So I was out cutting my lawn and along the line where the grass meets the woods I saw what I thought to be a morel mushroom. So I stopped and went to look next thing you know I'm picking mushrooms in my woods. I stumbled across a decent size cache of morels. Ended up with a paper grocery bag full. If you've never had these before ohhh boy are you missing out.  They are only around a short period just a few weeks around here and are pretty rare to find. Very sought after and expensive at farmers markets. I sautéed some up just a bit ago in olive oil and minced garlic. Delish?

Yep delicious, I get the giant puff balls around here, some of them can be up to 8" in diameter, you got to get them while fresh, I like to slice them in about 1/4 slices, sauté and cook em on a cast iron skillet. 

I have yet to find any morels, but i have a honey spot for shaggy meins...

 

I Sure would like to try some fresh morels!

Our short 1-2 week max morel season is just about to hit now that night time low temps are climbing into the 40's this week. Don't usually find them until the nightly temps stay at or hover around 50* for a bit.

Edited May 8, 20177 yr by Wild and Free

9 hours ago, 01cummins4ever said:

Yep delicious, I get the giant puff balls around here, some of them can be up to 8" in diameter, you got to get them while fresh, I like to slice them in about 1/4 slices, sauté and cook em on a cast iron skillet. 

I've never had puffballs, I'll have to see where I could find some. Plenty of spots where I deer hunt I'm sure. It's a mixture of hard wood and coniferous with a little bit of marsh mixed in spots. 

I got up this morning and went back and picked some more that grew over night. Going to dehydrate and jar the ones I don't eat.

12 hours ago, CumminsTech said:

I've never had puffballs, I'll have to see where I could find some. Plenty of spots where I deer hunt I'm sure. It's a mixture of hard wood and coniferous with a little bit of marsh mixed in spots. 

 

The only thing I could tell you is you got to harvest them quick, like when they are solid white, no browning or yellowing. Usually found in grassy land or in with the cottonwood and aspen trees, with those we usually get chanterelles too. usually found in the darker timber though. My friends are a lot more experienced than I on identifying them so I usually hit them up first before I go harvesting and eating them. 

As luck has it, somehow my request to try morels went out into the universe and came back with an answer!

 

A co-worker happened on some morels, and she gave me a quart baggy full as a sample! I cooked up about half of them last night and ate them all in one sitting!

 

Definitely a new mushroom to add to the list. I dunno if its normal or not and may have been my cooking style but they were a but rubbery chewing them. That might be the only qualms i had with them. Nonetheless, tasty in their own way!