Pickled Mushrooms Recipe

 

Pickled Mushrooms Recipe is delicious home made version. Budget friendly, with bay leaves, garlic cloves, and black peppercorns, this pickled mushrooms vintage recipe is easy to make with alcohol vinegar or wine vinegar.

 

One early Saturday morning, while still extremely hot but after hard rain pouring all night, I have bought three kinds of mushrooms at our street market and wanted to make marinated mushrooms, all three versions, separated, in one afternoon.
It was not that easy as I thought it would be, but I am to blame since I did not organize my space and time as nerdy me would.

Luckily, I took photographs of all versions of pickled mushrooms so you can see precisely what I mean if something not clear on our journey ……
Namely, the troubles popped out for me, one after another, but at the end of the process, I looked at the jars and was happy to see each kind separately pickled, not mixed all together!

To find more information about different ways of food storage, like preserving (and/or flavoring) with salt, which is brining; when we talk about preserving (and/or flavoring) with acid, we’re talking about marinating and much more about  pickling, brining, marinating, and curing, please take a look at this great link  to find more about it all!

 

So, after we finished this batch, we decided to go away from the hot town to cool a bit in the shadows of fig trees on the hill nearby.

 

My friend has a cottage there and we packed salads for the gathering.
The wine was in cool and dark cellar just waiting… so while normal people were having fun I took out pickled mushrooms and started shooting.
I brought pickles with us since I know there is a vintage sink in the back of the house, under the roof, and it makes a perfect spot to create a bit different photos than I usually do in my studio, back home:

Before you read short version of ingredients and steps to pickle, here are some helpful hints for all of you intending to do it.

How to pickle mushrooms?
You definitely need to clean the mushrooms. I did not wash them, so they do not soak too much water and lose the texture before the process starts. You just gently rub away all the dirt.
Since chanterelles and button mushrooms have mild flavour I boiled them first, took them out, cooled under running water and left them in a sieve.
When cooled completely, gently arrange them in clean canning jars, adding garlic (optional), bay leaves and black pepper.

 

What is the difference between black pepper and black peppercorn?

Black peppercorns are green peppercorns that have been cooked and dried out. Black pepper is most commonly used as a seasoning or crust that adds a robust spice to some of our favorite foods: meats, eggs, salads, fries, soups and more. Black peppercorns are typically ground up and used alongside table salt.

Tasteofhome explains it all in details, so please take a closer look at the link I added.

 

When pickling mushrooms, we avoid intense spices and herbs since we really try to keep the original taste of gentle chanterelles and button mushrooms prepared for festive cheese plate or wild game specialties. Any additional intense flavour would just kill the composition.

At least for our taste.

So, when mushrooms arranged in jars, cover them with mild marinade.

Gently shake the jars so the air bubbles come to the surface and get out. If necessary, add more marinade to cover the pickles completely. Cover the jars. Leave in cold and dark place.

The mushrooms need to stay in the pantry (any cold and dark place is fine) for eight days minimum, before tasting.
So, chanterelles and button mushrooms business done.
Now, I have brough to boil the salted liquid again and added small or cut porcini into it and boil. When I started to arrange porcinis, I decided not to add garlic but bay leaves and black peppers only.

Porcini are „heavier”, meaty and their taste is intense. I did not want to lose that woody and nutty shades.

If you have ever done porcini soup or stew, you know what I am saying.
close photo sampinjoni
A year ago, I have pickled Black Trumpets AKA Horn of Plenty AKA Black Chanterrelles. I love adding onion quarters to them while preserving so you have any questions, please be free to contact me. Unfortunately, I did not take photographs during the process.
I have filled the smallest possible glass jars because great things come in small packages.

Why am I saying this?

Because it seems to be perfect Christmas gift for my foodie friends. Now, if you pack a jar of marinated button mushrooms, for example, and add bottle of Plum Vinegar from Scratch  every foodie will love it!
Also, if you have several different types of mushrooms you can mix them all together and pickle, it is really up to your preferences.

Also, the original recipe calls for balsamic vinegar ( Aceto Balsamico ) but I have skipped it since it is of very intense flavour and colour and I wanted to have clean, sharp and bright pickles. So, that’s about what we prepare and enjoy the food served with.

 

If you love mushrooms recipes, here is our recipe, highly rated by our friends and family:

Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms .

Since this post is all about mushrooms, here are some of our favourites:

Chicken Cacciatore (Pollo alla Cacciatora)

Feta and Mushrooms Stuffed Turkey Meatballs from Scratch

Rustic Harvest Vegetarian Mushrooms Tart

Truffle Tagliatelle Recipe

Mushroom Spread Recipe

Roast Chestnut Pizza with Pine Nuts

Spicy Sausage Salsa Spaghetti

Sheet Pan Chicken with Harvest Vegetables