# Morel Mother Load



## fbrem (Apr 13, 2010)

just a few pics from what I spend a lot of time doing each spring. Morels

Yellow morels _Morchella esculenta_


























MOTHER LOAD of yellows





Young fresh black morels










Forrest


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## rdhed (Apr 13, 2010)

That is truly a box of yellow gold. Those are so good. Our season is now till May but it's been dry. Happy eating!!!

--Allen--


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## fbrem (Apr 13, 2010)

rdhed said:


> That is truly a box of yellow gold. Those are so good. Our season is now till May but it's been dry. Happy eating!!!
> 
> --Allen--



we've been real dry and hot too, despite that nice find it has not been a good year, lots of shrooms got fried by the heat. I've done a good bit of hiking to come across these, if I can manage to find a few similar dead elms with this kind of action I'll be set for the year again.

Forrest


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## Candace (Apr 13, 2010)

I don't think I've ever eaten one...


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## luvsorchids (Apr 13, 2010)

:drool::drool::drool: I have had morels once. I purchased from a local farmers market and sauteed with shallots/butter and paired with Copper River king salmon-I would highly recommend :drool::drool::drool:.

Susan


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## NYEric (Apr 13, 2010)

Yum, you can cook for me any time Susan! 
Enjoy them Forrest.


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## kentuckiense (Apr 13, 2010)

That's just awesome. Congrats on the huge haul. Hunting morels is one of my favorite things to do. I was supposed to go today, but it's been too dry. Thanks for sharing the photos!


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## nikv (Apr 13, 2010)

They look beautiful and I'm sure they're delicious, but wild mushrooms always make me nervous. Every year it seems we hear of another case of someone eating the "wrong" wild mushroom and either dying or needing a liver transplant. So I'll gratefully enjoy them from afar and vicariously through you. By the way, I can't seem to figure out the difference between the two varieties you mentioned.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 13, 2010)

Dude, you're making me seriously hungry!


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Apr 13, 2010)

Eeeeew. I do not eat fungi as a general rule. My husband however is envious!


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## fbrem (Apr 13, 2010)

nikv said:


> By the way, I can't seem to figure out the difference between the two varieties you mentioned.



not a really good picture to tell because the black morels are almost white when they are young, when I picked these a week later they were black. Other than that it is the spore, stem attachment, and pore shape that are distinctive, but both are great edibles.

Forrest


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## SlipperFan (Apr 13, 2010)

Double Yummmmm! I love morels, but are they ever expensive in the stores!


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## kentuckiense (Apr 13, 2010)

nikv said:


> They look beautiful and I'm sure they're delicious, but wild mushrooms always make me nervous. Every year it seems we hear of another case of someone eating the "wrong" wild mushroom and either dying or needing a liver transplant. So I'll gratefully enjoy them from afar and vicariously through you.



I felt the same way until I went harvesting with some experienced mushroom hunters. If you stay away from the small white ones (which I do), there is very little ambiguity about what's safe and what isn't, at least in my area. I've found it to be pretty easy to ID tasty boletes, hen of the woods, chicken of the woods, honey mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and chanterelles.


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## Leo Schordje (Apr 14, 2010)

kentuckiense said:


> I felt the same way until I went harvesting with some experienced mushroom hunters. If you stay away from the small white ones (which I do), there is very little ambiguity about what's safe and what isn't, at least in my area. I've found it to be pretty easy to ID tasty boletes, hen of the woods, chicken of the woods, honey mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and chanterelles.



Your list is the short list of mushrooms that are fairly easy to identify and that have few 'look alikes' that are dangerously toxic. I think the worst you would get is a little indigestion if you made a mistake. 

Our spring is about 3 or 4 weeks behind yours, I did not find any morels on my walk today, and I was looking. 

The parasol mushrooms, also _Agaricus_, _Lepiota_, many of the _Psilocybe_ mushrooms have deadly look alikes that really could kill if you are not meticulous with your identification. Stay away from them "little brown mushrooms", unless you have an experienced guide AND take the time to do a spore print in addition to careful reading through your identification guides. I once thought I had found a 'velvet foot', _Flammulina velutipes_, a fall to winter mushroom that is very edible. The spore print showed I had found a Deadly Galerina, _Galerina autumnalis_. Luckily, my nephew insisted on the spore print before we tasted it. Easy to do a spore print, all you need is a clean piece of paper and a cup to invert over the mushroom cap. The cup or glass keeps a breeze from distrurbing the spores as they drop. Check any of the guide books for details on how to do a spore print.

Morels are so distinctive, and unique, that they are one of the few that I would say anyone can find and accurately identify from a guide book. The false morel, its most common look alike is not edible, but it is not deadly either. The morel is one of the best tasting mushrooms, and a safe one to boot.


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## Lanmark (Apr 14, 2010)

Morels are fantastic! I haven't found any in several years, but I do buy them from time to time. Always of course a person must be very careful with identification since the look-alikes can be very toxic indeed!


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## fbrem (Apr 14, 2010)

SlipperFan said:


> Double Yummmmm! I love morels, but are they ever expensive in the stores!



Right now the woods in your area are having a free, pick your own event. According to my morel forum many folks are finding black morels in Michigan right now. Some day I will go on a super foraging tip from Georgia in March to Minnesota in May/June, some day.

