How To Dry and Dehydrate Morel Mushrooms | 4 Ways To Make Them Cracker Dry

See how to dry Morel mushrooms so they will be ‘cracker dry’ and taste just a fresh as when you first picked them up to a year later.

Morel mushroom season only lasts for 4 months and  you will need to figure out a way to store them so you can enjoy eating them for the other 8 months of the year.

Drying out your Morels is one option to store your Morels for use up to a year later.  The only difference is you will need to re-saturate them with water before you cook them by soaking them in water for 15 to 20 minutes.

Now let’s see how to dry Morel mushrooms…

How To Dry Morel Mushrooms in 4 Different Ways

Before you dry your fresh Morel mushroom you will want to make sure they are clean by:

1. Soak the Morels in salt water for 2 to 3 minutes.  Shake them while in the water to get out any bugs and dirt.
2. Rinse them and make sure they are thoroughly dry before starting the below steps.

* Don’t soak them too long or they will get mushy.

Now lets go over the different drying processes.

1)  Dry Morels With a Food Dehydrator

1. Place your cut Morels on the trays even spread out from touching each other.
2. Set the temperature to low (around 110 degrees Fahrenheit).
3. Allow it to run for 8 to 10 hours.

When you Morel mushrooms are cracker dry (meaning they break when you try to bend them) then they are ready to store.

Then put them in a sealed mason jar or a zip lock beg to be stored in.  You can place them in the freezer or the cupboard at this point.

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2)  Dry Morels in an Oven

If you don’t have a dehydrator you can use an oven to dry them.  For this you will do the following:

1. Place your Morels on a cookie sheet.
2. Set your oven to the lowest possible temperature (below 140 degrees Fahrenheit).
3. Leave the oven door open a crack.
4. Leave them in for 4 to 6 hours until completely dry (do not want to cook them by accident).

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3)  Dry Morels with a String

For this drying method you will need a string or some dental floss and a needle…

1. Keep your Morel mushroom whole and stick a needle with string near the bottom of the base of the Morel.
2. String a bunch together like a big Morel necklace leaving 1/2 an inch in between each Morel.
3. Hang them in a cool dry place for 2 day to 1 week until they are completely dry.

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4)  Drying Morel Mushrooms with a Fan

For this you will:

1. Remove a big screen door from it’s hinges in your house and place on a couple 2×4 boards in the garage.
2. Put your whole Morels right next to each other all over the screen area of the door.
3. Place a fan at one end of the screen door and keep it turned on so it will continue to blow air to dry the Morels.

Leave them alone for for 2 to 3 days and then they should turn in to small little rocks of dry Morels.

If you don’t have that many you could just hang them in a mesh bag (like an onion bag) with a fan on them for about 48 hours and they should be dry that way.

Conclusion

It is important that when you dry your Morel mushrooms that they are completely dry otherwise they could spoil later on.

Some people also like to just put them in the sun to dry them however it is not recommended to put them in direct sun light.

The easiest way to tell is to try and bend them.  Instead of bending it should break just like a cracker would.

There really isn’t one method of drying your Morels that is better then the other as long as you make them completed dry.

If you have a lot you may want to do the screen door method.  If you wan to ensure they perfectly dry very quickly then you may want to use the dehydrator method.

It’s really a balance of:

1. How many Morels you need to dry.
2. How fast you want they to dry.
3. The easiest method to use for your situation and what you have available.

You may also want to consider storing your Morel mushrooms in another method like freezing them.  You don’t have to resaturate them and they will last just as long.  Checkout our other article here:

Thanks for reading and let us know any ways to dry that we didn’t mention by leaving a comment below.