Morels?

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MIOguy

Assistant Cook
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
32
Location
Oklahoma
I am guessing this is where this thread needs to be. Here in central Oklahoma the wild morells will be coming out any day now. Does anyone else hunt them?

We absolutely love them and do not pass a chance to gather and then immediately cook and eat them. Each year I say I will dry and save some but it never happens.

I am in fresh morell withdrawal and need my annual fix.
 
DW wants to go morell hunting here in IL, but doesn't know much about it. She asked around on a garden forum she belongs to, but everyone there said it was a dumb idea or a bad idea because she might pick the wrong mushrooms and get sick or worse. Others said it was just a waste of time.
She still wants to go, and even if we never found any I can think of worse ways to spend a day with the kids. Besides, its not like we couldn't take along picks and info on them to be sure we get the right ones, LOL.
 
Mioguy Eastern Iowa is great for hunting Morells.. Don't care how you fix them they are dlish,.... Ask some one who has hunted them to describe them. Or Google and see what they have to say.
 
yep, I hunt morels every spring down behind the house. But we are at least one month from morel season here. We get three varities here, the black, browns and yellows.
 
Bethzaring, I live in Steubenville. Where do you look for them? We have some woods behind our house, oak trees, maple and evergreens. Can they be found in that environment?
 
Ah.. I love Morels. Finding them is the hard part. They don't always grow where they did the last time you found them.. Morels are pretty safe to pick. There is only one other mushroom that is even close in appearance, the false morel. If it's ugly, it's not a morel!

Here is a URL describing the false morel.
The Great Morel - False Morels

One thing when I am going through morel withdrawal, take a can of french style green beans. dredge them through egg and flour like you would morels and pan fry until crispy. They have a very similar flavor and texture....
 
The larger morels dry very nicely, but the little black ones just sog up and smell bad.

You can't beat a day in the woods in April. Get a field guide for mushrooms, and you might as well get one for wildflowers, too, because there will be lots. Peterson's guides are readily available, and have drawings/paintings, and the Audubon guides have photographs.

In Southern Illinois and Missouri, where I hunt, mushroom season coincides with turkey hunting season--if you are going to a hunting area, wear something blaze orange.

First most important thing to remember about mushroom hunting: there are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are NO old, bold mushroom hunters. When in doubt, throw it out.
 
I went out briefly and didn't find any. Last year at this time I found nearly 30 morels in less than an hour on the creek behind my house. It has been a bit too cool at night the last few nights for them to come up I think.

One source for wild mushroom identification help can be your state wildlife and game department. It could be worth checking out. Your newspapers outdoors editor will also likely know who and where the closest local experts on edible fungi can be found.

Sparrowgrass, hunting safety experts actually advise against wearing blaze orange in the turkey hunting woods. There have been too many instances of inexperienced or over-anxious would-be hunters blasting at flashes of red or bright orange color (same color as a tom turkey's waddles when engorged with blood) resulting in deaths and injuries.

If I ever have to hunt morels where people are turkey hunting I think I'll just take a friend and keep a good conversation going. Failing that, I'll sing out loud. In our state at least hunters are restricted to shotguns and archery equipment for turkey. Both require the shooter to be very close to the target.
 
Bethzaring, I live in Steubenville. Where do you look for them? We have some woods behind our house, oak trees, maple and evergreens. Can they be found in that environment?

Our property came with a known hot spot for mushrooms. It is a north facing slope with oaks and other hardwoods. The mushrooms do move around but stay in the same general area. The indicator around here are the mayapples. When the mayapples start to flower, the mushrooms can be found. The mayapples are not even up yet. Yep, definitely give it a look see.
 
Hey, another Okie! Nice to meet you.

I've been wondering when they're going to pop. I used all the dried morels at work, and my chef hasn't replaced them yet. Last year, one of the other cooks (no longer working there) had a friend that new of a hotspot. I managed to get a handful of morels, as the chef didn't want them.

