When it comes to washing mushrooms, opinions are divided.
For some it is an absolute no-go, while others swear by washing the mushrooms.
But what's right now?
The myth in check.
Many experts advise cleaning
mushrooms
.
Because
washing mushrooms
is said to damage their aroma.
Is that correct?
The
author Harold McGee
covers the
myths
surrounding
fungus
on.
Offenbach - As if
mushrooms
weren't already a difficult food in themselves, the difficult question always arises before they are prepared: How do I best clean them?
Do I have to
wash them
or not?
Many experts recommend cleaning
mushrooms
, but we laypeople know that it is not only annoying, but also very time-consuming.
If you are unlucky, you still have sand between your teeth despite thorough scrubbing.
But what is the alternative to cleaning?
The
myth
goes
that when
mushrooms
are
washed, they will soak up
too much water and lose their aroma.
But that's not true.
The American author Harold McGee
cleared up
this
myth
in his book "The Curious Cook".
In
fact,
fungi
do not act as sponges.
“It is true that water doesn't
roll
off
mushrooms
as it does on most vegetables,” says McGee.
However, they themselves consist of over 90 percent water and can therefore no longer soak up as much water as many
consumers
think - especially not when rinsing off under the tap.
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- Harold McGee (@Harold_McGee) September 17, 2020
Self-experiment shows effects of washing mushrooms
This can be proven with a simple
self-
experiment, which McGee explains in his book.
Weigh your
mushrooms
before preparing and place them in a bowl of water.
After five minutes, take the
mushrooms
out of the water, dry them and then weigh them again.
The difference in weight before and after the water bath shows you how much
water
your mushrooms have actually soaked with.
They absorb a maximum of three percent of their own weight in water.
McGee himself did this test too.
His almost 250 grams of
mushrooms
weighed just six grams more after the water bath than before - so not a big difference.
In addition,
mushrooms
only
come
into contact with the water for a very short time
when
washing
, which means that there is virtually no absorbent effect at all.
The aroma of mushrooms does not disappear when washed
McGee was also able to refute
the
myth
that
mushrooms
lose their aroma
when
washed
.
The mushroom aroma does not have any water-soluble properties that would disappear on contact with water.
McGee strongly recommends
washing
mushrooms
before preparing and consuming them.
Mushrooms
from the supermarket in
particular
are often contaminated and very dirty.
You cannot get rid of this soiling by cleaning the surface with a tea towel, for example.
So if you don't want grains of sand between your teeth when you eat it, you should
wash your
mushrooms
thoroughly
.
The fault lies in the preparation of the mushrooms
Instead,
mushrooms
usually
lose
their aroma during preparation - especially if it is wrong.
Mushrooms
lose some of their high water content when seared.
If too much of the leaked water is in the pan, the
mushrooms will
no longer
fry
, but rather boil.
It is therefore best to only
fry
small portions of
mushrooms
in the pan so that the water that escapes can evaporate directly so as to lose as little flavor as possible.
(By Sabrina Pia Kwasniok)