Mushroom jerky and leather...mmmm...tasy...
Mushroom jerky is one of my favourite Winter snacks. In theory, it will store all year but Athena and I usually eat it pretty quickly and it never gets stored for long!
How to make your own mushroom jerky.
I like to make mine from larger Saffron Milk Caps. They’re big enough to cut thickly and meaty enough not to disappear during the drying process.
Dry. The method is simple. Cut yout mushroom into slices that are about 5 mm thick. You can go thinner but there’s not enough to chew. Thicker slices take much longer to dry and you can get bogged down in the chewing.
Place the slices into your dehydrator set on around 40 degrees centigrade and dehydrate until they are dry but still pliable. You can do the same in your oven if you put it on 40-60 degrees and leave the door open.
Marinate. The next step is to marinate the dried slices. This rehydrates them again. Some folks recommend soaking them in water and then marinating them but I think ‘why bother? just let the marinade do that job’. Marinate them overnight.
Quick tip: Add the mushrooms and the marinade into a jar or vacuum bag and vacuum seal it. This way, the marinade will get into the mushroom flesh in a couple of hours.
Dry again. Once marinated, dehydrate the mushroom slices again in the same way. Do it until they have a consistency that you like. They should be pliable and chewy and not crunchy, otr you have mushroom chips!
My favourite marinade recipe.
You can use anything to marinate your mushrooms. Barbecue sauce, soy sauce…whatever you like. Just add an extra cup of water into it to help rehydrate the mushrooms.
My favoutite recipe is –
1 cup of water to each big handful of dried mushroom slices
A small dash of Oyster Sauce
A big dash of Soy Sauce
A small dash of Mirin
a pinch of salt.
That’s it – pretty simple, though you can go as complex as you like. To get a feel for how much of everything you need, Id suggest starting with 25% Soy Sauce and 75% Water.
Caution! Athena absolutely loves mushroom jerky! She won’t leave me alone once it’s made. Maybe your canine companion will be the same!
Let me know how your mushroom jerky turns out!
One step further – mushroom leather
By blending your marinated mushrooms into a paste before drying them, you can make a tasty mushroom leather. It’s kind of like fruit leather but not quite as flexible. It’s something else yo take to munch on during your foraging trips.
Blend your marinated mushrooms to a smooth, thick pastee.Blend your marinated mushrooms to a smooth, thick paste
The process is pretty simple. Blend your marinated mushrooms as finely as you can then spread them thickly on your fruit leathers drying tray. Add a little oil to the tray to make it easy to remove the leather.
Dehydrate until the paste is now thick and leathery but not completely dehydrated. It may take a couple of attempts to work out how thick the paste should be and how thoroughly you dehydrate it to suit your personal taste. Remove and munch away!
Viola! Mushroom leather!
