There really is no substitute for fresh mushrooms in everyday cooking, but we can get pretty close. Of course they can always be pickled for long term storage, but there’s another method, almost in between a pickle and a marinade: the almighty conserve.
I’ve seen mushroom “conserva” and “conserve” both on the menus of various restaurants. They’re generally going to be the same thing, conserva just being the Italian translation.
The real magic about mushroom conserve is that it lacks the low ph of most pickling liquids, but it’s actually still safe enough to can in a water bath. Kept under their liquid, the mushrooms will stay for a very long time. Some recipes online will say they keep for about a month, let me tell you though, I have kept mushrooms stored like this in restaurants for over a year, having no loss in the quality of the product.
Hedgehog mushrooms are excellent prepared like this too.
Mind Your PH
I never canned this in restaurants, since there’s walk in coolers, but for home use, you want something shelf stable. I did an experiment to test if this could be canned in 2017, I suspected it could, but I wanted to be 100% sure. Here’s the skinny: general standards for pickling and canning say that you want to have a PH under 4.6 or lower for hermetically sealed foods. Canning food in a pressure canner doesn’t require a low PH as the temperature exceeds 242F, which is enough on it’s own to ward off botulism. Foods canned in a water bath canner (like this can be) only reach 212F (the boiling point of water), and that isn’t enough on it’s own to prevent botulism, so lowering the PH with acid or vinegar is necessary.
To find a sweet spot PH level, I started with 2 cups of liquid and then started adding vinegar, stirring to incorporate, and then testing the PH at 1 and 2 minute intervals to make sure I got a steady reading. The moral of the story is that mushroom conserve here, consistently came in at right around 3.6, which is way under what you need to be safe, and adding more vinegar eventually made PH level plateau at right around 3.2, which begs the question of why we would ever pickle something in 100% vinegar, which plenty of mushroom pickles call for. Anything preserved in 100% vinegar is far too strong for me. The lower amount of vinegar in conserve recipes gives you an advantage in that the mushrooms retain more of their flavor, making them more versatile.
You can also store the conserve in a jar, just make sure everything is covered by liquid.
The End-All Wild Mushroom Preserve
I guarantee you, once you try this recipe, you may never want to simply pickle mushrooms again.
I used hedgehog and chanterelle mushroom in the pictures here because they’re probably my favorite for conserve but you could use a lot of different mushroom species, epecially if they’re in the button stage. If it’s a mushroom you can pick, it can probably be conserved, and wild mushroom blends are good too. One thing to know though, is that aborted entolomas and any species of puffball I like to caramelize until lightly golden in oil before the vinegar and liquid is added, otherwise they just don’t taste as good, a bit like some cousin of crumpled tofu.
Conserve is a great garnish for entrees, pictured is chicken of the woods with rainbow trout.
There’s a couple things that are good to know about preserving mushrooms this way, and I would give the same advice for pickles. Here are some tricks I’ve learned after using this recipe for years. At one restaurant, I used to make this in 80lb batches, weekly– I might know a thing or two about it.
- Only use young mushrooms for conserve and pickles, small tight buttons will yield the highest quality product. Larger, more mature mushrooms are better dried.
- Don’t go crazy with the flavoring ingredients. Adding a whole bunch of herbs, garlic and spices will make your mushroom conserve (or pickles for that matter) taste like medicine. Start with my tested proportions and get creative later.
How I Use It
This is how a lot of chefs preserve mushrooms en-masse, and, although they have a little acid to them, and they’re in a container of liquid, it definitely doesn’t mean that they’re to be relegated to a bloody mary skewer or part of a pickle plate. Oh hayll no. Like I mentioned, wet preservation like this is probably the best way to keep the texture of fresh mushrooms, salting comes in a close second, but then they need to be rinsed and soaked before hand. With mushroom conserve, all you do is pull them out of the jar and warm them up if you want. Easy money.
Warmed up with a slice of brie on top and served with a salad and lunch is served.
Most of the time, I like to warm these up and add them to a dish, as a garnish to finish a plate, or as part of a warm salad, or appetizer. They can even be an appetizer in themselves. Baked in a dish with a little liquid and topped with a slice of brie and melted under the broiler in an oven, they’re ridiculously good spooned on toast, with a green salad on the side to cut the richness. I’m sure you can figure out plenty of things to do with them, if you don’t end up eating them out of the jar standing in front of the fridge.
