Fungorum