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Fresh Morels
Pick them whilst you can…
June is the last month for picking fresh morel mushrooms in England, undoubtedly one of my favourite mushrooms they fetch very high prices but the sight and smell makes up for it.
To give you an example of their worth, 500g of standard sized dried morels which are cheaper because they are dried would cost me at trade price £150 or $290. If you are lucky you might come across some in their natural habitat, if you are close to waste ground or sandy woods then you might be in luck. They especially like areas of burnt ground and I have read of large pickings of them following the bombings in the Second World War whilst prior to that German peasants in the 18th century would deliberately set fire to places to encourage morels to grow. A bit extreme but there you go.
You need to wash them well, their structure is such that they will easily house sand, soil and grit but be careful to maintain their flavour. Morels go well with just about anything, but who cares? just enjoy the mushrooms whilst you can.
Miles,
A few years back I noticed some unusual mushrooms growing in the garden after a delivery of bark. They looked like morels but I felt uneasy about eating them just in case. Sadly they never returned. Doubt whether many people in the UK know an edible mushroom from a toadstool…. how sad, compared to our European neighbours.
Cid
June 13, 2008 @ 9:47 am
Cid,
Yes it is a pity, I wish I had more time to go out picking because there are plenty of good places around here. If you are worried about what you have picked then feed them to someone else we both now
Miles
June 13, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
Hey Cid,
Yep. Those were mulch morels. We got some in our mulch here in California this spring. Too bad they never returned. Time to buy more mulch, yes?
June 18, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
Hank,
I’ve never heard of anyone else getting morels this way so it was interesting to read your comment. If only I could remember which mulch I bought and from where. Subsequent bags eagerly spread in the hope of getting more, have produced nothing
I think children should be brought up with a knowledge of fungi in general. Apart from the red Noddy type toadstool, nobody here seems to know one mushroom from another and are afraid of them in the wild. Guide books are necessary but regular forays are essential I think.
One of my key plans is to track Miles into the woods one day….. heavily disguised as an Emu I shall go unnoticed and gain vital information as to Lincolnshire’s truffle hot spots
Cid
June 18, 2008 @ 7:55 pm