Cold, wet spring extends morel season
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June 30, 2011 |
By Judy Capparelli
Usually by this time of the year the morel
mushrooms have come and gone, but with our weird
cold, wet spring, there may still be some out
there to be found, especially in the Bonner's
Ferry area.
I have been an avid mushroom hunter for several
years. It just irks me to no end to be out in
the woods hunting mushrooms and to come across
other mushroom hunters who are using a plastic
bag or bucket to put them in.
You need to use either a basket or a net bag. I
prefer the net bag, the kind you get off of a
frozen turkey, or an onion sack. They work
great, plus you can just stick them in your
pocket. It isn't like lugging a basket around.
The reason for the net bag or basket is that
when you are walking around in the woods hunting
the mushrooms and you put the ones you have
picked into the net bag, the spoors are able to
fall out and re-seed the area. If you don't use
something that can the spoors can fall out of,
you are likely to ruin that area for the next
year.
I read that in a very good mushroom guide I have
had for several years. I always try to have the
net bags handy. You can bet that if I run across
someone out hunting mushrooms who aren't using
the proper thing to collect them in I let them
know about it!
They probably go home and tell their friends
about the crazy woman they met in the woods. I
don't care though ... if you are gonna pick
mushrooms, do it right!
One time I was out in the hills over by Wallace
– I hadn't planned on finding any mushrooms, so
was not prepared. There were mushrooms all over,
so I used a plastic sack to put them in. The
next year, that area was not near as good as it
should have been.
I attributed it to using the plastic bag.
 Morel
mushrooms come in all sizes, shapes and colors.
The lighter colored ones are usually ones that
have just popped out, sometimes with the right
weather. Rain then heat and they can get pretty
big right away.
After they have been up for a couple of days
they get darker. Some are almost black. They are
all good as long as they don't crumble when you
pick them. When I pick them, I tear off the stem
and throw it back down. That helps with
spreading the spores.
If they crumble when you pick them, just leave
it there, let the bugs have a meal.
 In
the early spring, the early morel will come up
most the time under the leaves of a cottonwood
tree. When I am hunting in that area, I just use
a stick to disturb the leaves, sometimes they
pop up so big you don't have to move the leaves.
The early morel usually has a bigger stem than
top. I prefer the later morels, the ones in the
conifer woods, under fir trees or in grassy
areas. Another thing I discovered while on our
picking outings, if you were out looking for
mushrooms, if you saw a conk on a tree, that
there would usually be Morels nearby.
 Usually
where you find one morel you will find several
more, just keep looking, and remember, they
aren't always the same color, but usually once
you spot a couple, you get the “feel” for what
you are looking for. Then they are easier to
spot.
Sometimes you find them growing in clumps with
several coming out from the same spot, then
other times it will just be one or two.
Most of the time, the brain mushroom will come
out before the morels do.
I have found that they thrive around Cedar
trees. They are good to eat too, and will range
in color from a light caramel to almost black.
They seem to be more tender and will fall apart
easier than a morel will.
 When
I get home with my bounty, I head for the sink,
put the mushrooms in a big bowl and start
rinsing. Clean any debris out, sometimes I will
split the morels to make sure I get all the the
critters out.
They are hollow inside, a lot of nooks and
crannies for bugs to hide in.
After the initial rinsing and cleaning, I then
add a good amount of table salt to the bowl with
mushrooms and water in it and leave it set for a
few hours. The salt will kill any bugs and make
them float to the top, so you can rinse them off
and down the drain.
 If
the mushrooms have been out for a few days and
really dark, sometimes they have been up long
enough for the aphids to turn into worms. These
are little white worms, and the salt will also
kill them and they will sink to the bottom of
the bowl. If you are lucky and have picked
mushrooms that have just popped out, you hardly
find any aphids on them and no worms at all.
I usually clean, salt, wait, clean some more,
sometimes split them, and salt them more, let
them set a bit, then rinse again.
When I get them all cleaned, I use a “salad
spinner” to get the excess water out. I then put
them in freezer bags and freeze them, putting
only enough in each bag to be used in separate
times. Use good thick freezer bags and they will
last for a long time.
A lot of the times I use the mushrooms in
spaghetti sauce or in homemade pizza. They are
good scrambled with eggs, or breaded and deep
fried. It works best to use fresh, not frozen,
for the deep fried ones.
A good breading can be made out of thin pancake
batter, with a little oil added to it.
I don't think they would be good raw like some
button mushrooms, but have never tried it. It
just doesn't sound good!
Get out there and find some ... with this
weather we are finally having it should be great
for them! |
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