Finding morels
Our Appalachian
forests are chock full of mushrooms, many of which are both edible and
delicious. But I wouldn't blame you if you choose to pass them by
--- there are also plenty of poisonous fungi around, some of which are
so potent that a single mushroom dropped into the municipal water
supply could take out an entire town (or so the conventional wisdom
goes.)
But at least
one mushroom should enter your diet, even if you're afraid to partake
of the rest. Morels, also known as dry land fish, have such
uniquely convoluted caps that they're hard to mistake for anything else
(except, possibly, the false morel.) Unfortunately, morels can be
surprisingly hard to find, and I've come home
empty-handed more times than I can count.
That's why I
was thrilled to read Appalachian Feet's How
to Find Edible Morel Mushrooms (With Recipes.) Eliza takes
the guesswork out of morel hunting. Did you know that there are
four different morel species that can be found in our area, and each
species likes to grow under a different set of trees? That morels
won't pop up until the soil temperature has reached at least 52 degrees
Fahrenheit?
The Great Morel website keeps an
up-to-date map of morel sightings across the U.S., so it's easy to find
out when spring has advanced far enough for morels to be popping up in
your woods. Currently, they've reached the North Carolina
Piedmont, so I'd expect to see them within the next week or so around
here. It's time to grab a field guide and prepare your tastebuds
for a treat!
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