I had all but given up. I knew of some folks finding them before our freak April snow but no one after and I hadn't made it out yet. I "resolved" a coon problem for a neighbor and she brought me some yesterday as a thank you. I fried them up last night with a cracker crumb coating and was disappointed, they tasted like Ritz crackers. I found me a mess this morning and am searching for a good fry coating for dinner this evening. Any suggestions?
How about corn flakes crushed up fine, some garlic and butter?
We like them sautéed in scrambled eggs. Never had them coated. What about pancake batter?
I like mine sliced in half, soaked overnight in salt water ( chases out all the little critters), patted dry, dredged in flour, then fried in butter. I do the egg on the side so it don't mess with the flavor.
There are so many different mushrooms in the woods, I wouldn't trust myself to not get a poisoinous one. Of course, I am not a bif mushroom fan, wild or tame. ;)
Dave
It's hard to mistake a morel for anything else you'd find in the woods. I don't have the right conditions for finding them, or I'd be spending every free minute looking. digin1
I gather morels, puff balls, shaggy manes and ink spots. I don't know if those are real names or local names. I look for chanterelles every now and then but haven't found any yet. Got a friend who collects a whole bunch more kinds and I often sample his but haven't gotten brave enough. I'd like to add some shelf mushrooms, oyster or chicken of the woods, just haven't sat down to study them enough.
BB Tom has the right recipe. Often I sub a steak for the eggs and add a bottle of barley pop.
Hey BBtom:) Any down you're way??? I have never found a single morel in my woods despite plenty of dead wood/trees/root systems. even buried some wood debris but no luck as of yet 2 yrs ago had a great year for puffballs. also a great year for the bad ones :o I looked into getting some spore for morels shittakes & one other and seeding the place but cost was a bit high as I only eat a few / year as I don't really have the taste for em. I'm hoping to find a few bag em up tight & spread the spore out into my woods which I figured to be cheaper (my biggest fault is I hate spending any $ ;) )
mark M
Ohio is a morel mecca. I can't imagine a wooded area there without any. I definitely think you need to be seeding some spores. Around here, morel rights add greatly to property value!! Most folks don't even know about the other edibles out there which is fine by me.
dad found 1 ( yes, just one) small black morel today, so time is getting near. Another good thunder storm and a couple nice warm days should help bring them out. I have trouble finding the blacks, but when the big yellows start popping up, I have to try and find a few meals of them.
Wednesday one of the guys at work brought in ~150 blacks. had em in the back of his truck stopped someplace coming to work (they work 1/2 days he had late shift said he hunted for 2 hrs is all.!
MarkM
I found one once ::) found some other ones too, usually I don't know what they are when I find them and then after I leave them I never see anymore.
They got logs with shitake spore on them, all you do is water them and put them in a spot with the right conditions and voila. At least they say its that easy :D
Quote from: Engineer on April 27, 2007, 08:32:55 AM
It's hard to mistake a morel for anything else you'd find in the woods. I don't have the right conditions for finding them, or I'd be spending every free minute looking. digin1
CAUTION!!!!!!!
I believe more people get sick or die from FALSE morel poisoning than
ALL other types of mushroom poisoning combined :o :o
Please be careful. Read up on proper identification :P Identify all mushrooms before eating them, or feeding them to your kids ;)
Cut your morels' in half lengthwise. True morel's will be completely hollow, false morels will have partitions.
With that said ;) I like to cut them in half, soak in salt water, then pan fry plain, in loads of butter at a low temperature. On your way home from mushroom hunting pick some fresh asparagus from a roadside ditch, and make few casts into the local lake or pond to pick up some nice fresh fish to serve with it :) :)
Now that is living 8)
max
Don't forget to grub around for some fresh Leaks for a side of Leak Soup. Oh ... and chives! Bet those mushrooms would be great cooked in some fresh chive butter. :)
LOGDOG
Had some morels growing in my backyard a couple of days ago. About 30' from my bed. A shroomer friend stopped by and I saw him looking at some mushrooms near where he parked. I asked if he wanted the ones he was looking at and said he wasn't sure about them. "Well, I have some alien looking ones in the back yard you should look at." He spotted them about 50' away and picked up to a gallop getting to them. Down on his knees explaining to me how he's been looking for them in the woods for years without success.
I simply told him, "Silly to be wandering around in the woods when you can just step out your back deck and get a 2 gallon bucket full."
His look didn't express gratitude.
The morels were growing next to a fire pit that I had been buring brush from the woods in. I'd suspect the spores came from there. The larger bunch of the two clusters had its "roots" bound around some sheet rock chunks that had been burnt. They definitely liked the soil conditions around the sheet rock.