My Favorite Fungus

I found some mushrooms marked down at the store yesterday...

So I bought 6 packages......saving 1 package to use fresh....these 5 are going through the canner.  

We love mushrooms.  I buy them any time I can find them at an affordable price, and preserve them accordingly.  If I'm in a time crunch, I dry them...but my preferred method is canning.

With Button mushrooms, sometimes you can find enough small ones to can whole.  Most of the time, they need to be sliced....but anything smaller than these can be canned whole...

So first I sort them...those small beauties can be used for a great meal if you only have a tiny bit of meat.  Slice the meat (beef or venison) very very thin.  Sautee with a jar of  whole mushrooms and make a thick gravy.  Serve over rice, noodles, or over a thick piece of bread.

Most of them will be sliced for canning.....

I get the jars ready....half pints and pints....

Put the mushrooms in a pan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.....

Then they are ready for the jars.

I always prepare more jars than what I think I'll need. These are ready, but first I add salt.

1/4 tsp for half pints 

1/2 tsp for pints

Process at 10# for 45 minutes.