Drying Magic Mushrooms And Truffles: How To

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Drying Magic Mushrooms And Truffles: How To

We take a look at how magic mushroom can be dried for storage, keeping your stash safe over time. It is must have knowledge for any budding psychonaut.

Have you just gotten in from a forage in the fresh, crisp autumnal meadows with a psychotropic bounty? Or perhaps your grow kit of psilocybin-containing mushrooms or truffles is just about ready for harvest? Maybe you have a pack of truffles you want to save for later. Well, if you don’t plan on consuming your psychedelic edibles fresh and have decided to save them for a more necessary point in time, it is time to dry them out. We show you how.

Drying magic mushroom might seem like an extraordinarily easy task to accomplish. However, there may be slightly more to it than you realise if you desire to keep your stash without losing it to mould and letting your hard work go to waste. Simply drying your mushrooms on a radiator or windowsill will prolong their time of expiry, yet there are other methods that will ensure you can keep them at hand for years at a time. First, though, let us focus on the initial drying stage.

DRYING YOUR MATERIAL

Once you have harvested your mushrooms or truffles, it is a good idea to begin the drying process straight away to narrow any risk of decay. One of the key factors that allows mould to start to grow is the presence of moisture. Once this factor is erased through the act of drying, this risk can be avoided.

First things first, gently begin to place your mushrooms or truffles onto a flat surface, spread apart so they are not touching each other, examples of this surface could be a large plate or even a tray of some sort such as a baking tray. There are multiple options when it comes to the next step, and a little experimentation based on the resources you have access to will allow room for customization.

One option is to place the surface next to a warm window, in a conservatory or in a greenhouse and place a black towel or piece of material over it. With access to direct sunlight this will heat up your material and dry it out at a decent pace, without damaging them. If you don’t have access to sunlight due to seasonal conditions, you could carry out the same steps but instead place your covered mushrooms or truffles next to a radiator or heater of some sort.

Any of these methods will assist in removing excess moisture from your material. However, you will want to remove even more moisture to increase their shelf life, so much so that they will become dry, crispy and snap like a cracker.

DRYING THROUGH DESICCANT

The next step is slightly more complex that the previous one, but is absolutely worth doing if you intend on keeping your material for a longer period of time. You will need to use a desiccant material as well as an airtight container to accomplish this step. Desiccant materials are basically materials that extract moisture from the air and are used industrially to keep products from being damaged during storage and transportation. There are multiple materials that you can choose from. Silica gel is one of these and is used often for this purpose. It is a natural and non-toxic mineral that does this job perfectly. Place your silica gel into an airtight container; this could be a piece of plastic tupperware. Place some type of grid or screen above the silica gel that will keep your material elevated and prevent it from making contact with the gel. Now attach the lid and seal the container. The rest can be done by your own personal judgement. Come back to your materials regularly to check up on them. When they have finally reached the stage of being as dry of a cracker or biscuit, this stage is complete, and your mushrooms can be stored for future use.

Another substance that can be used to achieve the same goal are Epsom salts, also called magnesium salts. Firstly you will need to cook your Epsom salts in the oven for around two hours, at a temperature ideally at 250 degrees Celsius. Doing this will change the chemical structure of the salts, removing the water from inside them and leaving them able to absorb water and moisture to replace the lost fluid. The salts will have a tendency to begin absorbing moisture quite fast, so break the newly formed clumps up into small pieces and place them in airtight containers with haste. Now you can use the same steps as before to truly dry out your mushrooms. Place your salts at the bottom of a tupperware container. Put your grid over the top, so it is not touching the salts. Place your partly dried mushrooms or truffles onto the grid and seal the container. Check regularly and remove once dry enough to call cracker-dry.

STORING YOUR DRY MUSHROOMS

Once your mushrooms are dry, be sure to safely store them in a dark, dry and cool place to further help prevent decay. Mushrooms stored properly can last for ages. Enjoy!