It is often recommended to only clean mushrooms and in no case wash them under running water. But is that really true? You can find out here how best to clean mushrooms before preparation.
Whether mushroom pan, mushroom cream sauce or mushroom cream soup: mushroom recipes usually recommend cleaning the mushrooms before preparation. This means removing any soil residue with a brush or a special mushroom brush. Cleaning, unlike washing, is a dry process. Washing the mushrooms with water is often strongly discouraged. But why?
Clean or wash mushrooms?
The advice not to wash mushrooms under running water is common. They are said to become soaked with liquid and lose their taste.
In fact, mushrooms absorb a small amount of extra liquid when they come into contact with water. Unlike vegetables such as peppers, aubergines or courgettes, they do not have a solid shell that water could roll off. They can therefore absorb some of it.
However, mushrooms already contain a lot of water – in the case of button mushrooms, for example, it is up to 91 percent. This leaves little room for additional water intake. An experiment by the US author Harold McGee confirms this assumption: According to the British Guardian, McGee soaked 252 grams of mushrooms in a water bath for five minutes. They then weighed 258 grams, just six grams more. Since the mushrooms come into contact with water for a significantly shorter time when rinsing, they should absorb significantly less liquid. You can read about this experiment in McGee’s book “The Curious Cook”.
Still, there is slight disagreement as to whether or not washing affects the taste of the mushrooms. According to McGee, there was no loss of taste in the washed mushrooms. According to the Guardian, on the other hand, the British Mushroom Bureau advises against washing mushrooms for too long: the longer the water contact lasts, the more the flavor fades. Nevertheless, the advice center does not completely advise against cleaning mushrooms under water. Wiping them off with a damp cloth or rinsing them under running water is not a problem.
Cleaning mushrooms: is it even necessary?
Self-collected mushrooms can certainly have heavy soil residues or other dirt. In this case, it is advisable to clean the mushrooms and wash them if necessary.
The situation is different with cultivated fungi: They are usually little or not at all contaminated when they are sold. In the case of slight residues, cleaning with a brush or brush is sufficient.
If you don’t want the mushrooms to come into contact with running water, you can wipe them off with a damp kitchen towel afterwards. You can find more detailed tips and hints in these guide articles:
Clean mushrooms: simple step-by-step instructions
Cleaning porcini mushrooms: 3 tips for mushroom pickers
You should be particularly careful when cleaning if you want to prepare mushrooms raw, for example in a mushroom salad. According to the consumer advice center, you should always heat other types of mushrooms before you eat them. They are more digestible and possible pathogens are killed.
