Salted black milk mushrooms: 11 recipes

Milk mushrooms are mysterious mushrooms, considered throughout the world to be inedible due to the pungent milky juice that exudes from their pulp. But in Rus' they have long been valued on a par with boletus mushrooms, and salted milk mushrooms were a delicacy worthy of a royal table. Salting black milk mushrooms is no more difficult than any other variety. It’s hard to imagine a more worthy snack that tastes better, and the mushrooms in pickles change their black color to a noble dark cherry color.

How to properly salt black milk mushrooms

Among experienced mushroom pickers, black milk mushrooms have many “home” names, and one of the most affectionate and widespread is nigella. The thickest, densest and most fleshy caps are those of mushrooms that grow among deciduous trees. Nigella from coniferous forests have thinner caps. Although these mushrooms appear from mid-July to the second half of October, it is best to collect them from the end of August and throughout the first half of autumn. The fact is that black milk mushrooms grown in warm conditions do not store well and often become moldy when salted. And mushrooms collected in cold weather have a brighter taste and better preservation.

To pickle black milk mushrooms at home, it is important to choose the right container.

Traditional wooden barrels and tubs, as well as enamel or glassware, are best suited for making salted mushrooms. Wash the latter thoroughly with baking soda and dry thoroughly in the oven at high temperatures.

With wooden containers there will be a little more fuss. In any case, they need to be soaked in water for several days so that the wood can swell and become waterproof. New oak tubs should be soaked for at least 2 weeks to completely remove tannins, which can turn both the mushrooms and the brine black.

In addition, oak tubs are washed with a stiff brush and poured with a boiling solution with the addition of caustic soda (5 g per 1 liter of water), and also fumigated with sulfur. Only in this case can you be completely sure of the destruction of all bacteria accumulated in the crevices of the tub.

Before salting black milk mushrooms, the mushrooms must first be sorted by size. If possible, mushrooms of different sizes are salted separately from each other. If this is not possible, then large mushrooms are cut into several parts. For pickling, only mushroom caps are usually used.

Since nigella grows in the very thick of the forest floor, a lot of natural debris collects on them. Therefore, the procedure for cleaning them from debris is very important. To thoroughly remove all dirt, use a sponge, a stiff brush, and even a kitchen knife when you need to scrape off the most difficult areas.

At the end of the procedure, the cleaned mushrooms are washed well under running water, finally removing all the smallest contaminants.

The time has come to decide on the method of salting nigella. There are two of them: hot and cold. The first, faster one, requires boiling the mushrooms. Using the cold method of pickling milk mushrooms, heat treatment is avoided, so the mushrooms turn out to be especially tasty, crispy and healthy. Of course, the cold method involves spending more time making salted mushrooms. But many housewives, nevertheless, choose it because it provides the following advantages:

1. The cold method is especially convenient for pickling large quantities of mushrooms, especially when using wooden tubs.
   
2. If the mushroom harvest is harvested gradually, over several weeks, then only the cold method makes it possible to pickle nigella in one container, gradually adding them there as they arrive from the forest.
3. For people who are demanding about the appearance of the finished snack, the cold method will be the best, since whole and dense, not old mushrooms are selected for it whenever possible.
4. Finally, the most patient will be rewarded with a completely unique taste of salted milk mushrooms, in which all healthy components are preserved unchanged.
5. And only cold-salted milk mushrooms can boast of attractive crunchiness and density.

How long to soak black milk mushrooms before salting

In order to get rid of the bitterness and acridity of the milky juice in nigella, there are only two ways: soaking and boiling. You can salt black milk mushrooms without boiling only in a cold way. Therefore, the soaking procedure is mandatory for this kind of salting.

Peeled and finally washed mushrooms are poured with cold water so that it covers them entirely. They can be covered with a flat dish on top so that they are completely in the aquatic environment. Sometimes 10 g of salt and 2 g of citric acid per liter are added to the water, but mushrooms can be soaked without additives. The most important thing is that the water must be constantly replaced with fresh water. It is best to do this 2 times a day.

You can soak black milk mushrooms before salting for 24 hours to 5 days. The exact time depends on the size of the mushrooms, their age and sometimes where they grew. On average, the soaking period lasts from 2 to 3 days. After a few days, you can cut off a small piece of the mushroom pulp and taste it. It’s better to spit out the piece afterwards. If outright bitterness is no longer felt, then you can safely proceed to further salting.