Forrest


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## Gilda (Apr 14, 2010)

Forrest, We have only found a few this year..might be a bit early here and it has been dry here.

Old folks here in the Appalachian Mts. call them "dry land fish" , because when they are dipped in egg /milk mixture , rolled in cornmeal and lightly sauteed..they do taste like pan fried fish ! Yummy !


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## SlipperFan (Apr 14, 2010)

fbrem said:


> Right now the woods in your area are having a free, pick your own event. According to my morel forum many folks are finding black morels in Michigan right now. Some day I will go on a super foraging tip from Georgia in March to Minnesota in May/June, some day.
> 
> Forrest


I used to go Morelling with my Dad many years ago in our woods, but I don't have the knowledge or confidence anymore to even attempt this now.


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## Lanmark (Apr 14, 2010)

We were too dry to have mushrooms until the rains came a few days ago. Now I am sure the morels are up out there, but I do not know any good areas nearby for gathering them. The highly productive woodland areas I know of are significantly north of here. I'll get around to it again some year, but I'm too busy to bother with morels just now.


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## fbrem (Apr 17, 2011)

*2011 My best Morel year ever*

My favorite time of the year, morel mushroom hunting season, has come and gone and it was the best year ever. I collected just shy of 20lbs in only 6 2-3 hour hunts. My friends and I have feasted, I have preserved a stash for hardy winter soups and thus have well satiated the morel beast in my brain for yet another year. Oh wait, what's that Megan? We're going to Indiana to see your family for Easter next weekend? Morels will be peaking in IN then so tell them I said hello from the woods, that'll be my kind of easter egg hunt!!!

black morels











yellow morels


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## Rick (Apr 17, 2011)

I just talked to a friend of mine last night that said he's finding bumper crops this year to around here.


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## fbrem (Apr 17, 2011)

Rick said:


> I just talked to a friend of mine last night that said he's finding bumper crops this year to around here.



It appears to be a really good year in most areas, especially the south/midsouth based on the mushroom hunting forums I visit. I hate to think of how many more pounds I would have found if it weren't for shackling responsibilities keeping me in the city and out of the woods.


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## Marc (Apr 17, 2011)

Never had any morel's but I'm betting that I would like them.

Just out of curiousity, if lot's of people collect these mushrooms will it have any impact on the "population"? Not implying that your doing something wrong, just wondering.


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## Heather (Apr 17, 2011)

Yum! What fun you have, Forrest!


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## Justin (Apr 17, 2011)

yummy


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## cnycharles (Apr 17, 2011)

if you leave a few mushrooms in a spot, or you're in the woods where there likely are more morels than you will find, then there will be more next time.

I wish I could find them better around here; there are tons of elm trees dying but often they are just above the water line which is too close to the water. I found 30 on the property line between an orchid club member's house and the nearby field, but it isn't that close and we haven't had the right rain/temp yet. I have been wondering when 'it' will be the right time! mmmm


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## fbrem (Apr 17, 2011)

Marc said:


> Never had any morel's but I'm betting that I would like them.
> 
> Just out of curiousity, if lot's of people collect these mushrooms will it have any impact on the "population"? Not implying that your doing something wrong, just wondering.



Good question. I guess theoretically it would be possible but you'de have to pick a huge percentage of the young unspored fruiting bodies for many mant many years. Most species of morels live happily (and mutualistically) in certain tree species trees most of their life then fruit when the tree get injured or dies for some other reason. A very tough life cycle to make any kind of a polulation level dent in. The mushrooms I picked this year likely occurred from an inoculation of one of those huge cottonwood trees decades ago. I see it like picking apples. Also, I focus on picking mature specimens that have already released a lot of their spores, and collect in mesh bags (although I personally think that likely does little good). Finally no matter how good someone is they will never get them all.


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## fbrem (Apr 17, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> if you leave a few mushrooms in a spot, or you're in the woods where there likely are more morels than you will find, then there will be more next time.
> 
> I wish I could find them better around here; there are tons of elm trees dying but often they are just above the water line which is too close to the water. I found 30 on the property line between an orchid club member's house and the nearby field, but it isn't that close and we haven't had the right rain/temp yet. I have been wondering when 'it' will be the right time! mmmm



check out 

http://www.morelmushroomhunting.net/report/current/mmhc_report_page1.html

http://morelmushroomhunting.com/morel_progression_sightings_map.htm

and this

http://www.morels.com/newyork/


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## koshki (Apr 17, 2011)

Oh man, this is one of the things about being in a wheelchair that really pisses me off. I would love to be able to go mushroom hunting!


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## cnycharles (Apr 17, 2011)

thanks for the sites. I did find a bunch of sites last year, but the problem I have is that my apartment is down in the mohawk valley where the water is very high (no mushrooms around all the elms) and then you go way up to the foothills and the adirondacks and I don't have many places to go. I do see lots of dying elms way out between farmer's fields but need to find some upland ash and all that. once up in the adirondacks it's also again very wet


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## NYEric (Apr 17, 2011)

Very nice, after my last mushroom hunting and eating experience, maybe I should try things like these that aren't poisonous!


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## Leo Schordje (Apr 21, 2011)

That map showing Morel sightings is great, I think I have a week or two for the morell season to hit here. 
Thanks


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