We give you three tips on how to clean fresh porcini mushrooms – and also show you which dishes you can prepare with them.

Porcini mushrooms are among the most popular forest mushrooms. They grow from June to November and are most likely to be found in shady spots under trees such as beech and oak.

Tips for cleaning porcini mushrooms

Porcini mushrooms should be cleaned immediately after collecting or buying them.

Tip 1: Check for vermin when collecting

When collecting the mushrooms, pre-clean them in the forest. That means you should carefully wipe away any dirt with your fingers, cut away broken or pitted areas, and remove bugs. Also check bought mushrooms at home first for damage. Since porcini mushrooms are often attacked by maggots, it is advisable to cut the mushrooms open lengthwise and examine them for such. Maggots mostly eat inside the fungus from bottom to top. Infested areas should be cut away generously, preferably in the forest.

You can continue to work on the mushrooms at home: With very large porcini mushrooms, you should cut away the sponge under the cap, as dirt and insects can hide in it. Even if the sponge is old or a bit muddy, you should remove it. If you pulled the porcini out of the ground with a twisting motion and the lower, earthy end of the mushroom is still there, you should cut that off as well.

Tip 2: Proceed with caution

If you have not already done so, remove the coarse dirt carefully with your fingers. Be careful when doing this, as the surface of mushrooms is very delicate. Helpful utensils for removing dirt are a brush or a small brush. You can use this to carefully clean each individual porcini mushroom. Finally, you can clean the mushrooms with a kitchen towel. Optionally and depending on the degree of soiling, you can (slightly!) moisten it.

Tip 3: Avoid water

Avoid washing the porcini mushrooms with water. They soak up water quickly and lose their flavor. They then release the water when they boil. If specimens are heavily soiled and you cannot get them cleaned with the above steps, you can rinse them in a sieve with cold to lukewarm water. Then pat the mushrooms dry with a cloth.