Saturday, April 28, 2018

Spring Foraging: Morels

Warning:  Never ever eat a wild mushroom, until it has been identified by an expert.  Wild mushrooms will kill you, and there are very few antidotes to their virulent poisons.  All information contained in this article is for education purposes only.  Again, almost all wild mushrooms will kill you in a terrible painful fashion.


Nothing says spring like fresh morel mushrooms.  And now is the time to find them.  We've been enjoying our very short turkey season the last two weekends.  While the turkeys didn't cooperate, the morels did. 

The morel (Morchella) mushroom only grows in the spring.  Morels typically start to "bloom" when the temperature is between 60 and 80 degrees, and there is quite a bit of moisture.  We found ours last weekend, in the middle of a rain storm.  Note to self:  Don't turkey hunt in the rain.  

Morels are easy to identify, look for a brain like shape, growing on a stem.  There is only one look-a-like, but to tell the difference, cut the mushroom in half, if it's hollow, it's a morel.  If it's not, it's false morel.  Not much else to it.  They will grow in the same locations year after year after year.  Once you find them, mark them and come back next year to pick them. 

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