What do you know about them, locally? Hunters, growers, vendors, clubs, enthusiats, advice all welcome info

My mom is interested, can't find anything in her area, and I know exactly nothing about them

[Edited on April 21, 2011 at 12:07 AM. Reason : they look cook though ]

4/21/2011 12:03:23 AM

I'm going to post in your thread because it made me think of this:

4/21/2011 3:25:49 AM

4/21/2011 9:25:00 AM

I would think the time for them has passed, im no expert but i think the best time to find them was when it was still cold and rainy, it might have gotten a little too warm by this point they wont be as common or as quality.

i just tagged along with some friends while they looked for some the past couple years

plus theyve probably been picked through by the pros, people go out there in droves for the things

[Edited on April 21, 2011 at 9:30 AM. Reason : d]

4/21/2011 9:28:49 AM

Morel mushrooms


http://thegreatmorel.com/faq.html#q1

Quote :

"Do morels grow in my region of the United States? This is an often-asked question and with the exception of a few geographical areas, the answer is more than likely -yes. However, while it seems the Great Lakes region in the midwest is the hot bed for the morel, the morels are found in most regions of the US with the exception of the desert and deep southern coastal areas. The Great Morel suggests that you contact your area's nature and wildlife department for assistance as an added information source. You can also check out The Great Morel's sighting maps to see when your region is having harvesting activity. While there are many places where the morel is not natural to the geography, it also is not uncommon to find them in mulch beds for what The Great Morel refers to as "landscape morels". "

Sightings 2010 Map

http://thegreatmorel.com/2010.html

4/21/2011 10:24:03 AM

I picked ~20 lbs last year out in Oregon.

4/21/2011 11:20:43 AM

The main trick to mushroom hunting is to just go walk around a lot, particularly when it is warm after a recent rain or even when it is raining. The most important factor is soil temperature, must be above 10°C. Two 80° days in a row is a trick I have heard for predicting soil temp. Recently burned areas frequently have big crops of them, soon after to a few years after the burn event. Other disturbed land is a preferred site of morels, as well as landscaping. Of course there are well estabished patches which fruit year after year, but the location of these is usually not shared widely by people who find them...

As far as cultivation, are very tricky to grow and only a few people have claimed to reliably make a cultured sample fruit. http://www.Fungi.com has cultures and kits to try out. however, I'd recommend getting an oyster kit and trying that first, it is a little more sturdy and will be a cheap way to train for a $70 Morel kit. He also sells in vitro cultures if she wants to get serious. In that case I'd definitely recommend reading Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, 3rd Edition By Paul Stamets. It has pretty detailed procedures to follow to grow a wide range of shrooms. He's kinda-not-exactly-anymore the guy behind that website, but I think someone else is handling the merchandise end.

Another good place to find morels and all kinds of mushrooms found in hardwood mulch. You can try to make some mushroom beds in your yard if you are so inclined by burying wood, sawdust or making mulch beds. After the morel kit is finished, just add it to some mulch in the yard and try to maintain proper humidity, and maybe it will become established.

4/22/2011 1:28:14 PM

Awesome info, thank you. I will pass that along to her!

So what exaclty do people do with these? Eat them I presume? Or is it just a cult hobby pursuing the thrill of the hunt?

4/22/2011 4:53:14 PM

Dried morels are fairly common in grocery stores, so I think the people who go searching for morels certainly enjoy the "hunt". I'm sure some look forward to the walk in the woods. I also think many get a kick out of knowing a "secret" place to come back to and find morels.

You should definitely eat any you find. They taste great - just be careful that you have an actual morel. There are some potentially poisonous mushrooms that look like morels. Look for a honeycomb versus "brain" appearance.

4/22/2011 6:07:08 PM

Just got back from hunting for a few hours. We found six. They're soaking now and will be cooked later

5/5/2013 5:05:34 PM

I filled up a grocery bag in about 2 hours up in Michigan. The hunt is the best part

5/5/2013 5:29:32 PM

I will second the comment to MAKE SURE THEY'RE NOT FALSE MORELS.

