how do you clean your mushrooms?

"Jude" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.

I just brush them off with a paper towel.

Gabby

Alton Brown "Good Eats" had a show not too long ago about this very subject.
After doing some testing, first weighing then soaking different test groups
for different amounts of time. He determined that the mushrooms "soaked up"
very little water. 4 ounces of mushrooms only gained like .1 of an ounce.
In fact they soaked up as much with a quick rinse as they did with a 20
minute soak.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_36653,00.html
I have never had a problem rinsing and wiping with a paper towel.
Enjoy!
HM

"Jude" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

You can get a special mushroom brush. It has soft bristles and works quite
well. I have found that using water does not harm unless you plan to saute
the mushrooms. If they are going in a stew or soup it makes no difference.

--
Peter Aitken

Remove the [censored] from my email address before using.

"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Jude" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

If they're dirty, I wash em - I'm a bit squeemish when it comes to eating
fungus.

Elaine

"Jude" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

I don't. I think it's much ado about nothing, I just rinse them off.
Sorry, I am not eating manure.

As a matter of fact, Alton did a myth buster show, where he actually
soaked mushrooms for up to a half hour and the amount of water
weight gain was negligible.

nancy

In article said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.

Dunno about pesticides, but they grow 'em in [censored].

Quoted message said:

I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

According to the mushroom bags provided by the local supermarkets:
"To prepare for cooking and eating, wipe or brush mushrooms gently --
no need to wash or peel them."

However, I've seen them growing, so I wash them. And if the skins are
noticeably discoloured, I peel them too. (But I admit that this sort
of two bob each way would not be acceptable behaviour to the cultists
from either side of the mushroom peeling divide.)

Quoted message said:

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

Pesticides? That would be the least of your worries with mushrooms. They
don't grow them in fields where the bugs and rodents can eat them. They are
grown in trays of rotted manure in dark buildings.

I just run them under water and rub them with my fingers. I haven't caught
anything from them (yet). A friend of my brothers insists that they have
to be peeled. He has a thing about the excrement they are grown in.

Quoted message said:

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

They are nice lightly sautéed in butter with a little bit of salt and
pepper and just a few drops of lemon juice.

Phred said:

Dunno about pesticides, but they grow 'em in [censored].

Do they really? I thought mushrooms were grown in decaying vegetable
matter, sort of like the way seeds sometimes grow in the compost heap (a
compost heap of only garden clippings and no animal products whatsoever).

--Lia

Phred wrote:
<snipp>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef

stroganoff

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles,

with

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad

with

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

homemade honey mustard dressing.

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

Rinse off the tops and any apron. Not the gills, unless you want the
grit washed into the gills. Snip the tough part of the stalk if the
texture is a bit tough.

Pierre

"Nancy Young" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

As a matter of fact, Alton did a myth buster show, where he actually
soaked mushrooms for up to a half hour and the amount of water
weight gain was negligible.

May not make much difference if you're cooking them, but washed mushrooms
served raw, as you often find in a vegetable and dip arrangement, are gross.

Gabby

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb

water,

Quoted message said:

but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of

pesticides.

Quoted message said:

I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel

and

Quoted message said:

it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

Cultivated mushroom growing medium is not "dirt/dirty", it's sterile
humus, it's 100% organic and contains no pesticides (washing doesn't
remove pesticides anyway, they're systemic). The growing medium can't
harm you, it's removal is strictly aesthetic. I remove excess growing
medium by first cutting away the very bottom of the stem, and then
brushing/wiping away clinging particles with a dry cloth dish towel (I
find so-called mushroom brushes useless). But it also depends on how
the mushrooms will be used since wiping a quantity of mushrooms can be
tedious, so if they will go into soups/stews or otherwise cooked in
liquid anyway then I will rinse them with water... if they are going to
be sauted or eaten raw as crudites then I wipe. There is never any
reason to 'peel' mushrooms but one may want to pare away any bruised
portions. Folks tend not to realize that one of the most important
elements regarding cooking is that heat sterilizes. And there is no
way to avoid ingesting a considerable quantity of 'dirt' in ones
lifetime, not on this planet. Since mushroom growing medium is humous
and humous is the organic matter of soil and mushrooms (as are all
growing things) are composed entirely of organic matter, then ingesting
the organic growing medium is no different from ingesting the mushroom
itself... or any other growing thing. Ingesting some mushroom growing
medium is no worse than eating your morning flakies, in fact your
flakies probably aren't TOTALly organic and are also fortified with
various nefarious nutrients... not to mention the grains it's made from
was never wiped let alone washed. Btw, folks who agonize over
ingesting insect parts, rodent droppings, and 'dirt' are in fact
certifiably psychotic... anyone fretting about mushroom growing medium
is deeply disturbed... anyone who peels mushrooms is no less deranged
than a serial killer, in fact scientific investigation has proven that
the one thing all serial killers have in common is that their mothers
peeled mushrooms.

