Storing - How do you Dry Sclerotia (P. Mexicana)?

[Cuberun]

How do you dry yours?
As I understand they're easy to dry but just want to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

[Zandorf]

i have a food dehydrator but just laying them out in front of a
fan on low for a day or two followed by a few days in a dessicant
chamber should do you fine.

if you're too impatient for that you could put them in an oven turned
as low as it will go with the door cracked and the mushrooms laid out
really close to the door. if you do this you should still fan dry them
for awhile to minimize oven time.

[Cuberun]

Hm, ok I don't have a food dehydrator or desiccant.
Has anyone tried sticking them into your pc case, i've got plenty of fans in there. Gets dry and warm.

[Mike177]

lay a fan on its back and put the mushrooms on top of it for about 24 hours. after that, get a black sheet of cloth, lay the cloth over the mushrooms, and put a clamp light, or some light source over the cloth. keep it like this for 12-24 hours, and they should be bone dry.

[Cuberun]

I've stuck em on a fan in the pc case. Some of them are rock hard, like stone already. Will need to get a hammer out to get these crushed n powdered up. Will try the potency in the near future.

[Woodman]

You could use a "warmer drawer."
Most modern full-sized ovens have them.

Set the heat on low, put the truffles in, and check
them every hour.

[Alfa]

1. Put in a bag or container with silica gel
2. Lay on a plate with a fan directed to it.
3. Lay on tissue. It will dry by itself.

Store in a ziplock bag under dry, cold and dark conditions. Before consuming the dried truffles, soak them in tea for 15 minutes. Otherwise they may be to hard for absorbtion. You may also break your teeth on them in dry form.

[Cuberun]

Hehe, they're hard as stone now. Wouldn't want to try to digest these babies.. I spose I could grind them up into powder real good now. Which I couldn't when they were fresh as they just turned into mush.

[billyloner]

the only time i had truffles i left them in a box in my wardrobe for a coupla months (forgot about them) and when i had them theyd dried like stones. took me about half an hour to chew 30g (when fresh) and it was a real hassle - specially as i was on e at the time and my mouth was really dry. but they certainly worked well. too well, in fact...

[Cuberun]

Well, leaving them in the PC case next to a fan worked a treat, I guess it should. Might not work as well with mushrooms as with scletoria. It's about 50 degrees celcius in there with a fan blowing the warm air on them.

I can confirm that they did not lose any potency

[billyloner]

well ive just received some truffles in the post today, got a big fan set up blowing onto them, hope it doesnt take too long! id eat them fresh but i got some mushrooms too and id rather have them fresh cos truffles seem easier to dry...

[Cuberun]

Originally Posted by billyloner

well ive just received some truffles in the post today, got a big fan set up blowing onto them, hope it doesnt take too long! id eat them fresh but i got some mushrooms too and id rather have them fresh cos truffles seem easier to dry...

Yeah, they are definitely easier to dry. If ur gonna eat ur shrooms then I guess it doesn't matter if it takes a day or two, as you've gotta wait between trips anyway.

[billyloner]

well im thinking of having the mushrooms either today (this afternoon or this evening, im not sure yet) or tomorrow. ill still have to dry some mushrooms anyway, ive got too much to take...