Rich vegetables such as mushrooms, not only taste good but are also remarkable for health. Mushrooms are highly rich in nutrients and fibers but low in fiber. They are abundantly used in several dishes such as stews, soups, pasta, and other gourmet and soupy savory dishes. Mushrooms come in both dried and fresh forms. People are quite perplexed about which mushrooms are the best, either the fresh ones or the dried ones.
Well, when it comes to comparing dried and fresh mushrooms, they have totally different uses and cooking preferences along with taste and textures. But the more handy ones are dried mushrooms that are commonly found in almost all the kitchens. Besides that, there are also other differences. In this post, we will compare fresh mushrooms with dried ones, and then you may decide which ones are better for you. Read on.
Are Mushrooms Healthy To Eat?
Mushrooms are healthy fungi. They are edible and can be even eaten alone, slightly cooked, because of their soft and tender texture. The anti-oxidants present in the mushrooms make them medically beneficial against heart diseases. Mushrooms contain niacin which is good for promoting healthy digestive systems
If you are a diet-oriented person, mushrooms can come in handy in your daily eating routine as they contain no fats and high fibers. Mushrooms are also rich in proteins that promote a healthy lifestyle.
Several recipes of stews, soups, gravies, and pasta contain mushrooms, in both dried and fresh forms. However, the addition of dried and fresh mushrooms depends more on what you are making.
Now that you have enough understanding of mushrooms, let’s study about dried and fresh mushrooms.
What Are Fresh Mushrooms?
Mushroom is a fungus and fungi usually are 90% water so the water content in fresh mushrooms is 10 to 12 percent. Fresh mushrooms can also be eaten slightly cooked due to being a little indigestible. They are more preferably used in pasta and other gourmet dishes. Fresh mushrooms stay fresh for around 10 days in the refrigerator.
What Are Dried Mushrooms?
Since fresh mushrooms aren’t always readily available, dried mushrooms come quite in handy and are widely available. Dried mushrooms have been dried out of half the percent of total water content. They have slightly intense flavors as compared to the fresh ones. Due to being long-lived and abundance, dried mushrooms are supposed to be the best for daily cooking.
Soups and stews are made with dried mushrooms as the flavors, taste, and texture retain for a long.
Dried Mushrooms vs Fresh Mushrooms
Since fresh and dried mushrooms are almost the same, as both are the same vegetable except for, one is freshly plucked and the other has taken days and been dried out. They taste quite similar with no usual twists, while the cooking preferences and flavor intensity might be different. Also, fresh mushrooms aren’t as easily available as dried ones.
Here are some distinguishing differences between dried and fresh mushrooms. Read on.
- Texture:
When it comes to differences in texture, dried mushrooms are quite touch and chewy while the fresh mushrooms are soft and preferred more. They appear flowering and rising while dried mushrooms appear shrinking. Even when you soak the dried mushrooms, they won’t regain the original freshness either the water content.
- Water content:
Reconstituted or dried mushrooms have been completely dried out with 50 to 60 percent of water. While fresh mushrooms have the original 90 percent water which makes them soft and spongy.
- Food preferences:
Dried mushrooms since have more concentrated flavors, are suited best for the preparation of stews and soups, as well as other gravy foods. On the other hand, fresh mushrooms are used in making gourmet fresh dairy recipes such as pasta, mac, and cheese, etc.
- Flavors:
Dried out mushrooms have strong, intensified flavors and are much mushier. While fresh mushrooms aren’t that flavorful. They taste very mild, yet fresh.
- Availability
Dried mushrooms are much readily available as compared to fresh mushrooms. They are always in stock while the fresh ones aren’t grown anywhere. Both of these mushrooms can be easily substituted with each other.
We hope that the above differences between fresh mushrooms and dried mushrooms will help you.