Additional Tips for Cooking Mushrooms in Jar Cooking in the Microwave

With the same recipe, you can make shiitake mushrooms in jar cooking. I recommend using mushrooms that are less water-rich, such as the Pleurotus variety.

Expert Tips on Cooking Mushrooms in Jars

Good morning, Rosella, here I am as you asked.

So, just for clarity, I am an ASL inspector dealing with food hygiene and specifically a mycologist managing the Mycological Inspectorate of ASL (specifically Asur (former ASL) of Macerata). This is not to boast about my titles, but to avoid misunderstandings related to the famous “experts”, or “I’ve been collecting mushrooms for 30 years, so I know”, my daily bread. Let’s get to us, I’ve read the conversation below and I read many inaccuracies related to (don’t be offended, I say it in a good sense) “ignorance of mushrooms”. Let’s start from the basics, in the world there are three types of mushrooms, those that are born edible and die edible, those that are born toxic and die toxic, and those that are born inedible due to consistency, smell, or taste but are not necessarily poisonous, that die inedible. Get it out of your head that all mushrooms are poisonous by default or that they release toxins, all mushrooms have a common denominator, namely that they are all hard to digest, so they should always be eaten cooked for at least 20 minutes and never raw (and this is also related to the hygienic and sanitary discussion as they are still potentially dirty food). THEREFORE, MUSHROOMS, INCLUDING CHAMPIGNON PURCHASED AT THE SUPERMARKET (being mushrooms that are born without poison) can be SAFELY eaten after thorough cooking (including that in the jar, the important thing is to respect for all edible mushrooms at least the 20 minutes). Now I read below “an expert friend told me to leave them to cook with the lid off to evaporate the toxins” and also “just cook them in a pan”. These two precautions are only valid for some spontaneous species that are collected (after passing a course for collection authorization) in the woods, but there are really just a couple and anyway they cannot be marketed in large distribution. It’s clear that if you collect Amanita phalloides, whether you cook it in a jar, in a pan, and/or with the lid open, it will kill you all the same. All mushrooms on sale in supermarkets are carefully checked by private mycologists, but before that by ASL mycologists who authorize their sale excluding any risk. Therefore, if you cook frozen, dried, fresh, powdered mushrooms purchased at the supermarket, regardless of the cooking method, they can be eaten safely without fear. They do not release toxins (because they were born non-poisonous) not even the day after if kept in sufficient and suitable hygienic conditions (the same applies to any other cooked food left perhaps at room temperature, the day after if you whistle it arrives directly alone on the table). So, rest assured, do not be afraid to cook mushrooms in jars (obviously if you are not intolerant or allergic, and if you have purchased them in supermarkets or various food shops), feel free to eat them for lunch, dinner, the next day, the important thing is that you have respected the 20 minutes of cooking (yes, I hadn’t said why, cooking them for at least 20 minutes makes mushrooms more digestible, otherwise you put in your stomach a food that constitutionally is like the shell of shrimp or prawns so difficult to digest). Forget all fantasies, rumors, or “an expert friend told me”. You don’t joke with mushrooms, so science in these cases must be your source of inspiration. A small warning, but I think you are already very experienced, you know that not all glasses can be put in contact with food? I recommend (mushrooms aside), always read the labels of the jars you buy.

Best regards and I hope I didn’t bore you with these looooong words

Alessandro Vitale