Can you freeze morel mushrooms to preserve them for longer? Despite its unattractive appearance, morel mushroom is a rare kind with high nutritional value, which is not easy to find in nature. So you definitely want to preserve your morels for as long as possible.
Freezing is the longest preservation method for most foods, but is it the best method to keep morel mushrooms? I will give you a detailed answer as well as the best way to preserve morel mushrooms in this article.
What Are Morel Mushrooms?
Morel mushrooms, or Morchellas, are one of the rarest mushrooms in the world. This mushroom looks like a goat’s belly or a honeycomb with rough, wrinkled, rather spongy skin (1).
Morel mushrooms are quite soft and spherical. Their body is slightly elongated, with a dark brown color. Despite their unattractive appearance, morel mushrooms are still loved because of their meaty, aromatic flavor and high nutritional value.
You can rarely find morel mushrooms in nature. In limited quantities, they often grow in the bushes along the forest or riverside, clusters on rotting logs, leaves, or loamy soil. This is a valuable mushroom that people searched for to offer to kings in the past.
In addition, mushrooms grow in different locations, changing continuously from season to season, making the harvesting process difficult. To harvest, one has to get up at dawn and spend the day wandering in the forest just picking a few more mushrooms. Morel mushrooms can be processed into many delicious dishes such as stir-fried, hot pot, grilled, depending on the culture of each place and the taste of each person. They are popular in Europe, Asia, and North America.
Let’s go hunting some morel mushrooms to make the most attractive recipes!
Can You Freeze Morel Mushrooms?
The answer is yes; you can freeze morel mushrooms to preserve them better! However, you can’t simply toss your mushrooms in the freezer. Before freezing it, you have certain work to do not to damage your precious mushrooms.
Freezing morel mushrooms can help keep them fresh for up to 1 year without losing any of their nutrients, provided you freeze them properly.
One essential thing to know is that you cannot freeze fresh morel mushrooms. Since all mushrooms contain a lot of water as their main ingredient, they will turn mushy if you freeze them raw. That would ruin the entire texture and flavor of this mushroom.
You should only freeze your fresh morels if you aim to use them in soup, casserole, or stew recipes since the mushy texture will not affect so much. If not, before freezing morel mushrooms, you have to do some preliminary work and cooking.
How To Freeze Morel Mushrooms
It is not so hard to freeze your morels properly. I will guide you in detail right below with some simple steps. Let’s find out right now!
Step 1: Preparing And Cleaning
Depending on your preferences, you can keep the mushrooms whole or slice them. Then, rinse your morel mushroom under running water until all the dirt is off.
Step 2: Processing
For a mushroom to be ready to freeze, you need to cook it almost through – almost edible. Not overripe, but not unripe either. There are several cooking methods that you can choose from:
Boiling Method
This is the simplest method to prepare morel mushrooms for freezing. Your morels will last for about 9 months with this preparation method:
- Step 1: Boil a pot of water corresponding to your morels number. Add morels and boil all of them for 5 minutes more.
- Step 2: Remove the morels from the boiling water. Wait for morels to cool and drain to dry completely.
- Step 3: Put morels all in an airtight bag after removing all the air. Then morels are ready to be frozen in the freezer.
Sautéing Method
When using a sauteing method to prepare your morels, you can use them within 9 months to 1 year. You need to know that Freeze sauteed morels will be firmer. They go well with pasta, pizza, and stir-fry recipes. To make the saute as simple as possible, follow these easy steps:
- Step 1: Melt a little butter or add some oil in a saute pan. Add morel mushrooms (sliced or whole). Saute at medium temperature, stir slowly to keep the flavor.
- Step 2: Add salt, pepper, onion, or garlic if you want. Keep stirring gently often, so morels cook evenly on all sides.
- Step 3: Stop sauteing when the liquid is about to drain. Cool morels for 5 minutes to release all the liquid.
- Step 4: Store sauteed morels with some liquid to keep their flavor longer. Leave a bit of space in the bag in case morels expand. Keep the bag airtight and freeze your morels.
Blanching Method
With this method, you may keep your morels frozen for longer, within around 1 year. You can do blanching effortlessly following these steps:
- Step 1: Boil water with a few drops of lemon juice. Add morel mushrooms right when the water is just boiling.
- Step 2: Wait until the water reboils. Wait a bit more before removing the mushrooms.
- Step 3: Cool them in a bowl of cold water. Let them dry totally before putting them in a ziplock bag and freezing.
Steaming Method
Steaming will retain the most texture and flavor of morels. So after defrosting, steamed morels can be used for both soup and stir-fry recipes. This preprocessing method can also keep morel mushrooms frozen the longest, for 1 year and even more.
- Step 1: Prepare the steamer to keep morels apart from the water. Keep morels above the boiling water so only the steam will cook them.
- Step 2: Use a lid to cover your morels and keep the steam inside. For whole morels, steam for 5 minutes. For sliced ones, steam for 2-3 minutes.
- Step 3: Remove the morels and cool them down in a cold water bowl. Drain your mushrooms until they dry perfectly. Place them in an airtight bag and put them in the freezer.
