INVESTIGATE SEVERAL PRESERVATION METHODS OF FRESH STRAW MUSHROOM Volvariella volvacea

Abstract

The straw mushroom is an edible mushroom widely cultivated and consumed in Vietnam. Most consumers prefer fresh straw mushrooms at the egg stage. However, straw mushrooms continue to develop to the mature stage after harvesting. Therefore, it is difficult to preserve fresh straw mushrooms, leading to unstable supply and market prices. This study investigates several preservation methods of fresh straw mushroom Volvariella volvacea to evaluate and improve the post-harvest preservation process.

The results have determined that the fresh straw mushroom of the Than Nong strain popularly cultivated in the Southern region has the quality criteria such as an egg stage, a light grey surface colour, a fresh weight from 4.5 to 7.0 g per fruiting body, moisture from 70 to 90%, and a volume from 5.5 to 9.0 cm³ per fruiting body.

The results of preserving fresh straw mushrooms showed that the protocol of packing 250 g of straw mushrooms into ethylene-reduced PE bags at 15⁰C, in an electromagnetic field could preserve samples for nine days. After nine days of preservation, the quality of fresh mushrooms was equivalent to 53,57% of the quality of initial fresh mushrooms.