How can you tell if mushrooms have gone bad in the fridge?

The unique chemical composition of mushrooms makes them a useful product, with moderate consumption which reduces cholesterol, prevents the development of anemia, depression. Mushrooms can cleanse the body of radionuclides, heavy metals, reduce the frequency of migraine attacks. These beneficial properties apply to fresh white or cream-colored mushrooms. A product that lays in a store window for a long time darkens and accumulates toxins that cause serious food poisoning.

Signs of Spoiled Mushrooms

It is not always possible to immediately determine that the perishable product is inedible, a threat to health and sometimes life. In order not to choose a stale product, in time to dispose of mushrooms, long lying in the refrigerator, you need to know the signs of fresh mushrooms.

Fresh

Champignons are considered spoiled if their characteristics are far from the description of a quality product, suitable for food. The mushrooms used in cooking are:

1. Homogeneous white, pinkish color or with a creamy hue, matte surface.
2. With a pleasant mushroom, anise flavor.
3. Dry, firm to the touch.
4. With a white covering between the stem and head or a residual ring.
5. No dents, dark spots, or spots of unknown origin.
6. Reddening, but not blackened on the cut of the stalk.

Mushrooms that have lost their original freshness, but without signs of spoilage can be eaten after heat treatment. Although, even fresh mushrooms in raw form should not be eaten due to the carcinogen hydrazine.

Mushrooms that have:

• Loose, dark plates;
• Black spots on the cap, black cut;
• lacking luster;
• sticky, slimy, moldy surface;
• putrid odor.

Product with these signs must be discarded.

Canned

It is easy to understand that canned mushrooms sour by the swollen metal lid, cloudy brine with air bubbles. Such trouble occurs with insufficient processing of raw materials, violation of cooking technology, and storage conditions.

Pathogenic microorganisms, once in the ideal environment, begin to multiply rapidly, causing the process of fermentation. As a result, after opening the jar you will find a pungent, unpleasant smell of spoiled mushrooms, and islands of mold on the surface.

The consumption of sour mushrooms in the best case ends with a short-term digestive disorder, in the worst case - getting into the body botulotoxins that are lethal. In this regard, high-quality preserves after opening are recommended to eat within a day, and from the jars, even with the initial signs of souring marinade (air bubbles) immediately get rid of.

Frozen

Processing plants use blast deep freezing of mushrooms. If the store complies with the terms, storage conditions, the mushrooms remain white. If dark spots are revealed, you can smell ammonia or rotten fish, it is better to refuse to buy them.

You can tell by the thick, icy glaze or the frozen pieces that the product has already defrosted. Even if it has not gone bad, the nutritional value has decreased several times.

Dried

Do not eat dried mushrooms if they have a bad smell, if they are rotten, musty, or if they are attacked by insects and have maggots.

Dry, quality mushrooms have a dense consistency and a light brown color.

Symptoms of poisoning and first aid

Poisoning is obtained by consuming spoiled raw, boiled or fried mushrooms, souring canned mushrooms or collected near highways, industrial plants.

Food intoxication is accompanied by:

• severe headache;
• gagging;
• repeated liquid stools;
• colic in the epigastric region, intestines;
• dehydration;
• hoarse voice.

In severe cases, blood pressure and body temperature decrease, vision is disturbed, sweating increases, and convulsive muscle contraction occurs. Respiratory disorders, apathy or agitation, delirium, loss of orientation and consciousness are possible.

Symptoms more often occur 1-1.5 hours after the use of mushrooms. At the first signs of intoxication immediately call an ambulance. While she is waiting, the patient is flushed out of the stomach, offering to drink 1.5 liters of water in 3 tries, induce vomiting. After gastric lavage, give absorbent medicine, plenty of water, place in bed, provide rest. If the patient feels chills, wrap him up with a blanket. If weak, strong tea is offered.

Can I eat blackened mushrooms?

Fresh mushrooms can be eaten with partially darkened plates. Before roasting them, it is recommended to boil them for at least 30-40 minutes. If, however, the area under the cap cavity is black without gaps, the product can not be eaten.

Darkening of the cut is caused by contact with oxygen. There is an oxidation process that results in a color change. The mushrooms, picked immature, darken when stored for a long time. They can be eaten if the consistency of the product is tight and elastic, darken only some parts of the surface, and the flesh retains a white color. In the case of complete blackness, the formation of mold and musty smell, mushrooms are inedible.

Mushrooms remain white after defrosting only if they were vacuum packed in the freezer. Product that has been frozen in a food container or in a plastic bag turns black when thawed.

It can be used in home cooking if there are no additional signs of spoilage:

• Sticky slime, putrefaction;
• bad odor;
• large spots on the caps and a completely black spore-bearing area.

The carbon in the mushrooms turns black when exposed to high temperatures. If the caps and stalks have darkened after frying, this is considered normal.

Shelf life and conditions

Mushrooms from the store before sending them for storage should not be washed. The lamellar structure quickly becomes saturated with moisture, spreading it throughout the body. If mushrooms are collected in the woods or fields, remove the remains of soil, sticking plant debris. Wash only those mushrooms that will be frozen, as dirty plates are difficult to use.

Shelf life:

1. In the kitchen at room temperature, fresh product will not last more than 8 hours.
2. In the cellar - three days.
3. In the refrigerator at t of 5°C - 3 days.
4. In a paper bag in a container for vegetables and in an airtight store bag - a week.
5. In a vacuum bag - 10 days.
6. Raw mushrooms in the freezer with temperatures above -20 degrees - 12 months, at lower t - 1.5 years.
7. Thermally processed product in the freezer - six months.
8. Pickled mushrooms in the cellar - 3-4, in the refrigerator - 12 months.
9. Dried in cloth bags in ventilated rooms - 1-1.5 years.

Drying, freezing and preserving significantly extend the preservation period of nutritional value, flavor, aroma of the product.

Freeze mushrooms not only raw but also cooked, roasted without salt. Before sending them to the freezer, boiled mushrooms are put in a colander to get rid of excess moisture, fried - on paper towels that absorb oil.

How to know if mushrooms are fresh when you buy them

To be sure of the quality of the product, it should be taken in hand and examined. It is worth refusing mushrooms:

• Shriveled with shriveled skin;
• Mushrooms that have darkened, peeling skin;
• Mushrooms that don't return to their original shape when squeezed;
• sticky, bad smelling;
• with worm holes from insect larvae;
• with a fully opened cap;
• overripe without a cover, with a shriveled stem.

The freshness of packaged mushrooms is determined by the expiration date on the package, the appearance. There should be no condensation on the film, substrate, and on the mushrooms themselves spots, rot, mold. You can ask the seller for a certificate for the product, which confirms the quality, contains a harvest date.

To enjoy the bright aroma, taste of mushrooms, follow the rules of selection, storage, cooking technology. You should not use in food mushrooms with signs of spoilage. If poisoning does happen, preventing the worst will help to call a doctor, providing first aid.