Once you see one morel in the wild, your brain becomes trained to be able to spot the characteristic morel pattern and shape amongst the grass and leaf litter.
While there are several key look-alikes, these can be easily distinguished from true morels by the discerning forager. While actually closely related to morels, the verpas can be distinguished by a cottony white fluff found inside the stipe on a plant, this would be the stem or stalk.
The caps of verpas are also not fully connected to the stipe, as can be seen, if the specimen is cut in half to view how the cap connects to the stipe. In a true morel, the cap is fully connected from the top of the cap to the bottom, rather than merely at the top with members of the genus verpa. The inside of the Gyromitra species also contains multiple chambers, whereas a morel is hollow inside.
Some members of the genus Gyromitra are known to contain high amounts of a chemical called gyromitrin, a potent toxin and carcinogen that converts to monomethylhydrazine in the body a chemical more commonly used as rocket fuel.
Soil Science : Keep soil types in mind when scouting for these mushrooms. Morels like rich soil that is well-drained. They often thrive in disturbed ground such as that found in burn sites or logging areas. Weather Warnings : Warm spring rain can be just the ticket to get a morel to show itself. If the temperature is right see tip 1 and the rain is falling, plan to hunt morels the following day. Feature imaged credited to the McCall Area Chamber.
Morels like places that have been burned a few years back, the ashy soil making them happy. The key was to look for Trillium flowers, delicate little things with petals turning from white to lavender as they mature. We were encouraged to get down in a comfortable crouch position to become level with the ground. I was crouching; I was looking, but still nothing. This too, Williams explained was typical. I found a few more brains.
Several of us found poop…deer poop, even bear poop. I learned that bear poop is a big glop while deer poop is like rabbit pellets, only bigger. Why were we so pumped to discover morels? The stuffing had fontina cheese with of touch of horseradish.
The morel itself was dipped in tempura batter and fried. The combination of tastes and textures was sublime. When I asked how he dreamed up such a creative dish, he said he wanted to do something that featured one whole morel and battering and frying them was one of the best ways to eat them. Like many chefs we had met while eating and drinking in this region of Idaho the past couple days, Chef Kucy had an easy smile and a laid-back attitude.
Maybe it was all that fresh air, white water, and mountain biking that Idaho has to offer. About three-quarters of the way through our hike, Nancy hit pay dirt.
She thought it was trash and being a conscientious Idaho native, she picked it up. We kidded her, saying she should just buy 40 bucks worth of morels and give up the hunt! When spring comes around, McCall, Idaho, is revitalized! The ultimate marvel of springtime features the same calmness and diligence of a long hike but comes with a take-home pay-off — namely, morel foraging!
Since morels cannot be farmed and must be foraged in the wild, expert mushroom hunters keep their foraging spots entirely under wraps. So, needless to say, the high price tag on morels comes with the territory — literally!
0コメント