Finally !!!

[Pagz]

Found my first ever morrells !!! Thanks to all those who shared their tips on how to hunt for them. Very helpful. I was driving for work down this road when I convinced myself to stop and take a look. Found some dead-standing aspen trees on a slight hill near a river. (looked too good to be true!) After seeing that first one it seemed like the others just sort of "popped up" all around it. I only had about 10min time, so I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm hooked.

A couple questions: Whats the best way to clean them? And to dry them for later on?

Thanks for the replys!

[tweedlap]

Nice, Jackpot !

tweed

[harvey lee]

I like to rinse them in cold water, then cut them in half lengthwise and then weash them out good. That will get rid of all the little dirt and bugs.

When you eat them after they have been washed, you won't be eating gritty morels.

I dehydrate all my extras.

[DARK30]

Nice find! Now its in your blood I don't try and keep them. What I don't use, I give away. Just soak them for awhile, then rinse. Cut once length wise and soak um some more....then fry um how you like um.

[hunt4food]

I also dehydrate my unused ones. I vacuum deal them with my foodsaver and use them on a later date. They rehydrate well in a bowl of cold water.

[leech~~]

I just soak in cold water for a good while, then cut them in half and freeze in zip lock bags any extras. I have about 8 bags of extras in there right now! When they thaw out they seem a little limp but once you fry them up in butter and a little garlic sait they taste just the same. Freeze dry is good if you have the machine. It's always fun to hit the mother load, but you keep looking over your shoulder to see who's watching you!

[Bearsbeets]

To dry, all you need to do is to cut them in half, remove bugs/excessive dirt, placed on drying rack, leave it in front of a fan so it blows on them for about 6 hours. Once done with the initial stage, I store them in a container without a lid so it completely dries out. After a couple days, it should be comepletely dried out and you can store them pretty much indefinately in an air tight container.

When drying, I dont like to soak them or wash them. In my opinion and experience, I think most of the intense morel mushroom flavor are almost "washed" away when soaked or washed before drying. Plus when you rehydrate them, all the dirt comes off anyways. Just make sure you use the liquid that you rehydrate the mushrooms in.

[Pagz]

Thanks everyone !! I ended up eating them up fresh with my family. and Dark, you are right, it is now in my blood . I went out after work just 1 mile down the road and found 18 more. I don't if it was dumb luck or what. It's sounds silly but I felt like a little kid discovering chocolate bars growing out of the ground every time I saw one.

Might have to see a chiropractor, in-between looking for agates and shrooms, my neck is getting sore looking down at the ground all the time.

I'm going to try and dry this batch.

Thanks for the input.

[DARK30]

I got my blood pumpin today...found a load of yellows. Gonna take my son back there tomorrow and get um on film....if they're still there