Morel Mushroom Season

For those of you who might not know, mid to late April is generally when "mushroom hunters" begin finding the delicious, morel mushroom in various parts of the country. The exact timing of the emergence of these edible mushrooms depends quite a bit on weather and latitude (altitude if you live in the mountains).

As often as possible Dad, Gregory and I have made trips out to Missouri to "hunt" the traditional sites where Dad and other members of our family have harvested this wild food for generations.

It is nice to hit the old spots but what I enjoy is discovering NEW locations for these tasty mushrooms. I have been keeping my eyes peeled here in Virginia. We have morels in the state but it always seems like our "search image" for the microsite conditions (i.e., moisture, soil, associated trees and plants) likely to produce well are better in Missouri. A few years ago we got into some "GOOD PATCHES" in Missouri and had a blast!

Here are some links to more information about Morel Mushrooms. As with any wild food, BE SURE YOU CORRECTLY IDENTIFY everything before you eat it.

The Great Morel Webpage

Mother Earth News Article About Morels

Morels are notoriously difficult to cultivate and the wild collected specimens usually fetch high prices in the various markets for them. We usually fry the ones we collect...if not, we give them to family that enjoy eating them. Never have sold a one but I bet we could make some money doing it with the amount we find, ha!

Morel Mushroom Growing Kit 

These beauties (about 8 inches tall) were found my Chuck, Greg and Marc (myself) Gray in Missouri a few years ago.