Would hate to see someone get sick/die from eating what they thought was a "real" morel.

5/6/2013 9:43:18 AM

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/General_Principles/gpin004/gpin004.htm
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm
http://people.duke.edu/~jspippen/fungi/mushrooms.htm

no thanks

5/6/2013 9:59:01 AM

^Well, that last page (which shows a mixture of edible, non-edible and a couple of poisonous mushrooms and many different types of fungi which are not mushrooms and bears the disclaimer "I'm not an expert" at the top of the page) is wrong in stating that morels don't occur in North Carolina.

the second one is a list of poisonous plants that actually doesn't include mushrooms.

Dr. Grand's letter is sound advice regarding mushroom hunting. Particularly avoiding it if you are unfamiliar, and saving one of each kind if you do decide to eat some.

However, Morels are actually not mushrooms, they are ascocarps, and the difference between the edible morels and potentially toxic funguses that are only vaguely visually similar is very clear-cut and easy to determine.

For all you non-lounge-trolls that can bear to read this, there are only three rules.


1. only look for morels in the spring. if you think you find a morel in the summer or autumn, forget it.


2. never eat a morel raw. first of all, they are usually full of bugs and that's gross. Secondly, just in the slightest chance that you were confused about what you collected, the toxin in false morel is greatly diminished by cooking. They've actually been historically considered edible because of this, and the scientific name of the common false morel, Gyromitra esculenta reflects this. Modern research has shown that some small amount of the toxin, gyromitrin, is left behind, which the human body metabolizes into rocket fuel, monomethylhydrazine. Some people are more sensitive than others, so they are to be avoided.

So, how do you make sure you don't have a false morel before you cook your fungal fruiting bodies? 3. cut them in half vertically.

a true morel ALWAYS has a hollow stem and bell, like this.



if the stem and head are full of spongy tissue, throw it out. This is a false morel named after our state, Gyromitra caroliniana.




So, follow these three rules, and you'll never eat a false morel.


Here are links to the 3 genera you could potentially confuse morels with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyromitra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvella
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verpa


here's a forum I found for people interested in hunting in our state. http://morelhunters.com/forum/north-carolina-message-board/

It seems that a lot of people have observed that they are not finding as many in the past few years, but that they can be locally abundant, even a few weeks after prime hunting season has passed. As I've previously stated in the thread, soil temperature is the primary stimulus for fruiting, which means that, given the warm winter weather of the past several years, fruiting is probably occuring earlier than most interested people are looking, or they may not be able to fruit because soil moisture isn't appropriate when the soil reaches the correct temperature. People are reporting them in Michigan and northern PA in early May, so April or even March may be better times to look in NC during warm winters.


TLDR: you might be looking for morels too late, and don't bother if you can't tell a mushroom from a plant/ other type of fungus, or can't even pay attention long enough read how to tell them apart. You'll probably eat a deadly white mushroom by mistake, or a dog turd.

5/6/2013 12:37:27 PM

do they taste better than the ones at the grocery store?

5/6/2013 12:49:54 PM

Quote :

"I will second the comment to MAKE SURE THEY'RE NOT FALSE MORELS. Would hate to see someone get sick/die from eating what they thought was a "real" morel."

I dunno. TWW is kinda bloated with stupid these days...

5/6/2013 1:09:58 PM

like ^^ asked. is it really worth the trouble to go out looking for these things? how does taste compare to truffles or shitakes or other expensive shrooms?

5/6/2013 5:10:21 PM

they taste nothing like truffles and shitakes are not expensive

5/6/2013 5:14:00 PM

Didn't find any today. Hope it rains!


As far as taste goes I think Morels are up there with truffles.

5/6/2013 9:26:24 PM

My general rule is to never eat a wild mushroom. Dr. Van Dyke (NC State's all-time fun-guy) used to teach kingdom of fungi BO 222, I dunno if it is still taught now that he retired or not.

5/7/2013 8:02:33 AM

Dr. Grand took over

5/7/2013 11:30:33 AM

Supposed to rain today, Friday and Saturday! Hoping it brings lots of Morels!

5/8/2013 11:22:58 AM