Detailed Explanation of the Production Process and Processing Methods of Candied Mushrooms
1. Raw material selection: Choose fresh mushrooms with medium-sized caps, natural color, intact shape, and no disease or insect spots as processing raw materials.
2. Pretreatment:
① Brine soaking: Remove attached impurities from the harvested fresh mushrooms and immediately immerse them in 1%-2% salt water for 4-6 hours to increase the firmness of the mushroom bodies.
② Blanching: Pour the cleaned and drained mushroom bodies that have been soaked in brine into boiling water and blanch for 7-9 minutes to destroy enzyme activity and prevent browning of the mushroom bodies.
③ Trimming: In order to make the candied mushrooms neat and attractive, trimming must be used to make the mushroom bodies uniform in size. Larger mushroom bodies must be appropriately cut into pieces, and mushroom fragments and defective mushrooms should be removed.
④ Color protection: Soak the trimmed mushroom bodies in a 0.2% sodium metabisulfite solution for 8-10 hours, then remove them and rinse them clean in running water.
3. Sugar curing: Add granulated sugar equal to 40% (calculated based on the weight of fresh mushrooms) to the cleaned mushroom bodies and cure in sugar for 24 hours, then filter out the sugar liquid, adjust the sugar concentration to 50 Baume, boil for about 10 minutes, pour it into a jar while hot, and continue pickling for 24 hours.
4. Sugar boiling: Pour the mushroom bodies together with the sugar liquid into a double-layered pot and heat to a boil. Using the method of gradually adding sugar and increasing invert sugar, boil the mushroom bodies until they become transparent and the sugar liquid concentration reaches 65 Baume, then stop the heat immediately. Then pour the sugar liquid together with the mushroom bodies into a soaking jar and soak for 24 hours.
5. Baking: Remove the sugar-boiled mushroom pieces, drain them, place them in a shallow tray, and put them into a drying room for baking. The baking temperature is 65-70°C, and stop when the mushroom bodies become transparent and no longer sticky to the touch.
6. Packaging: The baked candied mushrooms can be packaged in hard plastic food boxes or plastic bags and sealed for storage.