Never before during the 30 years I’ve lived in Door County has
there been a better spring for the morel mushrooms. Especially
the tan morels, Morchella esculenta, were found in
unbelievable quantities. Anytime you can go out and, within a
few hours, fill a five-gallon bucket with these ambrosial fungi,
that’s what may be described as heavenly picking!
Charlotte, the mushroom expert in the family, claims that it
was the greater-than-normal snowfall last winter, followed by
plenty of cool rainy weather, that triggered such a glorious
crop. It began quite early, when oak leaves were the size of a
mouse’s ear and when the Mayapple wildflowers were barely in bud
that the serious mushroom hunters were again beginning to act
strange. Perhaps "aloof" would describe them well.
Don’t ever expect died-in-the-wool mushroom hunters,
especially of the morel, to share even the remotest hint of where
they have found the gourmet’s treasure—general descriptions, yes,
but not precisely where they hit the jackpot. In fact ways in
which morel gatherers guard the secrecy of their favorite sites
would make for an interesting book.
Depending upon where in the region you live, you will find
these tasty morsels called pine cones or sponges. Even a brief
description over the telephone by someone new to mushroom
collecting quickly tells us which fleshy fungi (FUN-ji, not
FUN-guy) they are describing. These so-called "true
morels" are found over a wide range only in the spring.
Depending upon the latitude, these sought-after delicacies can be
collected between late April in southern and western Wisconsin
until well into July in some of the northwestern mountainous
regions of the US.
Our class searching for and learning about birds early this
morning, June 5, ended the session, following breakfast, with a
wildflower hike along our long driveway. Two large, somewhat
dried specimens of the tan morels were found growing beautifully
in the needle-duff beneath white pine trees.
Several years ago Charlotte and I, along with two friends from
Oconto, picked 16 pounds of the tan morels in one woods, mostly
quite close to the trunks of white ash trees, in Door County.
When asked by friends where we found that many, I replied,
"In a woods somewhere between Sheboygan and Gills
Rock!"
Their habitat varies, so don’t always expect them to be
growing, for example, only around certain trees. A friend picked
his large share this spring, consisting of perhaps over 20
pounds, mostly in old orchards that had a lot of goldenrod
growing there, as evidenced by the hardened stems remaining from
last year’s growth. There are some who claim that their best
picking occurs in areas where a fire occurred a few years ago.
The general appearance of a true morel, with its hollow,
pitted, honeycombed, uniform shape often leads the first-time
viewer to consider them poisonous, not to even be touched. It is
upon slicing one of these fungi in two from top to bottom that
you can quickly tell whether it is safe to eat. The interior
will be completely hollow.
I know plenty of people simply pull the mushrooms out of the
ground. The trouble with this method of gathering is that along
with the mushroom comes plenty of soil or sand particles. This
in turn mixes with and becomes caught up in the indentations of
the surface of the mushrooms making them difficult to clean and
frequently quite gritty to eat.
We strongly suggest cutting them with a sharp knife. In fact
we collect very little of the stems, considering them to be on
the tough side for eating. Others disagree on this point which
is fine with us. Do what you wish, because both stems and caps
are edible. However, there is one important suggestion for
considering – go easy on the amount you first consume. Some
people gorge themselves and end up becoming very sick.
The fact of the matter is that the cell walls of all mushrooms
are largely chitin (KY-tin), a substance that is difficult for
most people to digest. By all means don’t eat any true morels
raw, or, for that matter, any species of mushrooms including
those purchased at the market. An especially large portion may
cause a severe stomachache and great discomfort – at both ends!
Considering the several species and varieties of edible morels
in the US, David Arora, author of Mushrooms Demystified,
especially good for the serious collector, says, "…the true
identity of a morel is academic anyway—what counts is that is
edible and incredible."
A vaguely similar mushroom to the true morel is Gyromitra
esculenta "jy-ro-ME-tra es-cu-LEN-ta), referred to as
the false morel, beefsteak or brain mushroom. Its wrinkled,
contorted, undulating, pitless cap is quite brainlike and doesn’t
even remotely resemble the true and edible morels. The false
morels frequently grow in sandy soil beneath evergreen trees and
are known to be deadly poisonous to some people.
Their dark chestnut-red caps are quite distinctive, and when
the mushroom is cut down the center from top to bottom, part may
be hollow and part solid. Regardless of what some mushroom books
claim, DON"T eat them.
I hope many of you were able to gather a good sampling of the
true morels this spring and that these delicacies will prove to
lift your morel!
Hopefully, mushroom hunters this spring gathered
many true morels, such as these common brown species, Morchella esculenta.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 06/12/2004.
© Copyright 2004 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
