Three key steps must be done well during the dehydration of shiitake mushrooms

Timely harvesting. This is the foundation for the bright color of the finished mushrooms. One of the main reasons shiitake mushrooms change color during drying is that the mushroom bodies are injured before drying. To overcome this shortcoming and enhance the resistance of the mushroom bodies to external pressure, timely harvesting is very important. When the veil has fully split and the cap has curled upward like a copper gong, they should be harvested. Do not spray water within 2 hours before harvesting. Use the "twist-harvest method" to pick them. After harvesting, handle them gently, remove debris and stems, and immediately send them to the nearest dehydration room for dehydration. Generally, from harvest to entering the drying stove, the distance should preferably not exceed 5 km, and the time should not exceed 2 hours. In this way, the quality of the mushrooms can be guaranteed.

Control the temperature. This is the key to the plump shape of the finished mushrooms. To keep the mushroom bodies plump after drying and shaping, conditions should be created to make the free water molecules inside the shiitake tissue diffuse outward and inward synchronously as much as possible. This requires us to observe frequently during drying, change positions frequently, correctly grasp the heat level, and control temperature and humidity well. That is, after stable drying at 35°C~40°C for 4 hours, stop the fire and let them cool; when the caps become soft, gradually increase the fire and raise the temperature to 55°C; when the mushroom bodies are 90% dry, stop the fire again and open the cabinet for sorting; after the temperature drops to natural temperature, return the fire to 60°C and maintain it for 1~2 hours. The finished mushrooms dried in this way shrink uniformly inside and out, have almost no wrinkles on the surface, and are of good quality.

Strict classification. This is the guarantee that the finished mushrooms are uniform in size. When the mushroom bodies are dried to 90% dry, quickly take them out and sort them into groups. While the surface of the shiitake mushrooms is still soft and not easily damaged after cooling, first manually select and grade them by size, remove sandy mushrooms, deformed mushrooms, and mushrooms with damaged gills, and at the same time trim off excess stems, then sieve them by eye according to export standards, and then return them to the fire until fully dry (moisture content 11%~13%). After cooling to natural temperature, seal and store them in double-layer plastic bags of 6~8 si for sale.