Sheldon

Living in a town where we have a mushroom farm and knowing that they are
deffinately grown in [censored]...i make sure that they are washed..I put them in
a bowl and sprinkle flour on them and then run water onto them and swish
them around..the flour helps remove any stuck on stuff..
"Dave Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

Pesticides? That would be the least of your worries with mushrooms. They
don't grow them in fields where the bugs and rodents can eat them. They are
grown in trays of rotted manure in dark buildings.

I just run them under water and rub them with my fingers. I haven't caught
anything from them (yet). A friend of my brothers insists that they have
to be peeled. He has a thing about the excrement they are grown in.

Quoted message said:

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

They are nice lightly sautéed in butter with a little bit of salt and
pepper and just a few drops of lemon juice.

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

I don't care what "they" say, I dont' want dirt or grit in my food, so
I wash my mushrooms. I usually do it right before preparation, so they
don't sit in water, and I allow just enough time for them to dry
before they get sliced or chopped or whatever and tossed into the pan.
I have never yet had "soggy" mushrooms, or had a problem with excess
water from mushrooms ruining a dish.

Cathy

Peel a mushroom?? LOL.. they may as well flute them.... by the case.

As stated earlier, if absolutely necessary, wipe with a dry cloth unless
they are destined to be in liquid.

"Jude" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

Just before using them I rince them - I think the soggy mushrooms is a food
myth.

Dimitri

Good Eats
Episode EA1H22

AIR TIMES:
February 05, 2005 8:00 AM ET/PT
February 24, 2005 10:00 PM ET/PT
February 25, 2005 2:00 AM ET/PT

Myth Smashers
Sure, cooking is full of rules, sayings, and axioms but do they all hold
water? Join host Alton Brown as he sears meat, washes mushrooms, oils the
pasta water and tries to blow-up water.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

I rinse mine well in a colander WITH WATER! I don't worry about the
excess water.

Just drain them well, and cook down the juice. Mushrooms naturally
release quite a bit of liquid when you cook them fresh.

If you are worried about the excess liquid, used canned ones and drain
them well.

Not the same tho'. :-P

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles
tend to get caught between the ears causing truth decay- so be sure
to use mental floss twice a day. -- Swami Beyondanada

Quoted message said:

,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dave Smith said:

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

Pesticides? That would be the least of your worries with mushrooms. They
don't grow them in fields where the bugs and rodents can eat them. They are
grown in trays of rotted manure in dark buildings.

But, that "rotted manure" (aka "compost) is sterilized prior to growing
them. ;-) If you don't sterilize mushroom media, you don't get good
yields!

I've been studying mushroom cultivation lately as I'd like to grow some
of the more expensive ones here myself.

This site has an excellent price on pre-innocuated grow bags:

http://www.fungiperfecti.com/kits/index.html

In my web research on growing mushrooms, I ran across numerous
references for growing "magic" mushrooms as well. Talk about a lot of
work! <lol> Some of them start off with sterile culture plates! You grow
them in jars of rice flour and have to make sure that you maintain
sterility and cleanliness thru the entire process for maximum yields.

It appears that that also goes for a lot of edible mushroom growing as
well.

Fascinating subject!

So, even if you choose NOT to wash, rinse, or otherwise clean your
mushrooms, you are probably not going to have any problems with
"contamination.

And, oh, they don't use pesticides when growing mushrooms.....
It's detrimental to the mycelial (root) growth.

