Shortly after the redbuds bloom, people start heading outside. They’re not chasing turkeys or looking for a new place to fish for crappies. They’re after morels, a mushroom that makes its annual appearance each spring when conditions are right.
Morel hunting is pretty serious in Missouri—just witness the orel statue beside Interstate 49 just north of Nevada. And hunting for morels is a spring-time rite because this relatively easy-to-identify mushroom is prevalent in Missouri’s woods-- and it’s delicious. In fact, morels are often used in gourmet dishes at high-end restaurants.
One reason that morels are a favorite is because they are easy to find, harvest, clean and cook, and they are one of the first mushrooms to appear in the spring.
The challenge comes finding them. Morels don’t grow everywhere, according to mycologist Mike Snyder.
“Morels like to grow in low areas with a water source,” says Missouri mycologist Snyder. He and his wife own WildWise Botanicals of Edgar Springs, Mo. The business sells a wide variety of products such as salves, tinctures, teas and other products they grow or harvest from the woods. Education also is a big part of WildWise, considering that it offers workshops, guided walks, private hikes and fungi identification classes.
Snyder notes that part of finding morels is being able to identify trees, not a necessarily easy task when the leaves haven’t popped out in the spring. “Morels can often be found near American elm trees, but the bad news is that a lot of elms have died from Dutch elm disease. Sycamores, easily identified by the white appearance of the bark on the upper branches are another tree to look for when on the search for morels
However, hunters have found morels under cedars as well, although that seems counterintuitive given cedar’s resistance to rot and fungus. Morels are a fungus, with the bulk of the organism living underground as mycelium. The mushroom itself is a temporary reproductive structure (fruiting body) whose main purpose is to disperse spreads its spores into the environment.
With harvest, timing is everything, or course. If the weather and soil is warm enough, and if there is enough rain, you can find the first morels showing up when the redbuds start to bloom. Other experts say the peak of the morel harvest season coincides with the bloom of wild dogwood trees.
As the season advances, daytime temperatures rise (generally, but this is Missouri), and the soil becomes warmer. The early season spots on south-facing slopes are less productive, and morel hunters should start looking on the cooler, north-facing slopes.
The key to identifying morels is to look for mushrooms that have the light-colored ridges and darker colored pits on the cap. Morels only grow on the ground—not trees or wood.
While it’s a good idea to have an expert identify the mushrooms you’ve harvested, there is one key characteristic: when the morel is sliced open, it is hollow inside. That isn’t the case with the false morel, a different mushroom that sort of resembles the morel.
The false morel isn’t hollow like the morel, and the cap bulges outward rather than inward, and looks a bit like brain tissue. The real morel has inward-facing pits.
False morels have a sketchy history in regards to their edibility. And beginning mushroom hunters weould be advised to stay away from them until they get more experience.
“Morels are really delicious,” says Snyder. And that may be part of what Snyder calls the “’shroom boom” a rapidly increasing interest in mushrooms by the public.
He warns, though, that there are warnings about eating wild mushrooms, even including morels.
“It’s important, I think,” Snyder says, “that the first time you eat a wild mushroom, you eat only a little bit of a fully cooked one. Wait and see if you have a reaction to the new mushroom.”
While morels are generally considered safe mushrooms to identify and eat, they must be fully cooked to eliminate the toxins that can affect humans. It’s also a good idea to avoid cooking with or drinking alcohol when eating wild mushrooms. People can react differently to the combination, and bad results can lead to vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and neurological problems.
While morels can be found in a wide variety of places, it’s important to note that morel hunters should get permission to search on woodlands. Private lands require permission.