Learn how to freeze morels properly by these simple methods!
How To Defrost Morel Mushrooms
As with most foods, you shouldn’t defrost morel mushrooms in water or at room temperature, and definitely not in the microwave. Sudden temperature changes will destroy the texture and flavor of the mushrooms.
Instead, gently transfer the mushrooms to the refrigerator compartment to defrost. This will help the mushrooms be thawed slowly in cool temperatures and retain their texture. You may be surprised that morel mushrooms are still very hard after thawing for a while. But you can rest assured to process it after 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Other Ways To Store Morel Mushroom
In addition to preserving morel mushrooms by freezing them, you still have many other ways to keep them fresh. Here are a few for reference:
Drying Method
To dry morels for long-term storage, you can dry the mushrooms in a food dryer at 110 degrees F and set the time for 10 hours. In addition to the dryer, you can also dry the mushrooms in the oven for 8 to 10 hours. Keep the oven at the lowest temperature.
If you want to dry morel mushrooms naturally, string them on and dry them for 1-2 days in a dry, dark place. After drying the mushrooms, put them in an airtight container and leave them at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
To rehydrate dry morel mushrooms, you should put them in cool water for about 15 – 20 minutes. When you see the mushrooms get back their shape and texture, they are already rehydrated. You can use this water for cooking since it keeps mushroom flavor through dipping.
Refrigerating Method
There are many methods of preserving fresh morel mushrooms, but in my experience, blanching will help preserve fresh mushrooms the longest compared to doing nothing or other processing methods.
All you need to do is boil a pot of water (you can add a few drops of lemon). When the water boils, blanch all of your morel mushrooms for about 3 minutes for sliced morels and 5 minutes for the whole ones.
Then, you wait for the mushrooms to drain and dry completely before putting them in the storage box. You can keep fresh mushrooms this way in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Refer to the professional methods to store morel mushrooms properly!
Tips To Preserve Morel Mushroom Better
There are some tips and tricks you must know while freezing and storing your morel mushrooms:
- You should wash your morels carefully since this is an important factor to keep them fresh longer. Any dirt must be removed; each morel must be rinsed and dried totally.
- Morel mushrooms readily absorb the odors of other foods, so keep them in a tightly sealed airtight bag and away from strong-smelling foods.
- When putting morels in the storing bag, you have to spread them out in rows instead of stacking them to avoid bruising.
Benefits Of Morel Mushrooms
Not only a delicious dish that makes the culinary world passionate, but morel mushrooms also contain a lot of nutrients, bringing great benefits for health:
Rich in Antioxidants
Morels contain high antioxidants that help prevent free radicals that cause aging and age-related diseases.
When we oxidize food to produce energy, these free radicals are released. These unstable atoms can damage and destroy cells, making the human body sick. Adding antioxidants to the body will help prevent this.
Rich in Vitamin E
In addition, among the edible mushrooms, morel mushrooms are the richest in vitamin D. Every 100g of morel mushrooms contains up to 34% of the daily need for vitamin D, which helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Rich In Minerals
Iron and phosphorus are also two substances found in morel mushrooms. Iron works to prevent anemia because this is the substance that helps form red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body. Phosphorus offers similar benefits and plays an important role in keeping bones strong (2).
Learn more about 3 proven health benefits of morel mushrooms!
Fantastic Recipes With Morel Mushrooms
Do you have no idea what to do with your morels? I have some tasteful recipes for you to try this weekend. You can use them to elevate the taste of morels to the next level!
Morel Mushroom Risotto
Using simple ingredients, including morels and rice, can create risotto. The wonderful creamy texture with a hint of sweet earthy morels will awaken your taste buds. The ingredients blend together to create an attractive overall taste too.
Sautéed Morel Mushrooms
One of the simplest morel recipes is sauteed. You can pick up any spices and ingredients you love in this saute pan. The amazing aroma when the smoke from the pan rises will make you ecstatic. Morel also becomes sweeter and richer after stir-frying.
Chicken with Morel Mushrooms
Combining chicken with morels is a smart choice. Both enhance each other’s deliciousness. Add a little spice like black pepper and butter. The attractiveness will be indisputable! All the jobs can be done effortlessly in the oven.
Try this rich, creamy and tasty French chicken with morels recipe now!
Pork Chops In Morel Mushroom Sauce
Pork chops have never been so delicious with just a little morel sauce. Morel mushrooms add some earthy notes to your pork, blended with the richness of the cream, which will take your boring meat dish to the next level.
FAQs
Learn more about all the things around your morels and how to keep them fresh! You will definitely find some more interesting facts about this mushroom in these questions!
Let’s freeze your morel mushrooms right now!
After reading this post, I believe that you have at least answered the question of whether it is possible to freeze your mushroom. Not only that, but I have also provided you with ways to preserve mushrooms for as long as possible.
Now, try following my steps to freeze your mushrooms. And then, come back in the comments to let me know your experience! Don’t forget to make more dishes with morels and share this post!