I used to live in Michigan, and from what I've read, Michigan, and part of Canada, are really hotspots for morels. There was a website I was reading one winter, michiganmorels.com, I believe. I learned some good things from that website. Morels tend to grow around dead or dying elm trees. Lacking those, tulip trees will do, as will old apple/cherry trees. Guess what? There are old orchards all over Michigan. I forget what other trees morels tend to grow near.

I have a picture of a white morel that came in with a shipment of fresh morels a couple years ago, while I lived up there. That thing had to be at least 8" long!
 
Allen: We have excellent morel hunting here in central Oklahoma as well. The variety we have is the classic yellow morel. They can very from about an inch to close to 8 inches in size. Growing conditions greatly influence their size and in some years, where they are found.

As you point out, dead elms are great places to look. Just about any hardwood except oak tends to be a good place to look. One of my buddies swears he finds a lot around the edges of cedars but I have never had much luck there. Creek bottoms with lots of good leaf clutter are a good bet here.
 
Maverick, morels are pretty hard to miss. It is probably the ONLY mushroom I feel secure foraging for on the "poisonous mushroom fear" front. When I do go foraging, though, I go with an experienced guy. Not because of the fear of the "wrong mushroom", but because people can be very possessive about their spots for mushrooming, even if the property is in the public domain, and even if a landowner has not posted where you cross into private property. I've had fun the tiimes I've gone and feel secure in picking out morels. Wouldn't dare try any other type on my own though. My "Opa" used to take me foraging in Germany, but again, he knew what was poisonous and what wasn't. I need the security of a real expert for anything but morels. Yummmmmm
 
The morel season is finished here for this year I guess. What a season though! I found far more morels this year than ever--and I've been hunting them for about 46 years. My friends and relatives who hunt morels also tell me they found more than ever. What a great gift they were!
 
We should be getting morels here soon, but I am too terrified of snakes to look for them.

But I am fortunate enough to be in an area where so many are harvested, that some people sell them to a deli about 2 blocks from my house.

The deli repackages them and sells them to the public at an outrageous price per pound. I will buy mine again this year.
 
Leolady: I have to admit I nearly stepped on a (non poisonous) bull snake the other day while looking for morels. I almost knocked my wife over getting away from it. I've never been hurt by a snake but I've sure hurt myself getting away from them over the years!
 
MIOguy, even at outrageous prices I would rather buy my morels in the deli.

Outrageous morel prices are far less than a hospital stay.

And I would be in a hospital with a heart attack or stroke brought on by seeing a snake too close to me. If it bit me, I would die on the spot.
 
That's how my MIL is, absolutely terrified of snakes. She wants me to move my woodpile for my BBQ smoker away from where I currently have it (near my smoker), as she sits outside to smoke a ciggarette there, and she's terrified that a snake might be in there waiting for her.

I've been too busy with yardwork, housework, my job, and trying to catch some fish to even think about looking for morels. But, I can believe that it was a good season, with all the rain we've had this month. This is the wettest April on record.
 
The morels are just now popping here, and today, a friend brought us 15 nice little white ones. He sliced them in half and they are now soaking in salt water in the fridge, waiting to be cooked tomorrow night.
The morels always seem to coincide with the asparagus, both of which usually run through the last of March and most of April.
Spring was late this year, though, so everything is running a little late.
 
By the way, Allen, we have rat snakes and chicken snakes on our property, and we co-exist with them, as they, along with the red tail hawk, really help control the field mice.
 
I'm hoping to go hunting for them for the first time this weekend, just north of Boston.

My Polish relatives taught me how to go mushrooming, but they never hunted morels, so I don't really know where or when to look for them. Got pointed in a very general direction by someone who saw them last year, so I'm goin' in!

Would love to hear from anyone in the Boston area who would be willing to share his/her morel-hunting secrets! (as if, huh?) ;)

Lee
 
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