Amanita Research Forum

I'd like to share my experience with oven drying. The problem with kitchen ovens is they are very bad at keeping required temperature - you might set 70C but in reality temperature might be two times higher, that's why people end with burned mushrooms. The only workaround is to measure temperature inside the oven and set the temperature regulator in a way in never exceeds 90C. With my oven I was able to achieve temperature in the range of 70 - 95C and results were very good.
Hot to measure temperature inside the oven with closed doors? I use electronic multimeter with temperature measurement function and thermocouple sensor. Thermocouple has very thick wire so the oven door could be shut completely.

Intelligent approach, thanks.
Are there any signs that would indicate a good temperature without electronics ?
For example I've noticed that when the temperature is hot enough the mushrooms start to sweat gently, when it is too hot liquid goes out and drops start to pour from the caps.
I always let the door open and measure the temperature with my hand inside the oven. It is obviously not accurate but I feel a nice connection with the mushroom and with my feelings and intuition this way, which I consider valuable.

When I dried it my way there was no sweating at all and colour of the mushroom was more or less the same as before drying. I guess sweating means temperature above 100C thus should be avoided.

Yes when I say they sweat it is more like the texture is soft and humid. When colder the texture is dry and harder. Temperature is definitely under 80°c as I can keep my hand inside the oven without feeling excessive heat.

Adding my own experiences for anybody who is interested.

I've tried oven drying two batches in the past week.

The first batch was just two caps, one large and one small. I put the oven on 80 degrees C (175 F), and verified the temperature with a cooking thermometer. The over must be pretty decent, because it kept the temperature steady within a few degrees. That batch dried very well.

The second batch was a lot bigger, two full trays. I used the same temperature, but this one didn't go as well. The ventilation in the oven apparently wasn't good enough and the mushrooms started sweating like crazy. I had to put a tray below to collect all the drippings. So in the end nothing was lost and it turned out OK, but it got a little messy.

Interesting, that so much liquid dribbled out, but they didn't deteriorate.

I cut mine in strips, and left the oven door open a bit and the convection fan on, and monitored temperature with a cheap oven thermometer, a dial type that hangs from an oven rack. It has been a while - it's the middle of summer here - but as I recall it, the color changed only quite subtly, from white to slightly yellowed.

Donn wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 12, 2020 5:29 am

Interesting, that so much liquid dribbled out, but they didn't deteriorate.

I cut mine in strips, and left the oven door open a bit and the convection fan on, and monitored temperature with a cheap oven thermometer, a dial type that hangs from an oven rack. It has been a while - it's the middle of summer here - but as I recall it, the color changed only quite subtly, from white to slightly yellowed.

I think what happened was the oven got saturated with steam, so the water coming from the drying mushrooms would not evaporate and started condensing instead. But it was not hot enough for them to boil, so they came out alright anyway.

The oven fan was on, but apparently that wasn't enough to clear the steam. I think leaving the door slightly ajar would be enough. However, that messed up the temperature regulation in my oven. But I think that could be solved by just setting the temperature a bit higher and monitoring it to find the right setting.

Cutting them in strips might help, too. I just separated the caps from the stems.