Another sign that milk mushrooms are ready for further salting is that the replacement water remains light, but foam appears on it. On the first day of soaking, the water in the mushrooms quickly darkens.

How to pickle black milk mushrooms so they are crispy

For lovers of salty crispy mushrooms, any recipe for cold pickling of black milk mushrooms is ideal. This is the only way to get mushrooms that are firm and not soggy from salting. Moreover, cold-salted milk mushrooms have the ability to retain their crispy properties for a long time - up to 6-8 months when stored under suitable conditions. Also, oak, cherry and horseradish leaves add extra crunch to salted mushrooms.

Black milk mushrooms cold salted according to a traditional recipe

The traditional recipe for making salted milk mushrooms involves the use of many spicy and aromatic additives that complement and improve the taste of the mushrooms. Pickling black milk mushrooms will be easy even for a beginner if you use the following step-by-step recipe.

Required:

• 10 kg of fresh nigella;
• 500 g coarse rock salt;
• 20 dill inflorescences along with seeds;
• 40 g black peppercorns;
• 30 pieces each of black currant, cherry and horseradish leaves.

The cold cooking process consists of the following steps:

1. The mushrooms are sorted out and cleared of debris, cutting out rotten and moldy areas if necessary.
   
2. The caps are separated from the legs, leaving just a couple of centimeters.
3. Mushrooms are soaked in a large wide container for 2 to 5 days.
4. After soaking, they are washed under running water.
5. Prepare a container suitable for pickling - a pan, a jar, a bucket.
6. All green seasonings are washed and dried.
7. The bottom of the selected container is covered with a small amount of horseradish, currant and cherry leaves with dill inflorescences.
   Important! Cherry leaves, if absent, can be replaced with bay leaves.
8. Place a layer of mushrooms, about 5-7 cm thick, legs up, sprinkle with salt and a mixture of spices on top.
   
9. In this way, lay layer by layer until the mushrooms run out.
10. The top layer is sprinkled with salt most generously.
    
11. You can additionally cover it with a leaf of horseradish on top.
12. Cover the milk mushrooms with gauze or other cotton cloth, press them on top with a wooden circle, on which the weight is placed. The easiest way is to use a glass jar filled with water as a load.
13. The container with salted nigella is placed in a cool room for 40-60 days.
14. Within a few hours after salting, the mushrooms will release juice and, if there was enough salt, they will be completely covered with saline solution. If the liquid level is low, then it is necessary to add saline solution (30 g per 1 liter of water).
    
15. After a few days, the salted milk mushrooms should settle slightly and, if desired, you can add fresh, pre-soaked nigella to them for pickling.
16. It is not recommended to taste nigella mushrooms before 40 days after pickling, since during this time the final removal of bitterness from the mushrooms occurs.
17. If mold does appear on the surface of the fabric or mushrooms, the top layer must be thrown away, the gauze should be boiled, and a little vodka should be added to the container with black salted milk mushrooms.
18. Completely salted mushrooms must be placed in a clean and sterilized jar, closed with a regular plastic lid and placed in a cool place for storage.

How to pickle black milk mushrooms with dill and garlic

The technology for salting black milk mushrooms for the winter according to this recipe is not fundamentally different from the traditional cold method. Baskets of dill along with seeds are usually added to mushrooms. If you can't find fresh dill flowers, you can simply use dried dill seeds. For 10 kg of nigella you need several tablespoons of seeds.

The aroma of garlic can easily overwhelm the aroma of wild milk mushrooms, so it is not often used for salting. Some experienced mushroom pickers recommend adding it to ready-made salted mushrooms. But if you want to make mushrooms with the aroma of garlic, its cloves are cut into small pieces and added at the beginning of the process along with spices. For 1 kg of mushrooms add 3-4 cloves of garlic.

Pickling black milk mushrooms with horseradish, currant and cherry leaves

The leaves of all three plants are traditionally used to make salted nigella using the cold method. Blackcurrant leaves add flavor to the snack. Cherry leaves add strength and fragility. And horseradish leaves add pungency and maintain the dense structure of the salted milk mushrooms.

