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alternative drying methods: induction stove top or sous vide

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 12:52 am
by Matt
My oven doesn't have a fan so I began considering other drying methods.

I have a portable induction stovetop that lets me set a specific temperature. After some testing with a meat thermometer sitting in a pan of water, it seems to run a bit hot, but I can modulate the temperate by turning it up/down as needed. This would be open to the air and at least have some air movement about it as the hot air lifts off the pan.

I also have a sous vide cooker. This is a water circulator that holds the water at a very precise temperature. You cook your food by submerging it in the water in a vacuum sealed bag. (BTW, this produces the most perfectly cooked rare steaks, if you're into that.) Now, the nature of there being water involved makes it not a low-humidity environment of course. Of the three heating methods I have available to me, sous vide is by far the superior mechanism for maintaining a very precise temperature for any amount of time I could want. Anyone else experimented with this?

Another question I have is regarding the "dehydrate at 165F." There are actually two things going on here.
1) Decarboxylization of ibotenic acid into muscimol
2) Removal of water by dehydration

So, could I decarb the mushroom caps by vacuum sealing them, putting them in the sous vide water at 165F, and then dehydrate them by putting them in the oven on the lowest setting until they dry out? Or, for that matter, reverse the order?

Very interested in hearing your thoughts on all this.

Re: alternative drying methods: induction stove top or sous vide

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 1:51 am
by tgt1002
I suspect that having fresh caps in a sous vide bag at such a temperature would cause some decarb.

What may be a better experiment would be to see how hot you could get the sous vide cooker (could you get it above conventional boiling temp by using saturated salt water?) and placing the shrooms in a sous vide bag to get them to quickly bleed out there liquid because then you could filter the shroom material out and you would have a pretty potent amanita liquid which you could stabilize in a tincture bottle with some alcohol. Just a thought

Re: alternative drying methods: induction stove top or sous vide

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 2:53 am
by Matt
tgt1002 wrote:
Sun Oct 18, 2020 1:51 am
I suspect that having fresh caps in a sous vide bag at such a temperature would cause some decarb.

What may be a better experiment would be to see how hot you could get the sous vide cooker (could you get it above conventional boiling temp by using saturated salt water?) and placing the shrooms in a sous vide bag to get them to quickly bleed out there liquid because then you could filter the shroom material out and you would have a pretty potent amanita liquid which you could stabilize in a tincture bottle with some alcohol. Just a thought
Interesting idea. I would imagine that if the only water in that solution was what the mushroom came with that would be some rather incredibly potent stuff, would it not?

Re: alternative drying methods: induction stove top or sous vide

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 5:16 am
by tgt1002
well something I want to try if I ever find my own fresh caps is something i have read about with a similar concept. You cut them up and put them in a jar and cover it with foil and put it in the fridge for like 7+ days and collect the juices that bleed out and I would imagine that yes it would be very potent. If I ever get fresh ones and try this I promise to post about it on this forum :)

Re: alternative drying methods: induction stove top or sous vide

Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:28 am
by Donn
Pardon me if I didn't understand it right - it sounds like "let's cook the mushrooms, and then dry them"? I wouldn't go there myself. The structure breaks down too much, there's vital fluids leaking out, and what's left would be difficult to work with to dry.