Morel Mushrooms

[Lisa Almquist]

I'm taking down notes and printing off pics for i.d.! Thank you so much for the info. I did check out a morel HSOforum and found a morel hunter that who lives within 1/2 hour from me so I know they're located here. I'll keep you posted if I find some.

[Weed Shark]

 Originally Posted By: harvey lee

I dont even like store bought mushrooms but the morels are to die for. I dont know what else to say.

One of my sons doesn't eat mushrooms either, unless they are Morels.

[Weed Shark]

Another tip, save those mesh fruit holders from your grocer for your mushroom hunting expeditions. That way, you will be spreading their spores for next year as you hike around.

[Dark Cloud]

There are lots of edible wild mushrooms out there and some good books. One book I like is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. Full of info and resonably small to take to the woods with you.

I enjoy morels and not trying to burst anyone bubble but there are much better wild ones out there in my opinion. Black trumpets, chantrells, hen of the woods, and honey mushrooms(pipinki) all rank above morels for me. They all have thier differences and are suited better for certain dishes...

The area im in is not a big morel area - far and few between. My friends that do find them usually find em in old apple orchards...

BTW - we have good luck vacume packing and freezing mushrooms. I'll rinse them good and pat dry then package...

[DonBo]

I had a bunch last spring. Found a mushroom HSOforum, they suggested flouring them and sautee for just a bit. Not quite done, them vacuum pack and freezing them. I found a package in the freezer just a couple weeks ago and heated them in a pan to put on my venison loins...still good as fresh!

Can't wait till turkey season to roll around.

[DeeDee]

You guys are making me so hungry! Are they still around in July if not will ya send me some? jk just save me some when I get there.

[DeeDee]

PLEASE

[Tom Linderholm]

Dark Cloud, with the exception of black trumpets, I have found all of the mushrooms you have listed and more in different parts of the state, the book you refer to is a great start and is what got me started in foraging for personal use and man are fresh picked mushrooms so much better than those you buy in a store.

[Lisa Almquist]

 Quote:

fresh picked mushrooms so much better than those you buy in a store

Exactly why I want to find my own!

DeeDee, if I find 'em I'll send you some! Share the wealth I say!

[Jameson]

 Originally Posted By: MNHuntress

So what's the best way to dry these things when you do hit the motherload? Also do you do a slight rinse or just brush off the sand or dirt grit that comes with finding them?

I try to never wash or even rinse my morels. If I find filthy morels in the woods, they stay in the woods. If I find a little dirt or sand on my morels once I get them home, then I will use a brush to clean them.

Cut morels in half before drying. Dehydrator can work well drying for the Motherload. I have also had great success with setting them on a window screen laid flat. A fan on low will speed things along. After either drying method you will have some spores on your dehydrator or window screen. Take care to wash these out in a "mushroomy" spot, you may get lucky and have your own morels grow next year!

Good Luck!

[Dark Cloud]

Cheffrey - I'd imagin you have used black trumpets in your culinary experiences? We dont find many but when we do they are the most coveted. Two years ago my dad and I found the mother load - nearly filled a bushel basket. Last year they were not there. Most chefs use em for flavoring stews or I have seen them in a 3 mushroom mixture over a steak.

I make ours in a pasta dish with bow-ties or capenelli. Sauteed in a little garlic, some seasoning, some fresh chopped tomatos, a little butter, and tossed with the pasta w/ some grated peccarino romano cheese on top...

We have a good consistant spot for summer chantrells and most of them get eaten in scrambled eggs or that venison dish I did for the recipe o the week.

Pipinkis and Hens are our fall mushroom. Last year was a bad year for hens but I had some left in the freezer from the year before. I found them while squirrel hunting and ended up filling a hockey bag - fealt like I was carrying a deer out of the woods! lol. Those go great in almost anything - mild and very meat like.

Pipinkis or "honey mushrooms" are plentifull in early fall around here. They are the strongest of the ones we pick and can have a slimy texture in some dishes. We'll eat them with eggs or in a stew but usually I make a wild rice soup loaded up with them.

Wow im getting hungry!

[icehousebob]

If this year's harvest is good, we have to establish a charitable group called Dried Morels For DeeDee. We send stuff to other less fortunate parts of the world, why not Florida? They have no ice fishing, no snowmobile races, no Eel Pout Festivals, no real culture at all. Children grow up there never knowing the joys of Lutefisk or pickled Herring. Smoked Trout is something they can only read about. Should we help this poor unfortunate?????

DeeDee, meant as humor.

