Pesto mushrooms - what did I do wrong?

[English Tracy]

I have christened my new dehydrator with Alissa's carrot and pecan burgers (yum) and the pesto mushrooms.

BUT although the pesto dehydrated the mushrooms just stayed as they were, white and fairly hard, they weren't a bit warm or wrinkly like I expected :confused: . There is another recent thread by lanasq and she posted a picture of her pesto mushrooms. Hers looked dark brown and appeared to have shrunk a little bit, which is what I expected mine to do. They still tasted OK but the mushrooms were still crunchy.

Is there a partcular mushroom to use? Mine were quite big (white closed caps) as that's all I could get.

Thanks.

Tracy

[Raw Jewelrylady]

Hi Tracy, I set my dehydrater at 105 Degrees & let the muchrooms stay for 4-5 hours. I have found that they are brown the next day. I just put in fridge & then warm up or even eat cold. I'm not sure why they are better, but I guess it is because the olive oil & nut oils soak into the mushroom to give it a better flavor/texture. Not sure why they turn brown-probably oxidation. Hope that helps. Also, larger mushrooms will take longer. don't give up, as they are a fav around here. :p
Enjoy,
Lana

[RawYogini]

I marinate my shrooms first in a little namu shoyu.

[Raw Jewelrylady]

Wow, great idea to marinate first. I will try it !!! :o

[Blissed]

The marinating helps, and yes, at 105 degrees for time designated. Did recipe with both the little white button mushrooms and the big portabello as well, and they both darkened and wrinkled some. Perhaps your temp wasn't high enough. :confused:

[English Tracy]

Marinating sounds a good idea.

My Equip dehydrator has temps marked 93 - 125 -158 degrees. you have to guess where 105 degrees would be, so I put the dial approx mid way between 93 and 125.

I must get a cooking thermometer (un-cooking that is :D ) and check the temperature properly.

Thanks for the tips. I'll persevere with some smaller mushrooms.

Tracy