Analysis of Key Points in Fresh-keeping Technology for Small-Package Edible Fungi

With economic development and the accelerating pace of people's lives, convenient, clean, small-package fresh mushroom products have become a development trend in market sales. The processing procedure is described below:

Once fresh mushrooms are harvested, they must be arranged neatly in small low-profile containers and sent as soon as possible to a low-temperature workshop for sorting.

The containers measure 40 cm, 8 cm and 16 cm in length, width and height respectively, shaped like turnover boxes, with a solid bottom panel, round holes of 2-3 cm diameter preset around the sides, and inward-recessed interlocking corner blocks at the four bottom corners to facilitate stacking in multiple layers. When harvesting, the fresh mushrooms should be laid in the same direction, without head-to-tail contact, to avoid contamination. The temperature in the low-temperature workshop is 1-3 degrees Celsius; an ordinary constant-temperature cold store can be modified for this use. After the fresh mushrooms are moved into the workshop in boxes, they should be placed separately and must not be stacked in multiple layers, so that the mushroom bodies can cool fully; this step is especially important for fresh mushrooms harvested when the air temperature is above 15 degrees Celsius. The sorting tools are thin stainless steel blades or bamboo blades, along with small-package sealing and boxing equipment.

First use a small knife to trim the base of the fresh mushrooms clean, removing soil, substrate and other debris; scales, if numerous, should also be removed. Generally do not wash with water, otherwise the shelf life of the product will be shortened.

Once the interior of the mushroom bodies has cooled to below 3 degrees Celsius, they can be portioned. Generally, foam material can be made into single boxes about 5 cm high, each holding about 150 grams of fresh mushrooms. If plastic packaging is prohibited from sale, custom paper boxes can be used. The shaggy ink cap mushroom is generally suited to packaging of 16 cm x 10 cm x 4 cm (length x width x height) specifications, Agaricus blazei to 15 cm x 10 cm x 6 cm specifications, and Hypsizygus marmoreus, Agrocybe aegerita and the like to 16 cm x 8 cm x 4 cm specifications. Determine the arrangement method according to the morphology and size of the fresh mushrooms, then seal with cling film. Place the small packaging boxes into foam fresh-keeping cases, each case holding 36 boxes, and seal the opening with transparent adhesive tape.

In addition, for short-term storage and transport, methods such as ice cooling for fresh-keeping or refrigerated truck transport can also be used, with the refrigeration temperature controlled at 1-3 degrees Celsius.