I havent found any yet but it has been very dry. Rained yesterday so I'm going to head out tonight and see if I can find any.
You should have em down there as I was up to Wolverine today and Greg and family are finding them up there. VERY EARLY!
Yup been finding a few. Dad picked almost a 100 a couple days ago and around 50 this morning. Dee and I took Zach out last night and we came back with 30 or 40. It's early for them. We've been finding blacks but Dad found a few grey ones today. Most years the blacks aren't out for til next week and the season ends with the big white variety around the end of the month. Even the trees are leafing out early. A lot of years they aren't fully leafed out at Memorial Day. If we don't get some rain there won't be anymore mushrooms :(
Yesterday was a great day for mushrooms here in western Illinois. We went out and found a good bunch. About 10 minutes before dark, we were about ready to head back to the house. One of our group had a sweatshirt around here shoulders and it fell off. Fell into a patch of mushrooms and we found about 30 more in a matter of minutes. It got so dark we couldn't see and we went to the house for a supper of mushrooms and hamburgers.
This morning I went back and found 12 more in that one spot. It has been raining and hot around here and I expect tomorrow to be a pretty good day. Unfortunately, early this morning was the only time I had, not chance to go out this afternoon.
This hasn't been the best year ever, but it has been better than average.
Good luck to the rest of you.
Mushrooms and burgers, now there is a feast. Throw in a slice of tomato and cheddar cheese and OH YEAH 8)
I found two last night. Both of them seem a little "old" like the time is almost past.
I plan on looking again tonight.
I'm thinking about venison steak covered with Morel shrooms 8)
We were at the Cabin in Eastern WV last week. Harvested about 1/2 pound Black Morals with a couple of whites thrown in for contrast.
I fried last winters white tail backstrap and made angel hair pasta with butter, garlic and shrooms.
WOW did we eat.
Jon
Jon, you should of posted a warning that no one should read your post if they are hungry. I was practically drewling when I got done reading. :D
And be careful out there. We have three folks in the hospital out here who ate a mess of what they thought were "safe" mushrooms.
Steve
As one old boy put it, "all mushrooms are edible, some only once" :D
My nephew went picking today,usually if you can get a few dozen that is a good haul but he got a 5 gallon bucket full,said they are everywhere this year . It's been cool and on the wet side here . He brought me these tonight .
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10514/mushrooms.jpg)
Ours never last long enough for pictures ;) ;D ;D :)
They aren't everywhere, UB. I and my spouse were out wandering the woods yesterday checking out all of the dead elms. Didn't find a single morel. :(
I usually have the worst luck finding Morels. :'(
Until last Thursday.
I had pretty much given up on finding any on our property. I thought of one place I hadn't looked because I thought the soil would not be sandy enough.
I was wrong!!!!
There were 15 big Morels around 2 dead elms.
Now my only problen is the 2 elms are going to be cut down this summer. Will the Morels still grow around the stumps?
Ed
Here is raining everyday so I couldn't till my garden :-\
But a lot of rain mean a lot of mushroom 8) 8) 8)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13277/MORCHELLA.jpg)
I picked those few this evening they aren't so much, but the other are in the freezer ;) ;) ;)
How little is the word huh? I was challenged to find the name of this kind of mushroom and Uncle Buck posted a pics of them
How do you call them?
We call them sponge mushrooms in Illinois. Some of those look like pecker heads though. I really only see one morel (sponge).
Ok thanks IL bull the Italian name of those mushroom sound similar to sponge too :)
DoubleD, all but one of those in your pic we call false morels and Don't eat, did you eat 'em yet? I went out today and found a few handfulls, was a dry spring, but now we're getting a bunch of rain, should be good year for morels.
Yes, they appear to be "false" morels and shouldn't be confused with "true" morels. These will make one sick if eaten!! :-\
Some "true" morel mushrooms, even these can make one sick at times if they eat too many. ;)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/Morels%20May%2014.JPG)
Yep I ate them. They were really good with tomatoes sauce to dress egg's pasta ;D.
I have many books to verify at what family belong different mushroom. The false morels belong to the Gyromitra genus (Gyromitra esculenta) , they look like brownish brain and are toxic while the good sponge belong to the Morchella genus (Morchella esculenta) and (Morchella conica). In the Morchella genus there is a big variation so the mushrooms could be whiteish yellowish and brownish. Probably the low quality of my pics cheat you ???
My little nephew told me he found all the mushrooms this year around the poplar trees where the beavers been working hard along the lakeshore dropping trees like professionals with all trees landing in the lake leaving maybe less than half the tree on shore . Thats his only tip , down by the beavers . :)
We have had a very wet spring this year. Have found morels but most are of the false origins. The true morels are just starting while the false have been out for nearly a month.
We eat false morels all the time. What you have to do before you eat them is to put them into a pot of cold water and bring them to a rolling boil. Drain off the water and fill agian with cold water and boil again. Do this a third time and they are ready for frying or eaten like that.
Brad.
I've never managed to find true Morels (lots of False Morels) but Wednesday I found a good feed of Oyster mushrooms. We usually have lots but not until near the end of July and then only if it rains.
Also found a couple of Ceps (King Boletes) but they were past their best so I left them to spore out.
We used to go mushroom picking every Easter (the start of Autumn here) I just LOVE wild mushrooms.
We used to get two main types, I have no idea what they're called in English, but in Polish, they're Rzydzy, and Mashlacki .
Mashlacki are like a sponge, with a medium brown coloured cap that's a little slimy. I didn't really like these, but my Babushka loved them, so we collected them for her.
The Rzydzy are the KING of mushrooms. No better anywhere.
They're a medium size shroom, vary from about 1" diam, through to 6-7" diam. As they get bigger they get flatter. They have very defined ribs and an orange top. The orange top is annoying because non-educated people walking through the woods tend to kick them thinking they are poisonous :( They're sorta like THESE (http://www.mushroomexpert.com/images/nadon/nadon_cantharellus_cibarius.jpg) only bigger, well, like the middle upside down one. Sorta. Couldn't find the right ones. The ones we get grow under pine trees.
The BEST way to eat these is... well.. there are a few best ways :D
Firstly, straight on to the BBQ as SOON as they are collected. Preferably with a little fried onion. They are soooooo yummy.
THEN, when you get home, crumb them in egg and breadcrumbs like a schnitzel, and fry them. Again with onions. (I'm drooling now)
AND, if ya got lots, these can be pickled just like pickled veg, and eaten at a later date. They are so goooooooooooood. This is what usually happens to all the small ones :)