Look what I found in the dirt....and ate.

[LMTC]

Sauteed in butter or olive oil with a little garlic. I don't think I've ever eaten anything more exotic than morels. Folks around here guard their spots jealously. Often find them in the same woods, but rarely in the same place each year. Turkeys and turtles love them (so I've been told....I have seen morels that were clearly pecked on and with bites missing), and if you don't get them quick, they'll be gone.

 

[N80]

That's what I'm afraid of. Photography is a hobby of mine and sometimes I'll see mushrooms I want to photograph and come back the next morning with my camera only to find them nibbled to the ground. But, its kind of neat to think of the creatures of the field dining on gourmet food too. Here is a picture of a morel before being picked:

 

[TBDonnelly]

I saw a TV program the other day about the morel mushroom and the 'not so good' morel look alike. One was hollow and the other solid. Were your mushrooms solid or hollow?

BTW, excellent photography.

Don

 

[wjoerob]

Hunting mushrooms has been a family tradition for generations here in Indiana. Some say the definition of a Hoosier is someone who dribbles a basketball around the Indy 500 track while hunting for mushrooms. It's a beautiful excuse to get out in the woods early in the spring. Even the old folks will try to get out. My best memories are going out on grandpa's place. Morels are up at the same time as mayflowers, "Indian Root", and "kitten's britches". They are often in a spot where a tree has fallen and decayed. They are hollow, and should be soaked for a few hours in a bowl of salt water after being sliced, to give the bugs a chance to get out. Here in our area the first ones of the season are sold for up to $28.00 a pound!

 

[N80]

I saw a TV program the other day about the morel mushroom and the 'not so good' morel look alike. One was hollow and the other solid. Were your mushrooms solid or hollow?
Don

Yes, these were hollow. A few recipes I've read take advantage of this fact by stuffing them with a number of different things from walnuts to sausage.

I did some reading about 'false morels'. They are toxic but it seems that the hard core mushroom lovers still eat them. Apparently the toxin is broken down by cooking. Some say cooking doesn't work completely though. I guess these are the same kind of folks that like to eat that toxic blowfish sushi.

 

[N80]

They are hollow, and should be soaked for a few hours in a bowl of salt water after being sliced, to give the bugs a chance to get out.

There seems to be a lot of disagreement about the issue of soaking. They do have all those little crypts and crevices than can get stuff in them but the smaller and medium sized ones we got were really quite clean and a quick rinse removed any debris. The larger ones looked to be decaying and they had little flies all in them. We did not pick those.

At least half the sites I've researched mention soaking them. The other half strongly recommends not soaking them because it dilutes the delicate flavor. Who knows?

Here in our area the first ones of the season are sold for up to $28.00 a pound!

That's about what my sister-in-law the chef quoted, around $30 she said. I'm not sure where you'd sell them or who would buy them. But, I'd say the 10 or so we picked probably weighed about a pound. We probably could have picked another pound too. And we did not hunt much outside the area we found them in.

 

[TBDonnelly]

I did some reading about 'false morels'. They are toxic but it seems that the hard core mushroom lovers still eat them. Apparently the toxin is broken down by cooking. Some say cooking doesn't work completely though. I guess these are the same kind of folks that like to eat that toxic blowfish sushi.

I think I may have gotten a hold of some false ones, it's only slightly affected me, it's only slighlty affected me, it's only slighlty affected me, it's only slighlty affected me, it's only slighlty affected me, it's only slighlty affected me, barely noticable, huh?

Don

 

[dooleysm]

I always soak mine in saltwater for at least several hours. They look clean but there's always a disgusting layer of dead bugs floating in the water after I soak them.

As has been said before, in southern Indiana folks guard their proven hunting grounds very closely. The best answer you can get when you ask someone where they found their mushrooms is, "in the woods".

 

[Soundguy]

Wow, at least three gobblers in the picture! I heard a couple gobble in the distance, but only once or twice. Then it started raining again. Now, I know for a fact it is a myth that turkeys aren't active in the rain, but yesterday and the day before, the turkeys apparently believed the myth and stayed home, and quiet.

I've been doing a little research on morel recipes and hope to find a few more so I can try some different things with them if they are still there next weekend.

I raise turkey ( bronze and royal palm ).. they walk around in the rain just fine.

soundguy

 

[slowzuki]

A young couple locally was hunting for a different sort of mushrooms and ate a bunch of them. Turned out they had picked toxic ones and the fellow died from liver or kidney failure. She spent a long time in hospital and will need treatments on her blood the rest of her life!