How long do mushrooms last in the fridge? Most likely 7-10 days, but there is much more to know about preserving mushrooms for longer use
How long do mushrooms last in the fridge? Most fresh, raw mushrooms will last no longer than 10 days in the fridge. It may be fewer than 10 as well, depending on the condition of the mushrooms once they are acquired and placed in the fridge.
Putting your mushrooms in the fridge is not the only way to ensure they are viable to consume longer. You can freeze mushrooms, dry them, make tincture with them or even pickle them. Below we go through more information for keeping your mushrooms longer.
How long do mushrooms last in the fridge? You can also use the freezer
Using your freezer will help you extend the life of your mushrooms. Most mushrooms need to be prepared before being placed in the freezer. The best way to
freeze most mushrooms is to cook them before putting them in the freezer. This can be done by steaming, frying, or blanching.
To prepare your mushrooms, begin by cutting off any areas that are extremely dirty or you fear are starting to decay. Gently clean the mushroom by using a mushroom brush, or simply dry brush the mushroom with care. You can also use a small amount of water if the dirt is hard to remove. If the mushrooms are large, you may want to cut them into pieces. It is easiest to freeze mushrooms that are about 1” across or smaller.
As mentioned above, it is best to cook the mushrooms before freezing. (Note that the chicken of the woods mushroom can be frozen without being cooked beforehand.)
Prepare your mushrooms for the freezer by cooking them. You can steam, pan-fry, or blanch the mushrooms to do this. Regardless of the cooking method you decide upon, it should take between three and five minutes, depending on the size of the mushrooms. After cooking the mushrooms, set them aside to cool and drain any excess liquid. Once you have drained the mushrooms and they have properly cooled, you can package and seal the mushrooms. Place the mushrooms in the freezer once the package is closed.
How long do mushrooms last in the fridge? Don’t forget other methods of preserving mushrooms
Drying mushrooms is a well used practice by many. Drying mushrooms is ideal when you have an abundance of mushrooms that you need to preserve. The drying process can be as simple as laying the mushrooms out in the sun to dry, or putting them in a dehydrator overnight at around 115 – 120°F. They will be properly dried once they become slightly crispy like a chip. It is important to dry the mushrooms to this extent or they will not last as long as possible.
Sun drying shiitake mushrooms is a great way to enhance the vitamin D content in the mushrooms. To do this, simply place the shiitakes on their caps with the gills pointing towards the sun. Find
our dried mushrooms here.
How long do mushrooms last in the fridge? The longest ways to keep mushrooms viable over time
Tincturing mushrooms is a great method for getting the most from your mushrooms. I say “the most” because not only will it help increase shelf life, but tincturing also helps extract some harder-to-obtain constituents.
A mushroom tincture, also referred to as an extraction, is created in two ways. First, using hot water, a tea is made, pulling the compounds stored in the mushroom out. Not all compounds found in fungi are water soluble so the liquid and mushroom are separated and a second extraction method is used.
The second part of making a mushroom tincture is soaking the mushroom in alcohol for 4-6 weeks to draw out any remaining compounds. Then the tea and water are combined to allow a final product that is about 25-35% alcohol. This mushroom tincture that is the combination of the alcohol and tea is then strained and put into individual bottles.
Some larger companies will go a step further by turning the liquid extraction into a powder. This powder can be easily absorbed by the body and is often sold as supplements in health food stores.
Growing mushrooms at home for easy storage
If you want to have the freshest mushrooms around, then growing them at home is your best option.
For those of you interested in growing your own mushrooms at home in the easiest way possible, consider using one of our mushroom growing kits. Our kits are ready-to-fruit once they arrive to you, so you can have your first harvest of mushrooms a few weeks after their arrival. Each growing kit is 10 lbs and will produce 3-5 lbs of fresh mushrooms over the course of multiple flushes. Each kit is also certified organic, so you are growing some of the cleanest mushrooms available on the market.
Learn more about our mushroom growing kits here and discover the entire selection of mushroom species we have available. There are some unique ones, so try your hand at growing them all!
