Appealing mushrooms

Cafe Society
1

I love mushrooms, so versatile and so yummy in all their fungtastic goodness.

I peel fresh mushrooms, the boyfriend thinks this is the most bizarrely unnecessary kitchen step he’s ever seen. I have no defense other than, “that’s how Mom did it.” It doesn’t really weird me out that he doesn’t peel them, I still happily eat whatever he’s made with the unpeeled ones in there, since whatever grossness I’d have peeled off probably got cooked away anyway.

Am I wasting precious edible shroom here or is he the weirdo?

2

I just wash them well under running water. I’ve never peeled them, unless they had funky spots on them, and then only to cut that bit out.

3

I don’t even used running water to wash them, because they’re so absorbent – I just brush them off with a little mushroom brush.

How the hell do you peel an mushroom? It’s not like there’s an identifiable layer there to peel.

4

You know that spongy part where the top cap curls under and joins the stem? I always grab that part and pull up toward the top, taking off about an 1/8 inch layer.

Just me, huh?

5

Appealing mushrooms

Don’t exist.
To me at least. I consider them one of the most vile food imaginable.
But whenever my Mom would make them, she would peel them. So you are not alone.
alone.

6

I have never heard of pealing mushrooms. Not that I am an expert on such things.

7 
 Having watched Alton Brown hector about this, the upshot is that they don't absorb water but in negligible amounts. Little enough to forgo brushing for the convenience and speed of running water.
8

Huh. Ya learn something every day.

You don’t mention, though – does the great god Brown peel his mushrooms?

9 
The weight gained by the washed mushrooms might have been eliminated had he made any attempt at drying.

Didn’t notice him peeling, at least in that ep. Never heard of it myself.

10

Well, you probably aren’t ringing them hard enough.

11

Peeling is just silly.

But don’t wash them until you’re ready to use them. They won’t absorb water, but they’ll turn slimy if you wash them and put them back in the fridge.

12

My mother peeled, I wash. But I wash them just before I slice and cook them, or slice and use them in a salad or whatnot. Occasionally, cut away a spot, but I select them carefully at the store.

I did read that the section where the stem meets the cap should still be joined; if it has separated or opened, they’re not as fresh.

These are your standard white button mushrooms of which I speak. I haven’t been too adventurous with other kinds yet.

13

I peel mushrooms, after I wash them, if I’m eating them raw. But that’s because the peel is the most delicious part! I eat it ravenously.

Now that you know you aren’t the only mushroom peeler, I imagine I will take over the spot of something only one person in the thread does with that.

14

Okay.

I gave some mushrooms a quick wash and sliced them for an omelet for lunch.

Yep, that’s right Mom, I consumed gleefully unpeeled mushrooms.

Felt weird, I gotta say, but tasted the same as always so I’ll concede the uselessness of peeling and join the crowd. The boyfriend promises not to gloat too much.

Whatever will I do will all this new time on my hands?

15

Food scientists say that mushrooms don’t really absorb all that much water.

16

And what little they do absorb is just skooshed out when they cook, to evaporate and then brown just like their own natural juice. No biggy.

This thread makes me determine to make mushroom omelets for breakfast this morning.

17

Is there any way to stop mushrooms from going brown and rotten 5 minutes after you pull them out of the grocery bag?