Wild Mushroom Conserve
Ingredients
- Scant 2 lbs small young mushroom buttons chanterelles are my favorite
- 3 cloves 7 grams garlic thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup flavorless oil for sauteeing grapeseed or canola
- 1 teaspoon 5 grams kosher salt a generous teaspoon
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup white wine or apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme fresh only
- 2 dried bay leaves or use fresh
Instructions
- Read through the entire recipe before proceeding.
- Rinse your mushrooms with water while you clean them to ensure they'll have liquid to give up when they hit the heat.
- In a wide pan with high sides, or a soup pot, gently heat the oil and the sliced garlic slowly on medium heat until the garlic begins to turn golden. Take your time here, as the more color you can put on the garlic, the better the finished product will taste. Do not burn the garlic.
- When the garlic is perfectly golden, add the mushrooms, salt and herbs, stir so the salt can help draw out the mushroom liquid, then cover the pan, cooking on medium heat, and allow the mushrooms to give up their juice and halt the cooking of the garlic. The mushrooms should give off a good amount of water.
- Once the mushrooms have wilted and given up their juice, add the water and vinegar, then bring the mixture to a boil.
- Finally, put the mushrooms in a quart jar, pack them down, then bring the liquid back to a boil, and pour the boiling liquid over the mushrooms. Wiggle a chopstick around in the jar to get out air pockets.
- Press the mushrooms down to make sure they are completely covered with liquid--add a little oil to cover if they threaten to pop up, then screw on the lid, and turn the jar upside down to seal. You will have extra liquid leftover. From here, as long as the jar is sealed, the mushrooms will last until next season. You can also process the jar(s) in a water bath like regular pickles. Store opened jars in the fridge.
This sounds delicious, and I would like to try it. But it sounds like you are saying that you don’t actually need to do the whole canning bath thing if you want to can these. Is that right? You can just pour hot liquid in then seal by flipping upside down?
Congratulations on your article in
The Minnesota Conservation Magazine.
Thanks Maddy. Between you and me, it was interesting. Editors want you to write so descriptive sometimes it can feel like a dessert with too much sugar IMO. They approached me with an article idea and I was happy to tackle the project though, and next time, when I pitch an idea, I think it will feel a little more natural. It took a lot of time and back and forth for that little blurb, not to mention images!
I do not have champagne vinegar. Alternative based on flavour or Acetic Acid percentage should I look for?
Use white wine or cider vinegar.
Thank you. I will try and find champagne vinegar. What about this choice do you use it in many recipes?
I prefer champagne vinegar only slightly to white wine, but I buy mine from a wholesale purveyor, it’s from https://www.beaufortoliveoil.com/specialty-vinegars
You can substitute any good tasting, light colored vinegar. Apple cider and white wine are fine. You will love the mushroom conserve, probably the most used recipe on the whole site.
Thank you for differentiating choices in the vinegar. Some can be very different in acid content or by flavours imparted. Example balsamic vs cider vinegar.. Even many different aging if balsamic can be found the alter complexities. When choosing vinegar in culinary uses I hope to find a defined one listed (not necessarily a brand) that has an impact on end result of the preparation when served. Would you comment on this.
I feel the same way, it’s very important to know the vinegar you’re using. For example, red fruit pairs the best with red wine vinegar, and apples should be paired with apple cider vinegar, generally speaking.
Love your site. Most of my favorite mushroom recipes live here :).
Just made a b. Edulis conserva. To-die-for good!!!
Glad you like it, it’s one of my favorites.
Hi Alan,
Love your website. Can I ask if you store this mushroom preserve in jars sealed in a water bath do you have to refrigerate afterwards or can it be stored in the pantry?
It only needs to be refrigerated after it’s open. Yes, you can absolutely store it in a pantry.
Thanks for the recipe! This is my first time making a mushroom conserve after foraging pine mushrooms. I followed the recipe & I filled the mushrooms to a 1/4 inch from the top and added the juice to the top of the jar, Then I can boiled it for 15 mins. The seal is intact but it looks now that there is less juice in the jar & the mushrooms are protruding a bit above the juice (about 1/4 inch). Is it sealed properly even though this has happened? Will it keep a year despite this? Many thanks!
