Mushroom dryness for long term storage

Well say if you got an ounce of mush (lawlz), and they say that they have to be cracker dry in order for them to not have any moisture, well mine were still a little soft and a tiny bit bendable, but they woudl mostly snap. So i bought silica gel cat litter and i put them in a drying thing for like a week and they dont seem to be any dryer (same bendability and softness), so is it likely that they stil have moisture and the silica gel didnt do it or that they never had any moisture in the first place and they're just soft and bendable naturally?

 

You don't want them to bend at all, that means there's still moisture in them. This moisture leads to oxidation and therefore a breakdown in potency. If you aren't eating them immediately than you want to get them cracker dry ASAP. If you plan on buying/growing large quantities and then storing, you may want to go down to walmart and spend $17 on a food dehydrator. It's a great investment.

 

Shit, but i used silica gel (a good dessicant) and put them in a drying chamber for like a week. Do you think the silica gel is just shit and i should get better ones or should i just look for other dessicants (i already looked for like other forms of silica gel, but i know i can get snow melting salt (whcih is calcium chloride) at the hardware store. Ive already had them about for 3 weeks but im worried there gonna lose too much potency or get mold cause i need to store them for like over a year

 

Go to a hardware store and buy some Damp Rid, it's a great dessicant used for drying out rooms to be painted, put that at the bottom of an air tight container and then put in the mushrooms. Just be sure to NOT let the mush actually touch the Damp Rid (suspend a screen over it or whatever, get creative) after a few days they will be all dry. Also, if you are a storing for as long as you're saying, it wouldn't hurt to store them in an airtight container with a little of the Damp Rid (remember, don't let them touch it, wouldn't want to consume that).

 

Allright, but isnt damp rid just silica gel, and thats what i used, the silica gel cat litter (which is the same thing), and it didnt seem to work at all, so how would that work better?

 

its not the same thing, damprid is calcium chloride

you could also always construct a fan box setup

silica gel probably isn't the best dessicant to use, but i have no experience with dessicants to back this up, i always simply air dried them

i've never come across a mushroom so dry it would snap, ever, but maybe they can get like that. i've always assumes the stems were just somewhat flexible.

if all else fails, you can either pack them in a canning jar and freeze them. this should work, i'd think.

 

Allright it sounds good but i might not be able to get a ride to the hardware store for like a week though. But if you fan dry them, would 1 and a half days be enough for them to get cracker dry?

 

probably. i've always dried my mushrooms well and never had a problem with storage, ever, when i was growing. between homegrown and purchased i've never seen mushrooms that just snapped and broke instead of bending a little. i personally suspect thats just how mushrooms are.

 

I assure you guys that you want the mushrooms to crack, not bend. And further on what I said earlier, a food dehydrator is really the way to go. Not only is it air drying, but it's adding a lot of heat as well. That means their going to dry out faster and completely, therefore less of a loss in potency (not that it's necessarily a HUGE difference from letting them maintain some moisture for a short period of time). But also, I would think that just air drying them with a fan or something in an open room would allow many other factors like room humidity and temperature to affect how well they dry out.

I personally think that $17 is a small price to pay to always be assured that your taking the best precautions to maintain the potency of your product. Plus you only have to buy once and you got it forever, unlike silica or other similar products. But whatever route you take, best of luck!

 

^^^ agreed 100%. Crack not bend. Once you can easilycrack the thin part of the stem w/ one hand, you are good to go.

 

Allright well first im gonna try the damp rid and if that fails then ill go for the food dehydrator. Thanks so much for all your help, but one more question lol, how sensitive are shrooms to light and air, in your experience?

 

Adding heat to dry mushrooms isn't good. Use the DampRid.

And the stems should definitely snap. All the ones I've ever bought weren't dried right. They all bent a little.

 

Adding heat to wet mushrooms speeds up the oxidation process yes, but when combined with air exchange (a fan), the increased speed in drying them outweighs the possible negatives from short term heat exposure.

 

Well like they arent bending alot, you can easily snap them with 2 fingers, but like its not like they snap instantly like crackers do, they bend like a tiny bit before they snap, so are they probably fine anyways?

 

I guess that depends on how long you want to store them and still expect potency. If it's any longer than a couple days I'd really recommend getting them to snap. Again, you have to understand why that is. If there's any give at all to them, then there is still water present in the cells. If there's any water in the cells, oxidation will occur. If oxidation occurs, potency will be lost. The longer they go, with the more water present, the more potency that can expected to be lost. Whether or not the loss for "x amount of time" is noticeable or even substantial is determined by other factors as well and could be debated all day, but the equation is fact.

 

Allright ill see how soon i get get a ride to the hardware store, and if they dont have damp rid ive heard that the snow melting salt that people put on their driveways is also calcium chloride, and they woudl definitely have that

 

What section of the grocery store would damp rid be found?

 

I fucked some mushrooms right on up drying them by the chimney of a wood stove. They lost ALL their potency. I'd stay away from heat.

 

I'm sorry to hear that, what a drag. Was this a one time thing or did you ever try again to see if you got the same results? I don't know for sure why that would happen, but my best guess would be that the mushrooms themselves were getting really hot and just cooking, causing the psilocybin to break down. It's different when the air is hot but being constantly and evenly circulated by a fan like in a dehydrator. Also, a quick google search showed that the average wood stove burns anywhere from 400-900 degrees F; and if memory serves correct the average food dehydrator runs something like 100-150 degrees F. All I can say with certainty is that I personally have used a food dehydrator numerous times with great results and I know there are countless people over on the shroomery that say the same thing.

 

But does anyone know what section i could find damp rid in at the grocery store?