[rockman]

 Originally Posted By: icehousebob

Children grow up there never knowing the joys of Lutefisk or pickled Herring.

Uff da!

[PerchPounder]

Well after reading all of this you have peaked my interest. I was referred to a 'shroom hunting site and now it looks as if I will have to give it a shot.

The only problem I have now it when and where to start. Trees aren't to easy to come by in South Dakota.

[DeeDee]

 Originally Posted By: LisaTealz

 Quote:

fresh picked mushrooms so much better than those you buy in a store

Exactly why I want to find my own!

DeeDee, if I find 'em I'll send you some! Share the wealth I say!

WOOOOHOOOOO Thank you Lisa!

[DeeDee]

hey where did my picture go

[harvey lee]

I split all my morels in half and if larger I will quarter them, then they go into cold water in the sink and I will rinse them out well to get ride of fine sand and dirt and some black bugs. That fine sand doesnt not do well in the mouth. Once cleaned, I will freeze them or place them in the dehydrator and then place them in a zip lock bag or place them in a older mason jar with a rubber sealed lid. Whe I want to eat them, I will place them in milk and then let them rehydrated for an hour or two and then they are still very good.

[DonBo]

 Originally Posted By: LisaTealz

DeeDee, if I find 'em I'll send you some! Share the wealth I say!

Sorry...mine, mine, all mine.

[UdeLakeTom]

Found this artilcle......

Mushrooms - the other fruit

Terry Mejdrich

Columnist

The sulphur polypore or sulfur shelf mushroom that is also sometimes called, “chicken mushroom.”

The Morel mushroom is one of Mejdrich’s “sweet six.”

The "other fruit," mushrooms. And more to the point, the kind that grow wild, free for the picking. Yet few people do. And with good reason. Not all wild mushrooms are created equal.

Yet there are a few of us "wild and crazy" people who find mushrooms fascinating. One of my mushroom books, complete with color pictures, lists over a thousand varieties in North America alone. There are many look-a-likes and therein lies the concern. One may be perfectly safe to eat; the other cause an emergency trip to the hospital.

Though an admitted amateur, I have learned to recognize without the aid of a reference book and with reasonable certainty about twenty local mushrooms that are edible. If we consider only those that are commonly found and easy to identify, we can reduce that number to the "sweet six," as opposed to the "dirty dozen'" which I'll get to another time.

One of the sweet six is represented in the attached picture. It is the Sulfur Polypore, or Sulfur Shelf mushroom; also known as the Chicken mushroom. (Some people claim it tastes like chicken, but this has not been verified by my taste buds.) It does, however, have somewhat the same texture.

The outside inch of the edge can be trimmed off, and since it grows outward along the edge, it will grow back if weather conditions are right. This cluster, which is growing on a two-foot thick red oak blow down, yielded about eight pounds of harvested mushrooms. Next on my list of easy pickings are the Puff Ball mushrooms. There are extremely few types of poisonous puffballs and the poisonous ones are easy to identify since they have a black interior. Any puffball mushroom that is pure white inside is edible. Most here in the North Country are rather small, but I've found several over six inches in diameter. That variety is the Prairie Puffball, and it's rare in these parts. They can be sliced like bread, breaded with seasonings, and lightly fried in olive oil or butter.

Of course one cannot forget the first fruit of the spring, the tasty Morels. They emerge in mid to late May as the soil temperature warms. Most people who have a Morel patch guard that secret even from their dearest friends and certainly their relatives.

Morels have a distinctive look and there are no close look-a-likes but there is at least one poisonous relative, so it's wise to do some research before the taste test.

Slippery Jacks, not to be confused with The Old Man of The Woods, are members of the Bolete clan. Slippery Jacks, despite a slimy, disgusting surface, are excellent to eat. All Bolete mushrooms have gills (found on the underside of the cap) that resemble a sponge. The biggest problem with Slippery Jacks is finding one that hasn't already been homesteaded by fly larva.

Then there is the Oyster mushroom. The name comes from the overlapping grayish, sometimes brownish, caps that someone must have thought resembled an oyster bed. Found in clusters growing out of rotting logs and trees, they are hard to miss against the green colors of summer. There are few look-a-likes and they can be recognized with minimal training.

Last on my Sweet Six list are the Honey mushrooms. They emerge in early fall after cool rains. They do not taste like honey, but do have a honey brown cap, and grow in clusters. The taste is mild and they are excellent in a cream style soup.

Most mushroom books will add the footnote that some stomachs do not react well to Honey mushrooms despite the fact that they are not poisonous. No wild mushroom should be eaten raw (Remember the fly larva?), and for first-timers, only a small portion. You know. Just in case.