It’s fine. The pH of the jar is so low you don’t need to worry.
Thanks so much for your prompt reply! 🙂
Thanks for this info! When you did your pH tests, was that the acidity of the liquid or the acidity of the mushrooms themselves? It seems to me that to make sure it’s safe for canning, one would need to make sure the entire mushroom was held at that acidity level, not just that the pickling medium was at that acidity.
I’m going to try this with some smooth chanterelles and cinabars I just picked, but I think I’m still going to keep it in the fridge rather than can it.
The mushrooms are completely saturated with liquid. We used to sell this commercially at Heartland to the general public, and it is completely, utterly safe. I have another friend who is selling it commercially as I type this. At your house, you do what you want though. The vast amount of pickling recipes online for mushrooms assassinate the mushrooms with vinegar.
If I do a water bath for quart jars, what would be the process time?
10-12 minutes should be fine. Pack the conserve into the jars hot.
Hi Alan, would you recommend this recipe for black trumpets? I have approx 5 pounds of them and I’d prefer not drying them if I can help it.
Thanks for the fantastic recipes! This is always my go to place after foraging.
Hi Wes, yes I would. You can probably fit more in a jar than what’s described here, and you may need to increase the liquid/brine slightly using the same proportions to maintain the proper pH as this is built for chunky mushrooms after they’re washed. That being sad, it would be great. I’d also point you to the black trumpet puree, and from there, spinning that into some tasty black trumpet butter which freezes well. I’m simmering some trumpets to make it as I type this. 🙂
Thanks for the quick reply! I just watched your video for cleaning them and saw you didn’t soak them like some other videos I saw. The water turns a dark colour and has a great aroma so I’m worried about losing some of the flavor that way.
How would this work with comb tooth?
Just fine. Wash/dunk them to make sure they have enough water to give off if they’re dry.
Have you tried this method with Grifola frondosa? I usually just slice them up and freeze then vacuum pack but would love to try this method for some of them this season.
Yes, hundreds of pounds of them. Proceed with confidence.
Thanks for sharing your expertise, Chef!
Due to this stupid coronavirus, I am spending more time foraging my local woods here in Scotland, and they are bouncing with first class fungi, so I came here looking for advice and help: yours is superb.
Wow! The liquid is so delicious and I had leftover so I simmered some zucchini in it and canned them. I am going to refrigerate those though because I wasn’t sure on storage. Any other ideas on how to use this liquid for canning other things like veggies? I’m going to be on the lookout for more hedgehogs, but with the taste of this brine I would make it again and use it for all kinds of things. Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
I can’t speak to other vegetables, but if you keep the ratio of liquid to vinegar the same it would be fine. As mushroom water content can be highly variable, it’s normal to have some leftover, much better than to not have enough.
For sure! Thanks again.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I am not a huge fan of pickles but I wanted to add an additional way to preserve mushrooms to my repertoire. I would not use a quart at a time for my cooking so I am going to try this recipe but can it in half pint jars. I will update my comment and let you know if it works! I just found a few pounds of hedgehogs. 😊
You can keep the opened jars in the fridge. Scale the recipe to whatever mason jar size you like.
Can I reduce the salt by 25% without affecting shelf stability? Thanks!
Yes of course. You can also cut the liquid with equal parts vinegar and water if you made a batch that’s too strong for you.
I recently was successful at getting Laetiporus cincinnatus to fruit in my backyard. I used the technique for cultivation of Grifola by burying the log segments and there are many fragments of dirt and grass in it. One of the pictures on your website shows a white pored Laetiporus coming out of a log. was this a hardwood or conifer and what state was it found in? Maybe I need to try putting the logs upright and only partly buried, or find something, possibly straw, that they can grow through without getting contaminated. Why not dry them for lpreservation?
Hi Charles, the white pored Laetiporus in my picture was coming out of a hardwood log. It was in a middle-esque stage of decay. I prefer not to dry them unless I want to make powder, the texture suffers…personal preference, I know many dry them.