With the first colors of autumn transforming landscapes and temperatures, our tables also change menus, and are enriched with many typical recipes of this season. Many of these choose mushrooms as the ingredient of choice, and in particular porcini mushrooms, capable of giving our dishes a touch of delicious refinement that never hurts. And that can conquer even the most demanding palates.

This is why many people wonder how to best preserve porcini mushrooms throughout the year, without losing their flavors, consistency and above all their organoleptic properties. So let's discover together how to proceed with the right preservation of these precious delicacies, so as to enjoy them with every bite in all seasons of the year.

How to choose and clean porcini mushrooms

Before going to see how to preserve porcini mushrooms, it is appropriate to identify the characteristics that can help us in choosing mushrooms. Along with the useful procedures for their correct cleaning. First of all, we must know how to recognize a porcino mushroom, a common name given to some species of mushrooms of the Boletus genus. This has a wide dark brown cap - it can reach up to 35 cm in diameter - and a stem with decidedly lighter shades. The advice is to choose mushrooms without bruises, without blackened parts and that do not have the classic holes caused by worms on the surface. To the touch, then, they must be firm and compact, while the smell should return a rather intense scent of moss.

When porcini mushrooms are picked, we must avoid washing them under running water: their characteristic spongy consistency leads them to absorb large quantities of water which, during cooking, is released, dispersing taste and aromas. Instead of washing under water, we must then equip ourselves with a small knife, a brush and a linen cloth - alternatively, absorbent paper is fine. We then eliminate the earthy end part of the stem, separating all the stems from the caps and filing off any bruised parts. Armed with a brush, gently pass it over the parts to be cleaned, eliminating soil residues and any impurities. Finally, rub the entire body of the mushroom with a carefully wet and squeezed cloth or with more practical absorbent paper.

How to dry porcini mushrooms and how to store them

Exquisite when eaten fresh, porcini mushrooms are also suitable for drying. This is one of the most common methods of preserving them, and it refers to the culinary tradition of our grandparents. Today, however, there are more practical, fast and efficient drying systems than the classic ones. Methods that allow us to have our beloved mushrooms available every day of the year, to then use them in many delicious recipes, such as risotto, tagliolini or a simple frying. With the food dehydrator B-dry by Ariete, in fact, we can effectively and easily dehydrate fruit, vegetables, meat, aromatic herbs and, precisely, mushrooms, exploiting the technology of a machine that will be one of our most precious allies in the kitchen.

As we said, drying is one of the oldest food preservation techniques, which was used especially in peasant tradition to preserve large harvests of fruit and vegetables for a long period of time. This is possible because the drying process eliminates the water present in foods, avoiding the proliferation of bacteria potentially dangerous for our health and that of our family members. In addition, dehydration maintains their organoleptic properties unaltered, without the need to add additives or preservatives that could compromise both taste and aroma.

Thanks to the uniform heat distribution, and the adjustable temperature from 35 to 70°C, the Ariete dehydrator completely evaporates the water and at the same time does not let the mineral salts and vitamins present in the mushrooms disperse. The 5 transparent baskets with lid are perfect for checking the progress of the drying process, and are 100% BPA Free - therefore made without bisphenol A. In this way we will always have dried porcini mushrooms available at home to prepare a tasty mushroom risotto or a mushroom sauce to season fresh tagliatelle. We just need to dry them and store them in a dry place or even better in the freezer and, in a few moments, rehydrate them in a little water: we will find all the true flavor and the unmistakable scent of fresh mushrooms.