Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Mushroom House Dried Oyster Mushrooms.  In my view oyster mushrooms are one of the more underrated mushrooms out there.  To me they are also one of the mushrooms that I feel actually benefits and becomes better when dehydrated.

Fresh oyster mushrooms are pretty good but they lack intense flavor, the also lack any real “body” instead they are very soft and easily over cooked.  However when we dry them and re-hydrate them they come up a lot more firm and their taste intensifies.

The other big thing is of course how storable these guys are.  How well do they store you ask?  Well the package I recently bought had a best by date over 2 and a half years beyond the date I received them and we all know that manufactures practice more than just a little CYA on expiration dates.

So what is the best way to use these guys.  First soak them in water until they re-hydrate and that takes about 20-30 minutes.  Save that water for cooking or making stock.  Then slice and prepare them in what ever way you see fit.  I like sauting them in butter and garlic, then toss in some sweet and hot peppers, saute a bit longer, then add some greens like baby arugula and baby spinach just to wilt, then add in two duck eggs and gently scramble.  Top with your cheese of choice, Gruyere is really nice with this and you have a gormet breakfast in a matter of 15 minutes.  Yes you can use chicken or other eggs for this, I just happen to have a lot of duck eggs always around.

There are tons of recipes I could give you for these but I thought I might give you a recipe using 100% long term storables that would really blow you away, and make it very fast too.  Here is what you need.

• About 2 cups of dried oyster mushrooms (whole not packed)
• 24 Ounces of Canned Beef (we like Kirkland Canned Beef, but if you have a Costco membership buy it locally and save quite  bit on it)
• About 4-6 cups of water (depending on what you end up needing)
• 2 tsp of Better than Bouillon Beef Flavoring or 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 cups of dehydrated carrot slices
• 1 cup of dehydrated celery slices
• 1 cup of dehydrated onions
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• Dried Parsley, Thyme and Rosemary
• Fresh Chives or Green Onion if you have them growing if not omit or use dehydrated chives
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Procedure –  Put water in large cooking pot and add mushrooms, turn on to medium heat and heat until steaming hot.  By then mushrooms should be soft enough to work with.  Use a strainer and remove mushrooms, this is simple because they float.

Now add dehydrated veggies and a big pinch of each of rosemary and thyme, add about two big pinches of parsley.  Bring to a full boil, while you wait for that, run some cool water on the mushrooms so you don’t burn your fingers, shake them dry and cut them on a cutting board into thin strips, sort of like “mushroom noodles” (moodles?).  Then add them back to the pot.  When it comes to a boil add bouillon or Better Than Bouillon stir to dissolve.  Also now add the can of crushed tomatoes.  (Costco has some awesome organic ones).

Simmer until the mushrooms and vegetables are to your liking, stir in canned beef including the broth (don’t use a variety with “gravy”) bring back to a full simmer to heat beef through.

Serve with a topping of fresh chives or green onion, if you don’t have any on hand use dehydrated chives.  Add salt and pepper to taste, best to do that at the end as the canned beef and bouillon both have a significant amount of salt.

This all takes less time to do that it does to type it all out.  The soup comes out amazing and it is a great use for canned beef, allowing you to keep it for long term storage but still rotate it by eating what  you store and storing what you eat.  You can adjust quantities to your liking and it absolutely can be made with fresh meat, bone stocks, etc.  One really nice over the top addition is some green snow peas right at the end!

Just a few ways you can use this awesome ingredient and remember they are dehydrated so they weight about 1/4 of their weight when fresh, hence a one pound bag that sells for just under 17 bucks is equivalent to about 4 pounds of raw oyster mushrooms.

I have tried many different brands of oyster mushrooms but so far, Mushroom House Dried Oyster Mushrooms are my favorite, so check them out to day and add this great and versatile storable to your pantry.

To store them after opening I just put them in ball jars with a big pinch of rice in the bottom to act as a desiccant, there is no need for dry canning/vac sealing them.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com

P.S. – You will notice that the dehydrated veggies all are linked to one gallon sizes on Amazon, the brand is Harmony House.  I have always loved their quality and when I buy this stuff I buy it in bulk but you can use any dried carrots, celery and onion in this recipe.  I recently did a bulk order on stuff like this with North Bay Trading Company and was impressed with their quality, service and pricing so you might try them as well.