Edible or not?

[Steve Peek]

fool: noun- one who knows absolutely nothing about a subject, but continues to argue his point

In the immortal words of Bender, "Bite my shiny, metal ass!"

[Jim Elbrecht]

In another newsgroup, this would be called a 'Gloat' -- and my response would be "You suck".

Sure look like morels from here. I had some in my yard *once* 20 yrs ago. Best mushrooms ever-- And they never returned.

Cut the stems, don't pluck them. Dry them, fry them, enjoy them.

Jim

[songbird]

Jim Elbrecht wrote: ...

take a few and soak them in cool water overnight.

go out and dig a trench off to the side someplace you don't mind not mowing for a bit if mushrooms appear.

take some fruitwood sprinkle it with the water you've soaked morels in. bury. wait. hope.

my bro hunts morels in the woods, takes his water from cleaning them and dumps it outside. now has morels in his yard.

i took some water from morels and dumped it out here in several locations last year, but i suspect it will take more than one year for the fungal mass to be large enough to fruit. if it actually does something that would be great...

songbird

[Steve Peek]

It is thought that at least some morels are mycoryzal, so pour your cleaning water near trees they associate with. Here in the Southern Appalachians those trees are tulip poplar, ash and apple. We don't have elms here, but morels are known to associate with same. There has been some success cultivating black morels on the west coast in Douglas fir chips.

[Doug Freyburger]

Has anyone anywhere ever managed to grow morel deliberately? I have never heard of any.

[Steve Peek]

Yes, there are many kits available, but they are only about 30% successful. The most successful are the kits for the "burn site" morels. The process involves layering ash and charcoal along with the spawn. Do a "Google" search for morel kits, I believe you'll find quite a few.

[Billy]

Notably Michal Pollan's mushroom hunting adventure that took place along I-50, from Sacramento to South Shore (Tahoe), after a forest fire in a predominately pine and fir forest.

[David Farber]

I finally found an expert. He came by the house and inspected them. After giving me a thorough disclaimer about following his expert advice, he consulted two reference books (both written by David Arora) and said they were edible mushrooms. We went around and picked quite a few and he explained the differences between the dry ones (they need to be soaked first) and the fresher, moist ones. He said to cook and eat a small amount to begin with and make sure that there were no food allergy reactions. If everything was ok after that, then they could be seasoned to our liking. He also said never eat them without cooking them first.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Good news all around. Even an expert consulted a reference or two first, eh?

"There are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters."

[Steve Peek]

I totally agree, but the morel is the first mushroom we teach children. It's a shame I couldn't teach the "children" here.

[Steve Peek]

If he had to consult a reference for morels he is NOT an expert!!!!!

[The Cook]

I would assume he brought the book to show David a reliable reference and used it to point out important things to look for. As a teacher, not just an "expert."

[David Farber]

Bingo!

He was explaining the difference between the edible and false Morels.

[Billy]

You might find useful too. If you are a first time hunter, you should make your first hunting expedition with someone who knows what a good morel looks like.

There are several types of morels, some edible and others poisonous.

The woods will dole out many types of fungi to the hunter, therefore, The Great Morel recommends that all shroomers - rookies and veterans alike visit Edible and Poisonous Mushroom Page by Barbara Bassett, Naturalist. This site has great images of the good, the bad and the uglies! Click here for other great sources of morel identification as well as make sure to visit The Great Morel's page on the false morel.

Warning: some mushrooms are poisonous, even deadly. Henceforth the content of this said web site and its context shall be used as information and each visitor from hereafter shall take it upon themselves to exercise extreme caution. This said website and its contents make no representation, and it does not offer sufficient information for a totaly safe mushroom hunt because some mushrooms are poisonous, even deadly.

It is the sole responsibility of visitors to this site to postively identify their own morels. The Great Morel site is not intended to be a morel identification guide and takes no reponsibilty in mis-indentifying morels. Visitors must understand that consumption of some mushrooms may be harmful, and or fatal.

Discard all preconceived beliefs and remember the information herein maybe be questionable, is not all factual, and any assuredness created from the reading of this said web site should be reviewed because some mushrooms are poisonous and can even be deadly.

Therefore extreme heedfulness and circumspection shall be taken in any pursuit of the great morel mushoom (morchella). Any misconstrued notions gathered from said content is the responsibility of the visitor and therfore constitutes neglect of said visitor for inability to recognize some mushrooms are poisonous, even deadly.