Signs of decayed mushrooms
Mushrooms often lose their quality and freshness, and are not suitable for human consumption. Champignons are distinguished among the perishable. When buying, it is not always possible to immediately understand that the mushrooms have already deteriorated and are not suitable for culinary purposes.
Signs of decayed mushrooms
Signs of spoiled fresh mushrooms
Fresh mushrooms that have lost their attractive appearance are acceptable for cooking for food purposes if they:
- in color they are close to white or have a pink tint and matte sheen, do not turn yellow;
- have a velvety or smooth cap without black or yellow spots on its surface;
- kept a solid film in the area between the mushroom leg and the cap (private blanket);
- have dense white-pink mushroom plates;
- on the cut, the legs darkened, but did not turn black;
- smell of their inherent mushroom smell.
Mushrooms that have slightly lost their freshness are acceptable for use after heat treatment, but cannot be eaten raw.
Fresh champignon is white, with a glossy surface, elastic and firm in structure. Shelf life at room temperature - up to 6 hours.
The following features help to understand that mushrooms are not of the first freshness, or to determine that they are overgrown and have lost their beneficial properties:
- dark color, without characteristic shine;
- flat hat;
- sticky or slippery surface of the mushroom cap;
- broken film in the area between the mushroom leg and the cap;
- loose dark mushroom plates;
- blackness on the cut of a mushroom leg;
- the smell of rotting or mold.
Such mushrooms are subject to immediate destruction and are not suitable for food use in any form.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
If you notice that the cap of the mushroom has acquired a dark shade, and the flesh on the cut is the same white or pinkish shade, the mushroom can be eaten. In this case, darkening only indicates that the fruit bodies are simply weathered. Such darkening will be safe, but only as long as mucus does not appear on the surface of the cap. Then you need to give up mushrooms.
If the discs of the darkened mushrooms on the underside of the cap are dense to the touch, but only slightly darkened, the mushrooms are cooked as usual. But if the plates become unrealistically dark and at the same time wet to the touch, it is better to discard the mushrooms.
To preserve fresh mushrooms so that they do not deteriorate and are suitable for human consumption, wrapping them in paper and storing them in this form on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator helps, without preliminary washing and cleaning. The refrigerator prolongs their freshness up to 5 days.
Signs of spoiled canned mushrooms
It is better to throw out suspicious mushrooms
Canned mushrooms have an increased shelf life, however, if the conservation technology is violated under the influence of pathogenic bacteria, they can deteriorate in a short period of time.
That canned champignons have deteriorated and are not suitable for food, will tell you:
- turbidity of the marinade or saline solution (peculiar inclusions become noticeable in it);
- swelling of the metal lid of the can, which is provoked by gases emitted by actively multiplying microorganisms (when pressed, it is pressed in);
- air bubbles rising from the bottom inside, which signals the beginning of the fermentation process;
- acrid "carbonated" (beating in the nose) smell when opening the can;
- mucus or pieces of mold on food removed from the jar.
Any of the above signs is a reason to throw out the mushrooms. Even in the absence of external symptoms of the fermentation process and others indicating a violation of the preservation technology and the presence of pathogenic microorganisms, canned food with an expired shelf life and in violation of storage conditions are not suitable for eating, under which the temperature regime should not exceed + 30 ° C.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
There is one more sign of spoilage of canned champignons (well, and other mushrooms too) - a sour taste. However, as the long-term statistics of poisoning by spoiled canned foods show, in case of violation of the conservation technology or the use of stale raw materials, a bacillus of botulism develops in the marinade under favorable conditions - a deadly disease. Therefore, tasting spoiled canned mushrooms is not worth it - this will only lead to serious food poisoning. Since such a product cannot be rehabilitated, it is better to destroy it.
To prevent this from happening, approach the process of preserving mushrooms very carefully and responsibly, because the health and well-being of loved ones is the happiness of every woman.
Signs of spoilage in frozen mushrooms
Frozen mushrooms also spoil if the conditions for their freezing or subsequent storage in the freezer have not been observed. The freshness of frozen mushrooms is checked as follows:
- probing the package for the absence of frozen lumps, the presence of which indicates repeated freezing, as a result of which the mushrooms become unusable;
- analyze the storage conditions under which the temperature level in the refrigerator is maintained at -18 ° C;
- they check the mushrooms for strength (no crumbling), appearance (they are not blackened, there are no spots) and smell (characteristic of mushroom, no rot).
Most often, this is done in a supermarket by customers when they are not sure about the quality of the products offered. Housewives check frozen mushrooms for spoilage much less often if, for reasons beyond their control, there have been prolonged power outages.
Signs of spoiled dry mushrooms
Dry mushrooms should not be used for food purposes if:
- they are damp and moldy;
- have a putrid odor;
- turned into dust;
- covered with moth larvae.
Conclusion
Fresh champignons are dense, firm, white in color with a slight pink tint. To find out that champignons have lost their suitability for food purposes, the changed external signs in mushrooms help. The common ones include a change in color, density and the appearance of an unpleasant putrefactive or moldy odor. Eating unsuitable mushrooms can lead to severe poisoning.
