Kevinmj70 Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 Found another 'Hen of the Woods' close to home today. 3kg Now I have the problem I'm sure I will wish for in years to come-how can store/perseve grifola frondosa? How much of the mushroom do you use? Just the 'fronds'? The 'stalk'? Also someone please teach me the proper terms for these parts. Thanks for all the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianf Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 You can pickle or ferment that thing. You can dehydrate it. You can saute and freeze. Or you could store it in the garbage . Not a big fan of hens. But it's pretty good for storage. Just cut it up. Keep anything that has a good texture unless dehydrating. Then you can keep anything that's clean and bug free. Then purpose each individual piece as it's best suited. As far as terminology for the parts of a hen. I'm not sure. I guess a common term is "scallops" for the individual parts of a lot of polypores. Fronds kind of works, I guess. Stem/Stipe would be the very base of the entire mushroom. I wouldn't worry about the terms. Everyone knows what everyone else is talking about under these circumstances. Nice find though, if you're into that sort of thing. Many years ago I found a hen that had beer bottle caps and a chip bag that the fungus had picked up, for some reason this turned me off from hens. Reminds me too much of dangerous assholes getting drunk and firing guns off with complete disregard for safety and sensibility. Plus, they're kind of ugly, reminds me of the garbage slime you find all over parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Or all the nooks and crannies in a really dirty restaurant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted October 12, 2015 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 Hens sometimes have little raised black dots on the white pore surface. This is likely the result on insect feces --pill bugs, centipedes. If there's not too many of these, I excise them from the mushroom, but I don't preserve such material. Sometimes I leave an entire Hen in the woods because there's just too much damage. Usually, if this problem is observed, it's with the post-mature ones. The bugs tend to move in after the mushroom has fully expanded. For nice clean Hen I use two preservation techniques... Par boil, place into canning jars, submerge in seasoned vinegar (cut with some water), chill, store in fridge for a month before eating. Keeps for over a year like this (in the fridge). Cut into manageable pieces, saute in oil, package and freeze. I keep then for years in my chest freezer like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Hens dehydrate. Dry well in my experience. I have also done a confit of maitake which preserved them well. It you have to be sure they are completely covered in oil while storing. I cut a nice one on the tree in my neighbor's yard yesterday. Going to get some cooked and most in the dehydrator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Evan, how do you use your dehydrated Hen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I like to simmer them in stock to get them rehydrated quickly and add some flavor. Then I squeeze them out slightly and sautée them. But, I guess it depends on how you plan to cook them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 If I get enough to experiment, I'll try out this approach. Not much found yet this year, and the door will be closing soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevinmj70 Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I know DaveW made his own dehydrator but any suggestions on a good one to purchase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1shotwade Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I don't have one of these but I visit some homesteading sites and all they talk about is the excaliber. That's all I know. I think it will depend on how much you are going to use it and how much you want to dehydrate at a time. Wade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted October 19, 2015 Report Share Posted October 19, 2015 It also depends on how much you want to spend. I think I paid less than $50 for mine. But it only holds so much and takes a few days to refill and run if you have a large haul of mushrooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianf Posted October 19, 2015 Report Share Posted October 19, 2015 Even inexpensive dehydrators can be real work horses. Bought two no-name ones this summer to increase drying capacity and they were dirt cheap. They've been running non-stop for a few months now. My original dehydrator was about 50-60 dollars and it's been running for a while now, suffering lots of use and abuse. They're not a super in-demand product nor are they exactly space age technology. So the ones on the market need to be of a minimum quality or they just won't sell. And as far as the technology, it's not very hard to get right so long as the manufacturing machine's can solder, you're probably going to at least get what you paid for, if not more. Just don't smash it on the ground and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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