We went mushroom hunting today in a park in Pittsburgh. These few weeks are the only time morels will grow on the East Coast. On our walk through the trails, we kept our eyes out for dying elms and tulip poplars. Morels will pop up near those trees inside of a twenty foot radius.

We saw plenty of signs of morel season — apple blossoms, garlic mustard blossoms, and may apples. So, we knew we’d find some good mushrooms if we kept looking. They can really hide, especially under leaves, but once you spot one, you’re likely to find a bunch.

We found three different kinds of morels on this trip, yellows, blacks or greys, and half-frees. The yellows and blacks have the typical morel cap. The half-frees have a cap with parallel ridges, which unlike the other morels is not attached to the shaft fully. It’s half free, hence the name. These morels are also known in the parlance of our obscene times as peckerheads.

We made sure to cut them off with a knife, and not just rip them out of the ground. We want the mycelium to stay healthy in the park so that this patch of morels might be there next year.

Now, how can we be sure that our morels are true morels and not fakes? One important thing to check is to cut them in half and look inside. Morels have a totally hollow interior. If your mushroom has a cottony middle, or has several chambers, it’s a fake. Don’t eat it!

True morels have either a fully attached cap, or a half attached cap. If the cap is mostly free, it’s probably not a morel. There are a few species such as Verpa bohemica and Verpa conica which look like a half-free, but whose caps are completely free. If you find one, it’s a fake. Don’t eat it!

In general, if you’re not sure, don’t eat it! And learn from an expert. Almost every city has a mycological society. They exist to help you find mushrooms safely. Ask them!

Now that we’re home, we’re going to make sure we wash and cook them or dry them before we eat them. It’s probably not a good idea to eat wild mushrooms raw. You never know what might be living in them!

Last night we were treated to a lovely thunder storm, complete with huge flashes of lightning and wall-shaking thunderclaps. We sorely needed the rain as it’s been a bit of a dry April around here. After Saturday’s attempt for morels I figured I’d go out on a foray today in hopes that the rain encouraged the mushrooms to pop their little heads up. Boy was I right, these yellow morels are almost the size of Luminiferous’ hand! Not only did I not have to drive 30 miles out of town this time, but I found a few nice little caches of morels essentially in my backyard. Now I’ve got a little secret too.

We spent the evening cleaning and stringing today’s finds to dry. There were a ton of the big yellows, a decent helping of the blacks (some call them grays at this stage due to the white edging on the caps), and five half-frees. Half-frees are a new variety to me, so named because unlike the other morels their caps aren’t connected to the stems the entire way down but just halfway, the rest creating a hanging skirt. I’m hoping to go back out in a couple days, as I left behind plenty of very young mushrooms to mature in the woods before picking them. I’ll probably sauté those and freeze them, so I can compare how the flavor holds up with the different methods of storage.

This weekend was the Western PA Mushroom Club’s annual Morel Madness Weekend. The weekend consists of two days of forays, slide-shows, and camping. Morels can be quite expensive at the market, largely due to the fact that they do not cultivate well. They have a unique texture, much more al-dente than most mushrooms, and have a very distinct flavor. Many who do not like most fleshy-capped mushrooms such as portabello or traditional button mushrooms enjoy morels, so give ‘em a try.

This year we might have been a bit early for the morels, it was hard to say. Most of us didn’t find a whole lot, and though one guy seemed to know the secret spot in the park where the morels were flourishing he wasn’t sharing his secret with anyone. Oh well. We might go back in a week and see what we can find.The outing wasn’t a complete bust though as we did find some rather tasty Dryad’s Saddle mushrooms, and were privy to the glories of spring in South-Western PA.

Throughout the wood were signs of spring oft missed by us city dwellers. Lovely white and red Trilliums made carpets through the forest, accented by the occasional patch of Jack-in-the-Pulpits. A few of our varieties of Trillium, including most of the reds, are classified as either at-risk or endangered, so it was quite a treat to get to see those. I was glad to see the deer hadn’t eaten them all up yet, as they are prone to doing. We also saw all manner of Violets ranging from white to yellow to purple, wild onions, garlic-mustard, and a few ramps.

Urban gardeners often think of the signs of spring as the crocuses, tulips, and daffodils we have planted into our yards. While I didn’t come home with even a single morel this time around, I did come home with a reminder of what spring looks like in our native forests. Maybe we can put in some trilliums for next year, to bring this reminder a bit closer to home.

Note the size of these shrooms!,
originally uploaded by Marty Greene.

For Chanukkah my father gave me a mushroom kit from Fungi Perfecti. It took a while to get going, but once it did whoo boy did it start growing!

This is the largest clump so far, what you can’t see under my hand is that there were more mushrooms trapped under the plastic of the mulch growing downwards. I’ve since freed them, and hopefully they’ll plump out and right themselves.

There are a few additional clusters, smaller currently, around the entirety of the mulch. It’s all rather exciting!

These guys will be featured in my Valentines day dinner this year, and hopefully they are tasty!
More photos of the mushrooms are available at my flickr page.