Why Dried Mushrooms Belong In Your Pantry

Even if you're just dipping your toes into the wide, wonderful world of cooking, you may have already been faced with the opportunity to use dried mushrooms versus their fresh counterparts. Although the produce section arguably has quite a selection of fresh fungi — from portobello to shiitakes to buttons and more — delving into dried may actually offer more variety for your cooking; and you may be able to more easily find (and afford) rarer types that tend to be seasonally-dependent.

Dried mushrooms are just that — dehydrated mushrooms that can be re-plumped for a recipe after a stint in some boiling water. They also have a more concentrated flavor than their fresh counterparts — think of them as those chicken bouillon cubes when compared with chicken stock. The texture is obviously a bit different than fresh, but depending on the recipe you're using them in, the flavor will be just the same, if not a bit more earthy. The best part about dried mushrooms is their longevity, which makes them a pantry staple. Whereas fresh mushrooms may only last two weeks in your refrigerator, dried mushrooms are shelf stable and can be kept in a cool, dark environment for three years. Just keep in mind that their flavor may diminish over time. The general rule for ratios when substituting fresh shrooms with dried is 3 ounces of dried for every pound of fresh.

So, which recipes are best for dried mushrooms? Really, any! Soups, stews, and broths are arguably the easiest places to add chopped dried mushrooms since you won't need to rehydrate them as a separate preliminary step. Instead, you can simply drop in dried mushrooms to your liquid and allow them to reconstitute as the dish cooks. Other dishes like a classic French chicken with morels can benefit from the more concentrated flavor of the dried variety, plus the availability of fresh morels would be quite a hindrance if you were trying to cook this during any time other than spring. So, that's something to consider when weighing if you should use dried versus fresh.

Dried mushrooms can also help a recipe when used in addition to fresh, like in this chicken, mushroom, and winter squash pot pie or even in a mushroom and leek quiche. Risotto with finely chopped fresh mushrooms can get an extra boost by adding dried porcinis plus the water you've steeped them in, which becomes like a fine umami broth. You can also make dried mushrooms the star of their dish. For instance, rehydrated and chopped dried mushrooms can be used to build your own compound butter for next-level steak. Regardless of how or where you use them, dried mushrooms are a definite pantry staple you should keep on hand at all times for all occasions.