Morel Mushrooms - It's That Time Of Year Again!

 I love the changing of the seasons, with each one comes something new and exciting!   I especially enjoy foraging for Morels.  Just as soon as winter breaks and before it gets to warm, it's time to head to the woods.   Morels flourish in cool damp conditions and it's always a little difficult to hit the season just right.
Although this is our busiest time of the year, Larry and I will try to take a few minutes out of the day once or twice a week and sneak off for the woods and look for fungi.  It really doesn't take long, we go to our regular spots, we can tell pretty quickly if we're to early for the shrooms, then we'll give it a couple of days and check again.

The first time we went this year we didn't find anything so I began looking around and enjoying the other pretty things growing.  As I'm crawling around in the leaves snapping pictures of flowers Larry comes over to see if maybe I found some.  Nope just admiring the pretty flowers.  I think this is a bleeding heart.  He says I thought we were hunting mushrooms...

This trip to the woods produced no bounty but I very much enjoyed every minute of it.  It's nice to get away and have some alone time, hear the birds sing and feel the sunshine on your face.

The next week we hit the woods again with better luck.  Morels are shaped like little Christmas trees and have an off white stem. The top of the morel can be brown or an off white or grayish color.

The second time we went, We met my sister and her husband and daughter in the woods to hunt together.  It's fun to hear someone holler "I found one" then you see everyone slowly start heading in that direction.   Well you never know, they may have found more than they can manage to pick on their own.  Kelly Garrett is a quite sneaky picker and never let's us know if he found one. Thanks Christina for showing us Kelly's secret foraging spot, We'll be sure to beat Kelly out there next year.

This year I'm going to dry some of the Morels so that we can use them at a later date.  You can put them in a dehydrator or just lay them on a cookie cooling rack to dry, once they are fully dry, bag them up and save for later.  When your ready to use them, place the dry Morels in water and they will plump back up within a few minutes and are ready to to use.

I usually batter the Morels and fry them in oil, this year I decided to try them stir fried with snow peas and asparagus.  Wow they are really good stir fired!

Do you forage for mushrooms?  What edible varieties are you finding in your area?  Come on share with us.  Fungi hunters often take their secrets to the grave with them, don't do that, share your knowledge.
Happy Hunting!
Angie