How to Can Mushroom Sauce

Canning mushrooms is a good way to preserve them.

When you find a good sale on mushrooms, it makes sense to can them. Mushroom sauce is easy to can, but the sauce must be pressure cooked, since mushrooms are a low-acid food that requires higher temperatures to process for safe storage. Mushroom sauces that use dairy products cannot be canned at home because the milk, cream or butter break down in the high heat and pressure found in pressure cookers. Sauces thickened with flour or cornstarch also thin when cooked at high temperatures. However, people who have pressure cookers may can the mushrooms and add the dairy or thickener to create a sauce at the time of use. Does this Spark an idea?

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Mushrooms
Pressure cooker
Canning jars and rings
Ascorbic acid or vitamin C (optional)

Instructions

Preparation
- 1
  
  Select the cleanest, freshest mushrooms you can obtain. Unless you are an expert in gathering nonpoisonous mushrooms, do not attempt to can wild mushrooms. Many varieties of mushrooms are deadly and some toxic varieties are easy to mistake with edible mushrooms.
- 2
  
  Wash half-pint or pint jars in hot, soapy water and rinse well. Place bottom-side down on a clean kitchen towel. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends only using half-pint or pint jars for mushrooms.
- 3
  
  Add the required amount of water to your pressure cooker for processing. The amount varies depending on the size of your cooker. Turn the stove on to begin heating the water in the pressure cooker.
- 4
  
  Put water in a saucepan and heat it to boiling. Drop in the lids for the jars, and turn off the heat.
- 5
  
  Choose a pan large enough to hold your mushrooms, fill halfway with water and begin to heat water to use to can the mushrooms.
Canning
- 6
  
  Clean the mushrooms carefully by rinsing with water or soaking in water for 10 minutes and rinsing carefully. Trim the ends off the mushrooms and any dark or soft spots. Slice larger mushrooms into smaller pieces. Leave small mushrooms whole.
- 7
  
  Add the mushrooms to the hot or boiling water and boil for five minutes. Once cooked, use a spoon or cup to add the mushrooms to clean half-pint or pint jars, leaving an inch headspace. Do not pack the jars tightly. Pour the broth from the cooking liquid over the mushrooms. If you are using half-pint jars, add ¼ teaspoon of salt. Add ½ teaspoon if you are using pint jars. The salt does not act as a preservative in the jars and you can omit the salt altogether. Ascorbic acid in the form of powder or a vitamin C tablet preserves the color. Add 1/8 teaspoon per pint or a 500 mg tablet of ascorbic acid.
- 8
  
  Use a table knife or spoon to gently stir the mushrooms to get all the trapped air in the jars out. Add more liquid if the level in the jars fall below an inch. Wipe the tops of the jars with a damp kitchen cloth or wet paper towel. Place the rings and lids on the jars and tighten.
- 9
  
  Place the jars in the cooker, cover and vent for the recommended time based on your cooker's instructions.
- 10
  
  Process the jars in a dial-gauge canner for 45 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure for elevations below 2,000 feet. Add a pound of pressure for every 2,000 feet more of elevation, but keep the processing time at 45 minutes. If you are using a weighted-gauge pressure cooker, process for 45 minutes at 10 lbs. at elevations below 1,000 feet and at 15 lbs. over 1,001 feet. .
- 11
  
  Let the pressure in the cooker fall naturally when finished, removing the jars when the pressure returns to zero. Place the jars on a kitchen towel and cool. Store in a cool, dark place.

Tips & Warnings

Always boil home-canned low-acid food at least 10 minutes before tasting it or eating it.
Discard the jar if there is no hiss when opening the lid or it has an off-odor.
Never use taste to judge whether the food is safe. Boil it first.