Quoted message said:

I just run them under water and rub them with my fingers. I haven't caught
anything from them (yet). A friend of my brothers insists that they have
to be peeled. He has a thing about the excrement they are grown in.

It is sterilized (autoclaved) "excrement"...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

They are nice lightly sautéed in butter with a little bit of salt and
pepper and just a few drops of lemon juice.

Oh yes... with a cream gravy over toast!

Quoted message said:

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles
tend to get caught between the ears causing truth decay- so be sure
to use mental floss twice a day. -- Swami Beyondanada

Quoted message said:

,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra

In article <[email hidden]>,

Sheldon said:

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb

water,

Quoted message said:

but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of

pesticides.

Quoted message said:

I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel

and

Quoted message said:

it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

Cultivated mushroom growing medium is not "dirt/dirty", it's sterile
humus, it's 100% organic and contains no pesticides (washing doesn't
remove pesticides anyway, they're systemic). The growing medium can't
harm you, it's removal is strictly aesthetic. I remove excess growing
medium by first cutting away the very bottom of the stem, and then
brushing/wiping away clinging particles with a dry cloth dish towel (I
find so-called mushroom brushes useless). But it also depends on how
the mushrooms will be used since wiping a quantity of mushrooms can be
tedious, so if they will go into soups/stews or otherwise cooked in
liquid anyway then I will rinse them with water... if they are going to
be sauted or eaten raw as crudites then I wipe. There is never any
reason to 'peel' mushrooms but one may want to pare away any bruised
portions. Folks tend not to realize that one of the most important
elements regarding cooking is that heat sterilizes. And there is no
way to avoid ingesting a considerable quantity of 'dirt' in ones
lifetime, not on this planet. Since mushroom growing medium is humous
and humous is the organic matter of soil and mushrooms (as are all
growing things) are composed entirely of organic matter, then ingesting
the organic growing medium is no different from ingesting the mushroom
itself... or any other growing thing. Ingesting some mushroom growing
medium is no worse than eating your morning flakies, in fact your
flakies probably aren't TOTALly organic and are also fortified with
various nefarious nutrients... not to mention the grains it's made from
was never wiped let alone washed. Btw, folks who agonize over
ingesting insect parts, rodent droppings, and 'dirt' are in fact
certifiably psychotic... anyone fretting about mushroom growing medium
is deeply disturbed... anyone who peels mushrooms is no less deranged
than a serial killer, in fact scientific investigation has proven that
the one thing all serial killers have in common is that their mothers
peeled mushrooms.

Sheldon

<snicker>
Nice rant... ;-)

Check out that site I posted Shel'.
It looks like a lot of fun, and other mushrooms can be very interesting!
I personally adore Oyster mushrooms!

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles
tend to get caught between the ears causing truth decay- so be sure
to use mental floss twice a day. -- Swami Beyondanada

Quoted message said:

,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra

In article <[email hidden]>,

cathy said:

Jude said:

Thye say not to wash them necasue they get all soggy and absorb water,
but they are always so dirty and i know the dirt is full of pesticides.
I've been told to brush the dirt off but it;s hard to really get them
clean that wasy. Last night I tried rubbing them with a paper towel and
it got the big chunks of dirt but rubbed in some of it as well.

How do you clean them well enough without water?

ps, they were for a yummy veggie stroganoff.......like beef stroganoff
but with chunks of veggieburger as the beef, served over noodles, with
steamed artichokes and garlic butter, and a spinach/ dried cherry /
toasted almond / mandarin orange / avocado / waterchestnut salad with
homemade honey mustard dressing.

I don't care what "they" say, I dont' want dirt or grit in my food, so
I wash my mushrooms. I usually do it right before preparation, so they
don't sit in water, and I allow just enough time for them to dry
before they get sliced or chopped or whatever and tossed into the pan.
I have never yet had "soggy" mushrooms, or had a problem with excess
water from mushrooms ruining a dish.

Cathy

You will never find "grit" in mushrooms.
The compost they are grown in is normally dirt free...

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles
tend to get caught between the ears causing truth decay- so be sure
to use mental floss twice a day. -- Swami Beyondanada

Quoted message said:

,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra