Þurrkaðir sveppir

Dried mushrooms

Hey, this is the first time that I'm allowed or have to write this: Warning, this post contains advertising!

The company Pearl GmbH gave us one of their new Rosenstein & Söhne DH-25.k dehydrator with 5 dehydrator inserts *) as a permanent loan free of charge so that we can experiment with it.

Icelandic cuisine in particular revolves a lot around how food can be preserved.

Not much fruit and vegetables really grow in Iceland, and the season is short. This made it all the more important to preserve what grows, what you collect and harvest, in order to be able to survive the long, inhospitable winter months in this country. The collected berries, the herbs, the seaweed - but also the mushrooms.

Þurrkaðir sveppir - dried mushrooms

One of the most beautiful gifts for me was a jar of dried mushrooms that Guðlaug Jónsdottir gave me when I visited her two years ago. Guðlaug Jónsdottir is the author, together with her husband, of "West Fjords - A Culinary Journey", one of my absolute favorite cookbooks about Icelandic cuisine. In your book you report on culinary traditions in the Westfjords.

The experience of opening this jar of dried mushrooms and sticking your nose into it - indescribable! An absolute moment of happiness! And such a brilliant scent!!!

The traditional way to dry mushrooms in Iceland is to string them on a string and then hang them to dry in a windy place that is preferably protected from moisture.

In Iceland there are traditionally certain "huts" with a very airy design, which are somewhat sheltered from the rain but perfectly windy and which are used to dry food.

I don't have such favorable weather conditions at home here in Germany; a similar experiment failed completely a while ago. I'm all the more pleased that I can now dry my mushrooms myself with the dehydrator. And then let off steam with corresponding mushroom recipes!

Ingredients

Fresh mushrooms!


Preparation

Wash the mushrooms thoroughly, brush them off, remove the stems if necessary and then cut the mushroom heads into thin slices.

Then spread the slices on the dehydrator inserts in one layer,...

I dried the mushrooms at full power for about 8 hours and was completely satisfied with the result.

Now I have several jars of wonderfully fragrant dried mushrooms in my cupboard again and I can let off steam with corresponding mushroom recipes!

These mushrooms then went into these filled pancakes - and tasted excellent.

My favorite Icelandic recipes with dried mushrooms also include nut balls with mushroom sauce and, on festive occasions, stuffed goose . And I also have various recipes for Sveppasúpa, mushroom soups, with dried mushrooms here that I definitely want to try out soon!

Stuffed pancakes with meat and mushrooms

*) - Amazon affiliate link
[Translated from here.]