I had never eaten a morel until my old friend Carl Oakes asked if I wanted a few.
Not wanting to offend, I said, “Sure”, but I had no idea what they were or what to do with the strange looking spores. Later I found out that morels, wild mushrooms, were mountain delicacies and highly desirable.
On several occasions since then, I have taken to the hills and picked them myself. Morels, though, can be hard to find. They are well-camouflaged and seem to go into hiding when they hear footsteps. Not really, but they can be hard to spot, and they don’t grow just anywhere.
“Among the trees, morels seem to grow best around yellow poplars, ashes, elms, and sometimes oaks,” notes morel expert, David Garland. “Perhaps the number one spot would be around a dying elm. Morels seem to undergo this desperation fruiting when this tree starts to die from Dutch elm disease or from some other cause.”
“People who gather morels are really concerned about the emerald ash borer killing off the ashes in Virginia. We’re losing some of our best places to find this mushroom because of the ashes dying.”
Like any wild mushroom, morels should never be eaten raw, but when sautéed or fried, they are hard to beat.
If you come into a few morels, note that they must be cleaned almost like a fish. You need to split them and thoroughly wash the insides. If they have grit and you cook them, they are practically inedible.
So, wash them thoroughly, rinse them and let them soak in fresh water.
The best way I have cooked them was by dipping in melted butter, then in crushed Corn Flakes and fried to a crispy brown.
Private landowners are usually not all that eager for strangers to scour their land for morels, but the tasty mushrooms are free for the taking on public properties such as the GW or Jefferson National Forest or any Virginia Wildlife Management area.
There is about a five-week window of opportunity to gather morels, extending from late March till early May. And now’s the time to begin the search.
