What are the precautions for harvesting edible mushrooms
May 13, 2002, Sichuan Daily report: 1. Master the optimal harvest time. Various mushrooms and wood ears are basically at the seven-to-eight-tenths ripe stage when their appearance is beautiful and their taste is good. Take shiitake mushrooms as an example: the sign of seven-to-eight-tenths ripeness is that the partial veil has broken, the cap has not yet fully opened, and there is still a slight inward curl, forming a "gong edge"; when the gills have fully extended and turned from white to yellowish brown or dark brown, this is the most suitable harvest time for shiitake mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms harvested at the right time have bright color, strong aroma, thick caps, and soft, resilient flesh.
2. Pay attention to picking techniques. When harvesting edible mushrooms, all stemmed mushroom types, such as shiitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, straw mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and bamboo fungus, must be harvested according to the principle of picking the large ones and leaving the small ones. When picking mushrooms, pinch the base of the mushroom stem tightly with the thumb and index finger, first rotate left and right, then gently pull upward. Be careful not to bruise the small mushroom buds. For gelatinous fungi such as silver ear fungus, black wood ear, hairy wood ear, as well as clustered oyster mushrooms, phoenix mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms, cut the entire cluster from the base with a sharp blade when harvesting, taking care to keep the cluster shape intact.
3. Choose suitable weather. Harvesting on sunny days is beneficial for processing; on cloudy and rainy days, the water content is high, making drying difficult and affecting quality. However, if the mushrooms or wood ears have already matured, they should still be harvested in a timely manner even on rainy days, but processing must be done promptly. For black wood ear, silver ear fungus, and similar types, you can stop spraying water, strengthen ventilation, and wait until the weather clears to harvest.
4. Use suitable containers. Freshly picked mushrooms should be placed in small woven baskets or small baskets, and handled gently to keep the fruiting bodies intact and prevent damage from squeezing against each other. In particular, containers such as gunny sacks, wooden buckets, and wooden boxes should not be used, to avoid surface damage or mold and rot. Freshly picked mushrooms should be packed separately according to mushroom body size and cluster shape quality, to facilitate processing.
5. Stop watering and control humidity before harvest. If water is sprayed before harvest, the mushroom bodies have too high a water content, and during processing, dehydration and drying will cause the gills to turn black, and the product will not meet export requirements; if sold fresh, excessive moisture can also cause mold and rot. Therefore, watering should be stopped before harvest so that the mushroom bodies maintain normal moisture.