Morel mushrooms?

[www.records]

Do we have any mushroom hunters here? I have never had a morel, but have heard for years how delicious they are. I have been doing a little reading online about hunting mushrooms and I think I am going to go out and take a look around.
Any tips for a beginner? Anything you look for in deciding where to look? What is your favorite way to prepare and cook them?

 

[transmaster]

Here is a good place to start. Rogers Mushroom App. It gives you a field guide for 100’s wild mushrooms plus, in the pro version expert ID of mushrooms you have found.

Apple
http://rogersmushroomsapp.com/

Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.daleroy.fungifieldguide&hl=en_GB

 

[transmaster]

There is another way of trying Morel mushrooms, grow your own. There are growing kits for numerous varieties. I grow Japanese Enoki mushrooms in my refrigerator. It is an awful lot like growing bean sprouts. You can actually setup a growing operation and grow any kind of edible mushroom you want.

http://www.easygrowmushrooms.com/morel.shtml

 

[sKiZo]

Main thing to remember - there's mushrooms that LOOK like morels that can kill you. The real deal is hollow ...

... and oh so good!

 

[transmaster]

Main thing to remember - there's mushrooms that LOOK like morels that can kill you.

That is were the App I listed above is so good you have a detailed description of the Morel. The App lists 4 different species that grow in North America.

 

[satellite]

I know a lot of morel hunters but have never hunted for them. I can say that they are delicious! I've had them sauteed in butter and breaded & deep fried. I have heard that they do well in areas after a wildfire.

 

[harman/kardon]

I am a passionate mushroom picker. I love it. But the only place I ever found morels was Ebay. Small ones from Canada, and actually not a bargain. However - the aroma was great!

 

[www.records]

I hope to get out today and look around. I was thinking about down by the river that is wooded and has quite a bit of decaying logs on the ground. I don't know if there are any shrooms there, but I think it might be a place to look around. Every year I see a lot of morels offered on CL, but $30-$40 lb is above my pay grade.

Yesterday was in the upper 70's, which I would think is good?

 

[www.records]

There is another way of trying Morel mushrooms, grow your own. There are growing kits for numerous varieties. I grow Japanese Enoki mushrooms in my refrigerator. It is an awful lot like growing bean sprouts. You can actually setup a growing operation and grow any kind of edible mushroom you want.

http://www.easygrowmushrooms.com/morel.shtml

Thank you, I will check it out. I had no idea anything like that was available.

 

[fredgarvin]

The big winner out here is the Chantrelle. Unique nutty flavor and utterly delicious.

 

[transmaster]

Morel Mushrooms are very rare in my region it is just to dry for them. With the Morel's people who grow them tell me that once you get your growing area going it is a lot like growing asparagus every morning you walk out to see what good stuff has popped up. you just refresh the growing area with the organics the Morel feeds on and every so often refresh the spawn and you are good to go. The other types of mushrooms are much easier to grow. You can get "just add water kits", follow the instructions and, depending on the species you have mushroom in a couple of weeks. This does not equal the fun of hunting your own but at least this way you can have home grown fresh mushrooms when there are snow drifts outside.

 

[transmaster]

The big winner out here is the Chantrelle. Unique nutty flavor and utterly delicious.

Around here it is the giant puffball. They can get this size of a bowling ball but you harvest them when they are no bigger than tennis ball, a golf ball is better.

 

[sKiZo]

I get these right out of the back yard ... (neener neener) <G>

I'll usually get three or four loads like that in a season. More than enough to keep me happy.

 

[transmaster]

The thing about Puffball mushrooms is none of them are poisonous some just taste terrible.

 

[bluestime]

Around here (western Washington) we look for them under dogwood trees.

 

[jeanmarie]

I find lots and lots of them every spring (if spring comes this year) on our land. There are a variety of shrooms that grow wild here that we harvest.

 

[transmaster]

Here is the Two Fat Ladies making one of the best dishes I have ever made using wild or any other type of mushroom, The Shooter's Sandwich

Two Fat Ladies S01E06 Food in the Wild

 

[satellite]

I get these right out of the back yard ... (neener neener) <G>

I'll usually get three or four loads like that in a season. More than enough to keep me happy.

Here is the Two Fat Ladies making one of the best dishes I have ever made using wild or any other type of mushroom, The Shooter's Sandwich

Two Fat Ladies S01E06 Food in the Wild

Yum!

 

[Ranchman]

Love hunting for Mushrooms! Some of last years that we dried. Bolets, Fairy ring, Wood ears and puff balls.



Dried puff balls make a fantastic mushroom powder.

 

[faber12]

I am not very good at finding mushrooms.

I miss the mushrooms that grew at our last house, we had morels in the front yard every year there.

When I was a kid we found puffballs all the time, one year there were massive ones, like big cantaloupe sized everywhere. I used to eat them raw, very good. Mom diced them up and added them to foods like soup and stir fry.