Depends on which mushrooms you are drying. Some don't dry well, but some are better dry in my opinion. I dried King Boletes last year and some Giant Polypore this year. The polypore is pretty tough if you just cook it, but I have found that drying it and grinding it into powder works pretty well. You can use the powder in soups, etc., which tastes okay. From what I have read they say that dried mushrooms are three times more potent than fresh ones.