The honey fungus (Armillaria mellea) grows en masse on tree stumps between August and November - often even in your own garden. However, the mushroom, sometimes also known as honey mushroom, hedge fungus or hollow cap, only tastes good when young, which is why you have to harvest it while the caps are still closed. In any case, only the hats are edible; the stems are tough and indigestible. Honey mash is slightly poisonous when raw, which is why you must boil it and discard the cooking water before using it.
Can you freeze honey mash and how do you prepare it?
To freeze honey mushrooms, boil the mushrooms for at least 10 minutes, cool them quickly and pack them in portions in freezer bags or plastic containers. Frozen honey mushrooms can be added directly to hot fat or broth and prepared like fresh mushrooms.
Clean and boil the honey mushrooms
Only harvest the caps of the honey mushroom that are still closed or almost closed - if these have already unfolded, the mushroom no longer tastes good. You should also leave the stems standing. At home, clean the mushrooms as follows:
- First, bathe the honey ash yield in cold s alt water for a few minutes.
- This will wash away existing dirt and also drive away any insects.
- Watering does not harm the honey mushroom as it - unlike other mushrooms - hardly draws any water.
- Then place the mushrooms in a sieve to drain and pour away the water.
- Now put a pot with plenty of fresh water on the boil and bring it to the boil.
- Cook the honey mash in it for at least 10 minutes.
- Place the mushrooms in a colander again to drain and discard the cooking water.
- This contains the heat-sensitive toxins of honey mushroom.
After boiling, the honey mash can be prepared as desired, dried or frozen.
Freeze and prepare honey mash
To freeze, pack the boiled and quickly cooled honey mash in portions in freezer bags or well-sealable plastic containers. The mushrooms last for around a year at at least minus 18 °C. If the frozen mushrooms are to be used, do not thaw them, but prepare them like fresh mushrooms - the still frozen mushrooms go directly into hot fat or hot broth. A ready-made honeycomb dish - for example made from fried onions, diced bacon, honeycomb mushrooms, s alt and pepper - can also be frozen by quickly cooling it down in a water bath. To reheat, simply add it to hot fat and fry until done. Ready-made honey mash will keep in the freezer for a maximum of three months.
Tip
Some people don't tolerate honey mushrooms well and get stomach cramps and diarrhea when they eat it. Mushrooms that grow on the stumps of coniferous trees are often more digestible.