Other excellent edible mushrooms, though not as commonly found, are the Meadow Mushroom (you find domesticated versions in any grocery store), Inky caps, Hen of the Woods (not to be confused with the Chicken Mushroom), Giant Polypore, Fairy Ring, Beefsteak Fungus, Cauliflower Fungus, Shaggy Mane, Lobster mushroom, Trumpet Chanterelle, and Pigs Ear to name a few.

Some mushrooms are both beautiful and deadly, and that's a fact that cannot be overemphasized. Another time I'll explain about the "dirty dozen" in depth, but I want to mention one now. The round, convex caps (ball shaped when they are young) are often six inches in diameter or more, red to orange to yellowish in color, with white spots. Named the Fly Agaric because its flesh was once used as an insecticide, this beautiful mushroom found throughout the world is extremely poisonous, yet is the least dangerous of a nasty clan of mushrooms that you might find growing in your back yard.

A life-long resident of northern Minnesota, Terry Mejdrich is a former math teacher and farmer turned mystery author and freelance writer.

[DeeDee]

 Originally Posted By: harvey lee

I will place them in milk and then let them rehydrated for an hour or two and then they are still very good.

Ewww, you lost me at the milk.

[Lisa Almquist]

This guy waxes poetic about mushrooms! How cool is that! Great article Tom.

[jonny_redhorse]

since were talkin mushrooms here ...here's the ones you "don't" want to eat!...the fly agarics(death angels or amenitas)took these pics in seasons gone by near Hibbing....great to look at for sure but looks are deceiving!

[harvey lee]

 Originally Posted By: DeeDee

 Originally Posted By: harvey lee

I will place them in milk and then let them rehydrated for an hour or two and then they are still very good.

Ewww, you lost me at the milk.

DeeDee

I put them in a bowl in cold milk in ther fridge and no you cannot taste the milk but it helps to rehydrate them for cooking.

You might need to try them to believe it but they are still very tasty.

[Bigeye30"]

"You might need to try them to believe it but they are still very tasty."

No kidding, I have a city slicker friend that I gave some to as he is a mushroom finatic,but had no idea of these, it took awhile for him to bite into that first one, but let's just say that ever since all I hear about is when are those mushrooms going to start growing again, I've been craving them ever since.

[Steve Foss]

Near Bemidji, where we find morels all the time, all the elms have long since been killed off by Dutch elm disease, and we find most of our morels on semi-open hillsides beneath aspen, birch, basswood or ash. We find almost all of them on the raised mounds where old deciduous tree trunks have decomposed. If you can still see the stump, it's usually not old enough. If all that's there is a mound and some leaf mold and moss, you're on the right track.

Up here in the boreal forest, morels are far less common, but I know an old hand who is a good friend, and he knows several spots up here for black morels, and is taking me out this spring.

Generally, I've found morels most plentiful when the lilacs are in bud.

I haven't read this whole thread, so if it's already been mentioned please excuse me, but we put our morels in mesh bags because plastic bags will age any mushroom RIGHT NOW, to the point where sometimes they've decomposed too much to be edible by the time you get back to your kitchen, and because mesh bags allow the 'shrooms to release the spores upon which next year's crop of mushrooms depends.

Another simply GREAT mushroom up here is the Bishop's cap or shaggy mane. Mmmmmmmm.

Our morel/lake trout recipe, by the way, is easy. Both morels and laker have very subtle flavors that should not be overpowered. So we take fresh morels and sautee them in unsalted butter as the lake trout fillets (skin on but ribs removed) bake on the grill in aluminum foil or broil in the oven. When the fish is done (we only dress it VERY lightly with olive oil and whatever spices we like before we put on heat, perhaps waving a fresh clove of crushed garlic over the fillets), we drizzle the morel sauce over top of it.

A simple feast. Simply prepared. Gentle flavors that complement instead of compete. Perfect. A nice chilled chardonnay or sauvignon blanc to set it off for white wine lovers, or a merlot for those who like things a bit more hearty. I don't know why North Shore restaurants (featuring the unique tastes of the region and catering to clients who appreciate culinary subtlety) haven't caught on to this. When it comes to the quiet cascade of lake trout and morel across the palette, less is DEFINITELY more. If, after tasting this, you feel it's not salty or spicy enough, go order a Big Mac or a burrito and drink a case of cheap beer.

It's so good that, while you may start out slow, savoring every taste, you'll want more and more. So bibs ARE recommended.