Today my husband decided to take a little stroll in the timber, and he came back with a really nice hen of the woods mushroom. We forage both in the spring and in the fall for wild mushrooms, and hen of the woods can be found in late fall, usually right before frost, providing the conditions are right.

The one he found today is a really nice one at 10 pounds. Not the biggest he’s ever found, but also not the smallest. It will take a few jars to get this sucker canned. 🙂

These mushrooms are pretty much solid all the way through. You do need to trim off the bottom where it sits on the ground, and check for bugs and other critters as you cut it up and clean it. If you find them fresh like this one is, there’s a lot of good eating.

While I realize that the current edition of Ball Blue Book doesn’t condone canning wild mushrooms, older versions of this publication had no warnings against it, which is when I learned how to can what we would find. You have to know what you’re foraging for, as there are mushrooms out there that may look similar but are deadly, not so much the hen of the woods but especially other types of fall mushrooms that we like to look for. My husband and I have hunted wild mushrooms for decades, so we know what is good to eat and what will kill you, and we’ve researched all kinds of mushrooms in various publications. That said, if you’re going to hunt for wild mushrooms, if you’re a newbie take someone with you who has experience and knows what the good ones look like.

Mushrooms must be pressure canned because mushrooms are a low-acid food, and these aren’t being pickled (pickled mushrooms can be water bathed). A water bath canner doesn’t get the temperature high enough to kill off any potential bacteria (botulism). Again, this isn’t an approved Ball Blue Book recipe, so proceed at your own risk, but I’ve pressure canned mushrooms this way for over 20 years, and I’m still here. I found these instructions in my Mirro canner manual, which I purchased over 20 years ago. Use half-pints or pint jars only, as using quarts isn’t recommended.

For this 10-pound mushroom, I ended up with 25 half-pints of canned mushrooms. Nice return for a stroll in the woods. 🙂

Canning Mushrooms

Wild mushrooms
Water
Canning salt

Trim mushrooms of any debris, and soak in cold water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse mushrooms. For hen of the woods mushrooms, dice mushrooms into bite-sized pieces.

In a large stockpot, cook mushrooms gently for 15 minutes.

Pack hot mushrooms into prepared hot jars, and cover with boiling water, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Add canning salt to each jar (1/4 teaspoon for half-pints, 1/2 teaspoon for pints). Adjust lids and rings.

Process jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 30 minutes (same time for both half pints and pints).

After processing, remove jars from canner, and let sit undisturbed for at least 12 hours before moving.

To use: You can use these mushrooms in any recipe that you would normally use store-bought canned mushrooms.