If you've come home with a few different kinds of mushrooms,
sort them before doing anything else. Different species often
need different cooking times — as we said in 6.3, boletes like
the orange birch bolete need at least 15 minutes of cooking,
while something like a chanterelle cooks much faster.
Mixing them into one pan too early means some end up
undercooked while others overcook.

We covered this properly in section 6.2, but it's worth repeating
because it matters: brush off debris, do a salt bath if there
are a few larvae, follow with a hot water rinse if you want
extra peace of mind. A few worms in a firm, fresh mushroom
isn't a reason to throw it out — but a soft, heavily infested
one usually is.

As mentioned in 6.2 and 6.3: thorough cooking handles far more
than flavour. It deals with mild toxins in raw boletes,
and it's effective against bacteria and viral concerns,
including the avian flu worries some foragers have
about mushrooms birds may have pecked at.

If in doubt, blanch first, then finish properly in your dish
of choice — soup, stew, stir-fry, or oven roast.

Once everything is properly cleaned and cooked to the timing
each type needs, mixed mushroom dishes are one of the real
pleasures of a good foraging day — a stew or stir-fry with
chanterelle, bolete, and slippery jack together brings out
different textures and flavours that a single species alone doesn't.

For more than you can eat in the next few days, drying and
freezing are your two main options, as covered in 6.3.
Thin-fleshed mushrooms like funnel chanterelles dry well.
Most others freeze better cooked than raw — sauté until
the water has evaporated, then cool and portion before freezing.

Don't forget the second hot water bath from section 6.2 —
once strained, it carries real mushroom flavour and works
well as a light stock base for soups later, especially
if you're already preserving a larger harvest and want
to use as much of it as possible.