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How to Store Morel Mushrooms in the Refrigerator or Freezer
See how to store Morel mushrooms in the refrigerator, freezer or jar. Have them stay fresh for up to 12 months.
Morel mushrooms are one of the most popular mushrooms to hunt because they are so unpredictable and hard to find. But most importantly is they taste amazing!
The problem is the Morel season only lasts about 4 months a year from March to June. That means if you do find some Morels and you pick a lot of them you will need to know about storing Morels correctly so you can enjoy them all year round.
The good news for you is there are ways to store them to keep them fresh for up to 12 months! Let’s take a look at the different options that you have in storing Morels after picking …
How To Clean Morel Mushrooms
The first step before choosing any of the methods below how to store fresh morels will be to clean them. To clean the Morel mushrooms you will do the following:
1) You will want to soak your fresh morel mushrooms in a bowl of cool salt water for about 2 to 3 minutes (don’t go longer than that or they could get mushy).
2) While they are soaking you will shake them around to get out any dirt and bugs.
3) Take them out of the water and give them a rinse with cold water.
4) Now make them completely dry with some paper towels (be gentle).
Now we will take a look at the best ways to keep morels fresh…
How To Store Morel Mushrooms To Keep Them Fresh All Year
1) Storing Morels Mushrooms in the Fridge
How long can you keep Morel mushrooms in the refrigerator and how to store Morels in the fridge? If you plan to eat them within the next 7 days then you can keep them in the refrigerator.
For this option:
- Put them in a paper bag or wrap them in a paper towel.
You do not want to put them in a sealed bag like a zip lock bag as that will make them go bad quickly. The bag has to be able to breath and allow moisture out.
2) Store Morels in the Freezer: Can Morel Mushrooms Be Frozen?
How to freeze Morels? Morel mushroom freezing will most likely be your best option if you want to keep your Morel mushrooms to eat longer then 7 days in the future.
For this option you will:
- Clean the Morel mushrooms and the cut them in half length ways.
- You will then put them on a cookie sheet individually so they are not touching each other.
- Put them in the freezer for a few hours until they are completely frozen.
- Remove them from the tray and place them all in a zip lock bag together and store them in the freezer for up to a year.
* You could also dip them in flour before you freeze them so they are ready to cook that way if you like flour on your Morels.
It is important freezing Morels individually first because if you put them all in the bag together fresh they will freeze together into a big chunk and ruin them.
Then…When you want to eat them you will put them directly on the hot skillet. Do NOT thaw them out first!
3) Drying Morel Mushrooms
Drying Morel mushrooms is another option. This methods would require you to resaturate them with water once you are ready to eat them.
One of the most important aspects in drying them is to make sure they are cracker dry otherwise you could run the risk of having them spoil before you get to eat them.
That would be horrible to see all your hard work of finding these delicious choice edible mushrooms go to waste.
Not to worry though…We have written an entire other article that goes into detail on the 4 different ways of drying the Morel mushrooms correctly here:
We will cover the following:
- How to set the oven correctly to dry them that way.
- Drying out your Morel mushrooms using a string and needle or some floss.
- Drying out a lot Morels using a screen door and a fan.
- For a small amount you could use a mesh bag and a fan.
- Also, to good ‘tried and true‘ way of using a food dehydrator.
Wrapping Up
Now you have the knowledge to be able to keep your Morel mushrooms fresh for the next 12 months!
That means you no longer have feel like you are picking more Morels then you should be picking. That means when you find a nice patch of Morels growing that you can be as greedy as you want and pick them all for yourself!
Then you will be able to enjoy eating the protein packed mushrooms (40% protein by weight) as well as enjoy some little known medicinal benefits. You can learn more about the Morels health benefits in another article we wrote here:
Thanks for reading and if you have any other ideas for storing mushrooms please let us know in the comments below!
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