2011 Morels in Pictures

So we’ve been having a good bit of success in morel finding this year.  Here are some pictures, highlighting some of our wonderful fungal finds.

Sadly I didn't help find this bunch here as I was home sick. But they were laid out on my floor and I got to eat some. I think from our count there was about 120 or so here.

These are two monster morels. Amazingly my morel hunting cohorts have found some even larger than these two over this past weekend.

Just a comparison of the size ranges we encounter with morels. Some are smaller than pennies while others are bigger than our hands.

These are three large tulip morels. This is about the upper limit of size for the tulip morels. The yellow (or blond depending on your preference) ones tend to get much larger.

Funny story from yesterdays forging. We pulled off the road at what looked like a potentially good spot. Right after I stepped out of the car I looked down and said "here's one!" It was only about a foot away from the front tire. We went on to find several more, including the two in the picture which were behind the back wheel.

A pretty good days worth of finds.

Amongst my morel foraging friends we try to evenly split all of our finds as a group, regardless of who individually found the mushrooms. While this may result in a slightly smaller share per individual, we do this because we often collectively benefit in a group search. If one person finds a morel, the others know an area to look and are likely to find more.

One of the best uses for the giant morels is stuffing them. Eating morels is always a pleasure, but stuffed morels seem to be a really wonderful means of highlighting their unique flavor.

Last night a large group of us collectively cooked several dishes with morels. The stuffed morels were the final dish of the night, and very popular by all in attendance.

We’re all hoping that we’ll get some time to find some more morels this season.  Personally I tend to dry out excess morels which are not immediately cooked.  Dried morels are easy to re-constitute and retain their flavor very well, providing a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the mushrooms all year round, until the next harvest season comes about.

Happy hunting y’all.

~ by Nathaniel on April 4, 2011.