Cold pickling of black milk mushrooms with oak and currant leaves

If oak leaves can be found for pickling nigella, then we can assume that the process will take place under almost the same conditions as hundreds of years ago. Indeed, in those days, exclusively oak barrels were used to make pickled milk mushrooms, which gave the finished pickles an unobtrusive piquant taste and fragile elasticity.And the use of black currant leaves will complete the overall picture of harmonious aromas and tastes.

For 10 kg of milk mushrooms you will need:

• 400 g salt;
• 30-40 oak leaves;
• 40-50 blackcurrant leaves with twigs.

How to cold salt black milk mushrooms with horseradish root and cabbage leaves

You will need:

• 5 kg nigella;
• 8 large and strong leaves of white cabbage;
• 220 g salt;
• 1 large horseradish root;
• 20 dill inflorescences;
• 20 leaves of cherry and black currant;
• 1 head of garlic.

It’s not difficult to prepare salty and crispy black milk mushrooms according to this recipe in a cold way:

1. Cleaned and sorted milk mushrooms are poured with salt water (20 g per 1 liter of water) for 3-4 hours.
2. Then the mushrooms are washed and filled with ordinary water for 5-8 hours.
3. Cabbage leaves are cut into several large pieces.
4. Horseradish root and garlic are peeled and cut into thin slices.
5. Soaked mushrooms are placed in the prepared dishes, caps down, in layers two caps thick, layered with horseradish, garlic and cherry and currant leaves.
6. Cabbage leaves are placed on top of the last layer, on which a wooden circle is placed, and a heavy weight is placed on it.
   
7. Leave the container with mushrooms for 2 days at room temperature. During this period, mix the mushrooms at least 2-3 times.
8. Then place the salted milk mushrooms tightly in clean and dry sterile jars, cover with the released juice and place in the refrigerator or other cold place for 2 months.
9. After this period, salted nigella can be considered ready.

How to cold pickle black milk mushrooms with onions

Onions are an excellent addition to any type of mushroom when pickling, and nigella are no exception.

Mushrooms are prepared according to the traditional recipe in a cold way, using the following ingredients:

• one 10-liter bucket of milk mushrooms;
• 330 g salt;
• 5-6 large onions.

How to pickle black milk mushrooms with cloves at home

Using the same cold method, you can salt nigella with the addition of clove buds. This simple recipe for pickling black milk mushrooms uses only a few ingredients:

• 10 kg of nigella;
• 45-50 g coarse salt;
• 25 buds of cloves.

A simple recipe for salting black milk mushrooms using the cold method

And for lovers of the natural taste of mushrooms, the following recipe will be of interest, which does not use anything other than the milk mushrooms themselves and salt. After all, nigella is distinguished by its own unique, slightly tart and resinous taste.

The maximum brine concentration is used: for 1 kg of mushrooms, at least 50 g of salt. Otherwise, the cooking technology is no different from the traditional one.

Black milk mushrooms: cold salting in Altai style

In Altai, nigella pickling has been done for many centuries and the following ingredients are used for preparation:

• 10 kg of milk mushrooms;
• 500 g salt;
• 20 dill umbrellas;
• 5 heads of garlic;
• 5 tbsp. l. black pepper and allspice;
• 20 buds of cloves.

The process of preparing salted mushrooms in a cold way is traditional and consists of pre-soaking and then laying out the mushrooms in layers, layering them with spices. Mushrooms should be salted for about a month under pressure in a cool room. The only thing that needs to be monitored is that the salted milk mushrooms are constantly covered with liquid brine, otherwise mold may appear.

Cold pickling of black milk mushrooms with citric acid

Citric acid can be added to black milk mushrooms both before soaking them for pickling, and during the pickling process itself, after the mushrooms have released a sufficient amount of juice under the weight of the press. The addition of citric acid promotes better preservation of milk mushrooms and faster salting.

For 10 kg of nigella add 35 g of citric acid.

Rules for storing cold-salted black milk mushrooms

Cold-salted black milk mushrooms are stored at temperatures from + 2 °C to + 8 °C. If storage occurs at higher temperatures, then it is very likely that they will sour and even become moldy.

Salted mushrooms should also not be allowed to freeze, as this leads to loss of shape and disintegration into small pieces.

Conclusion

Every housewife should be able to salt black milk mushrooms for the winter, because this traditional Russian appetizer will help both decorate the holiday table and help cope with certain diseases.

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