Ingredients
Mushrooms
- 3 kgfirm forest mushrooms — milk caps, saffron milk caps or ceps
- 180 gcoarse non-iodised salt — 6% of the mushroom weight
Aromatics
- 1 headgarlic, sliced
- 2large bunches dill, with stems
- 20blackcurrant leaves
- 10cherry or oak leaves
- 1 tbspblack peppercorns
- 6bay leaves
- 1horseradish leaf, for the top
To serve
- sunflower oil
- raw onion, sliced
- black bread, boiled potatoes
Directions
- Identify every mushroom with certainty before anything else. Salting does not make a poisonous mushroom safe, and it does not reduce the toxins in one. If a single specimen in the basket is not positively identified, the basket goes out — this is the one step of the recipe that has no margin in it.
- Clean them with a brush and a damp cloth rather than washing, and trim the stems.
- Milk caps and other bitter species must be soaked in cold water for two days, changing the water three or four times a day, until a nibbled edge is no longer sharp or peppery. Ceps and saffron milk caps need no soak.
- Blanch them for five minutes in boiling salted water, then drain and cool. This is the hot-salting method and it is the safer of the two, since it kills surface bacteria before the long cure.
- Weigh the drained mushrooms and use 6 percent of that weight in salt.
- Layer them gills-down in a crock or wide jar: a scatter of salt, a layer of mushrooms, garlic, dill, leaves and peppercorns, and so on to the top.
- Lay the horseradish leaf over the surface, set a plate on it and a weight on that. Within a day or two brine should rise above the plate. If it does not, top up with 6 percent brine.
- Keep the mushrooms under brine at all times. Anything above it moulds, and mould in a mushroom crock spoils the lot.
- Store cold, 2 to 8°C (36 to 46°F), for 40 days before eating.
- Never store salted mushrooms sealed under oil at room temperature. Low-acid mushrooms in an airless jar are a textbook botulism risk, and the whole tradition keeps them cold, under brine, with air above.
- Rinse before eating, dress with sunflower oil and raw onion, and serve with black bread and potatoes.
Technique
- Identification first, and absolutely. Nothing later in the recipe corrects a mistake here.
- Six percent salt, everything under the brine, cold storage throughout.
- Never sealed under oil at room temperature.
Substitutions
- Cultivated mushrooms, which remove the identification problem entirely, though the texture is softer.
- The cold-salting method with no blanching, which is traditional but needs the full 40 days without exception.
- Chanterelles or honey fungus, both widely salted in Ukraine.
Variations
- Marinovani hryby, the vinegar-pickled version, which keeps longer.
- Chopped into varenyky filling and into mushroom sauce for holubtsi.
History
Autumn forest harvest of northern Ukraine, packed in barrels and weighted under brine for months.
Frequently asked questions
What is Soleni hryby?
Soleni hryby is a fermented & pickled from Ukraine: forest mushrooms salted in layers with dill and garlic, eaten with oil. Autumn forest harvest of northern Ukraine, packed in barrels and weighted under brine for months.
How long does Soleni hryby take to make?
Soleni hryby takes 1 hour plus 2 days soaking and 40 days salting of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes fills a 3-litre jar. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Soleni hryby?
Yes, within limits. Cultivated mushrooms, which remove the identification problem entirely, though the texture is softer. The cold-salting method with no blanching, which is traditional but needs the full 40 days without exception. Chanterelles or honey fungus, both widely salted in Ukraine.
What is the most important thing to get right in Soleni hryby?
Clean them with a brush and a damp cloth rather than washing, and trim the stems.
