Home › Preserving › Mushrooms

Mushrooms

Mushrooms may be canned as easily as fruit and much easier than some vegetables. The buttons, ranging in size from the smallest to those with the cup breaking from the stem, are most desirable for canning, as they remain firm and white after being heated. Clean by peeling, or by wiping with a cloth, removing any soiled spots or earth which may have adhered to them; cut the stems short, leaving from one half to one whole inch of stem attached to the cap.

Pack in sterilized jars, shaking down meanwhile; prepare three cans for each two to be filled. Cover the large receptacle and let cook until the mushrooms cease shrinking, then fill two jars from the third, using boiling water to finish filling the jars if there is not enough of the mushroom liquor; adjust the rubber rings, set the lids in place but do not tighten them, cover the cooker, and let cook half an hour. Tighten the covers and set aside. Often this much of sterilization will suffice, but to make sure, it is thought best to return the cans, unopened, to the boiler or cooker for one hour on the two following days. An hour is needed, as the cans are cold. With more experiments, the necessary time of cooking may probably be found to be less.