Mushroom Hunting

The season is passed but I thought I'd share a little bit about this fun experience.

I first heard of morels from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle where the authors had morel mushrooms growing on their property and where a prized treasure. So I was exited when I was told that our wonderful park out back also provides a season of Morels (just when I thought it couldn't get any better).

I never thought I would be a mushroom hunter. never. I always pictured short stout fellows with bushy gray beards, dirty clothes, missing teeth, and a hat made of tree bark with moss growing on it. And don't forget the mesh bag.

We did some research online and found that this type of mushroom is pretty safe to gather and eat if you know what to look for (if it looks like a morel-- there are a couple different types-- and it's hollow then you're good).

Here's a closer look at what morels look like:

in the "wild"

in the hand

and on the plate!

Since the park is public there are a lot of other mushroom hunters so we never found a ton of them. It's not exactly easy but it's really fun when you find one-- makes me feel feel very 'hunter/gatherer.'

It seems the general online consensus to prepare morels fried with some sort of coating (other wise they shrivel to nothing). They were pretty tasty... especially for free!