Traditionally, mushroom or white mushroom is considered to be the “king” of mushrooms, but many mushroom pickers are sure that saffron mushroom can also claim primacy at the culinary Olympus.
This bright fungus can be found among young pines and in spruce forests. Our "hero" has a remarkable appearance, so it is quite easy to recognize. Redheads are distinguished by an orange-red color with concentrically arranged dark circles on the leg. At the fracture of the pulp, a non-corrosive milky juice is secreted. The hat for this type of mushroom can reach a diameter of up to 17 cm, while young mushrooms differ from the old "counterparts" in the dome-shaped shape of the hat. It must be remembered that it is young fungi that are more suitable for culinary purposes, since the old camelina is likely to be wormy.
Collecting this type of mushroom is not difficult, since they never grow one at a time. Having stumbled upon a camelina, you can safely stop, somewhere nearby there will definitely be his "family".
Ginger mushrooms are classified as mushrooms of the first category, they are eaten fresh, canned, salted and pickled. Today we will talk about the methods of salting these bright mushrooms.
The first method, using which you can get salted saffron milk, is called a cold ambassador. Mushrooms need to be sorted out, cleaned of adhering debris and thoroughly washed. If the legs are too long, then they need to be cut off. Then put the mushrooms in a suitable dish, placing them with their hats down. Layers of mushrooms need to be laid tightly, the height of each layer is about six centimeters. Sprinkle each layer of laid saffron mushrooms with salt. For a kilo of mushrooms, you need to take from forty to sixty grams of salt.
When all the mushrooms are laid, a wooden circle of such a diameter is placed on top of them so that it covers the entire surface. On top of the circle put the load. Traditionally, a stone thoroughly washed and scalded with boiling water was used for this purpose, but you can replace it with a three-liter jar filled with water, or another suitable object. The main thing is that the cargo displaces all the air that remains between the mushrooms. In a couple of days, juice will appear in the dishes, and salted saffron mushrooms prepared in this way are ready to be only on the fortieth day after salting.
You can use another method of cooking this delicious snack, the so-called "dry" ambassador. The essence of this method is that mushrooms do not need to be washed, they just need to be thoroughly cleaned. Since mushrooms grow in coniferous forests, they usually have no pollution, so it will be easy to clean them. We start cooking saffron mushrooms. We prepare the prepared mushrooms in a bowl, pouring salt at the rate of forty grams per kilogram of mushrooms. No other spices need to be added, as they will kill a delicate aroma. After the mushrooms are salted, they can be transferred to clean jars, pour freshly prepared brine and sterilized. Half-liter jars are sterilized for half an hour. Liter - ten minutes more. Then the cans are rolled up and sent for storage to a cool place. It is important to store saffron mushrooms at a freezing temperature, since mushrooms lose their taste when frozen. But storage in heat will badly affect the quality of canned food, the ideal conditions are a temperature of 3-5 degrees above zero.
Ready salted mushrooms are served as a snack, seasoned with vegetable oil and finely chopped onions. They can be used to prepare a variety of salads and vinaigrettes.
In addition, mushrooms prepared in this way can also be used to prepare hot dishes - mushroom soup, potatoes stewed with mushrooms, mushroom pilaf, various casseroles. Salted saffron mushrooms are also used for toppings in pies and pies. Pizza with the addition of these mushrooms can be very tasty.