Drying mushrooms..

..after yesterdays shopping trip.

I live on mushrooms. When my brother first got married, he said he was going to have steak for tea every night. I may have made the same dedication to mushrooms.

They are purchased by the bagful, but only the cheapest basic value packs. Yesterday I paid £1.00 for 600g, and bought 6 packs. I trim the stems, if they have dirt on them, flick off any other dirt, and slice into very thin slices. I need to dry them for storage, so the thinner the slice, the quicker they dry. The box shown here is probably a box and a half (short on space in the fridge), and when sliced, fill a baking tray (lined with silicone sheet to stop them sticking). Then into the warming oven, for about an hour. Taken out and allowed to cool, before re-inserting in the oven. They go black, and slimey, but after a day of this treatment, are normally dry enough for storing. They tray of black ones are the result of two boxes of mushrooms, processed last night, heated, and left overnight on the Aga (it's an Everhot cooker, in the style of an Aga!).

When dry and stored, they make an excellent addition to soups and stews. When fried with onions, and re-hydrated with milk, make a lovely sauce for steaks.. Or eaten dry like crisps!! A lot of effort, but well worth it. The flavour seems to intensify in the drying process..

G's been pickling beetroot..

Had to take another 100 calendars down to the shop, they are selling well.. Get your orders in quick if you want one!

..and forgot to say that yesterday was the first day this month with no water in the rain gauges. That was rectified today with 7.5 mm and constant rain and greyness..