What do morel mushrooms look like

Morel mushrooms, or just morels, are a highly desired ingredient among chefs and mushroom enthusiasts. The reason? They're only grown in the wild, unlike farmed mushrooms you'll find in the grocery store crimini , portobello , oyster , etc.

Although there have been efforts to cultivate morels, they're extremely difficult to farm, meaning they must be foraged and harvested from where they naturally grow.

Morels are usually found in wooded areas throughout North America and Europe. Warm and wet conditions are best for growing morel mushrooms. Morels vary greatly in size and appearance. Their shape can range from oblong to bulbous, and their color from blonde to gray. They are easy to distinguish by their exterior, which resembles a honeycomb. The inside of a morel is white and hollow. Beware of false morels, which includes a number of species that look similar but are actually poisonous. False morels are reddish-brown to yellow in color, with a cap that hangs to one side.

They're also not hollow on the inside, like real morels. If you're foraging for morels, be sure to do so with an experienced guide.

Morels are considered top-tier mushrooms, due to their depth and earthy, nutty flavor. They also have a meaty texture, unlike the more slimy texture of other mushroom varieties.

For these reasons, even mushroom haters will enjoy morels. So here's the catch when it comes to morel mushrooms: they're expensive. Really expensive. There's a few reasons for this:. One of the first signs of spring is the sudden sightings of morels from March through June. While you can always go on a morel hunt , odds are you'll prefer to buy them rather than find them. You may be able to find morels at your local farmers' market or specialty stores.

You can also find them online. That said, there are a number of other characteristics that can help to positively identify morel mushrooms…. Morels mushrooms have a number of poisonous look-alikes. They should be hollow, with a stem attachment at the base of the cap. Remembering those two things will help keep you out of trouble. None the less, there are 4 mushrooms that are considered morel look-alikes, and 3 of them are toxic. Verpa Bohemica, Gyromitra, and Verpa conica are all potentially toxic, though easily distinguished from true morels.

Verpa bohemica looks to my eye the most like a true morel from the outside. It does have something that vaguely looks like a honey-combed cap, but when you look closely, it looks less like a honey-comb with sharp ridges and more like a wrinkled sheet or the lobes of a brain. Verpa bohemica looks the most similar to a morel of all the toxic look-alikes. Image Source.

Verpa bohemica has a cap to stem attachment well under the cap like a skirt and does not have a hollow stem. Verpa bohemica may or may not be toxic. Its toxicity is still up for debate by science, and only some people may be susceptible to the low levels of toxin. The potential toxin is Gyromitrin , which may or may not be produced by the mushroom in small amounts.

When ingested in small quantities, this toxin can produce nausea, stomach cramps, and diarrhea, and in large quantities can produce convulsions, jaundice, coma or death.

Verpa bohemica is easily distinguished from the true morel by its ridges, stem attachment and lack of a hollow stem. Gyromitra is a genus of 18 mushrooms that are not closely related to morels, and though they do have ridged caps, there are many obvious differences. The mushroom is often much wider than it is tall, and the ridges look like folds of cloth rather than a honeycomb. It is also not hollow, which is the dead giveaway. Their cap is generally much redder than a morel as well.

Gyromitra caroliniana mushrooms. It appears though, that the toxin is not fully removed in these cases, and those that are eating them are just less susceptible to the toxin. Gyromitra caroliniana cut in half to show the interior. Morels are always hollow inside. Very small barely visible ridges and a small-cap are your first clues that Verpa conica is not a true morel.

The main difference is the skirt or umbrella-like cap attachment in Verpa conica , which makes it easy to distinguish from a true morel.

Though the stem is hollow, the cap does not flow seamlessly into the stem, and the stem slips under the cap like legs in a skirt. Verpa conica — morel look-alike Image Source. It also tends to have a very long stem and small-cap.

Half Free Morel Mushroom — Technically not toxic, but not tasty either. Because along with the mushrooms, you are carrying away the spores. Millions of them. Mushroom spores are free, and instead of taking them with you, they should sprinkle around the woods as you harvest. Think of it as mushroom community service. Something like a mesh sporting goods sack works well, but I prefer this mesh shoulder bag. Morels are best preserved dried.

They dehydrate easily in a dehydrator, or on a mesh screen with a fan running near them. They are quite wet and spongy, so be careful to keep adequate ventilation to prevent mold. Dried Morel Mushrooms Image Source. Fresh morels keep for about a week refrigerated, depending on the condition you found them in. The wetter and hotter they are, the more quickly they will deteriorate. Worms can certainly be an issue. Place them in the fridge, no more than a few layers deep, with plenty of air to circulating around them.

Drying is an excellent storage option. More on that topic below. Morels are the reproductive organ of the underground mycelium. The mycelium develops its fruiting body when it is stressed or when the spring sap movement brings energy and carbohydrates to the tree. The stress reaction of the mycelial net is usually brought on by soil disturbance whether it be from fire, excavation, beetle kill, wind throw, cattle, orchards, etc.

The sap movement is a good condition for the mycelium to give birth to its babies. Morels are one of the few spring species of mushrooms. In Canada, you want to start looking in April on the west Coast or May in the prairie. If living elsewhere, often a good indicator is when the tree buds show signs of blooming.

If conditions stay favourable we can pick into mid and occasionally late summer. This usually means travelling north or up in elevation. A flush on the prairies or flatlands will be brief and intense and may come only once.

A season in the coniferous mountains may extend through the summer as the sun, rain, and winds combine to provide flush after flush of mushrooms. In the industry, we refer to morels as either naturals or fire morels. The naturals grow in pastures, meadows, and orchards. There may be just a couple or there may be bucket-fulls. They may come one year, or for many consecutive years, and then disappear without any obvious reason. Other conditions such as heat, rainfall, sun exposure, elevation all influence the crop as well.

Fire morels like pine, and spruce, but if you are in a burn, look on the outer edge, or for patches where the trees are not charred, we call this the soft burn.

They like where the needle bed is reddish and are often in between tree roots or the shade of fallen timber.

The more mosquitos biting the more likely you are to find morels. Example of a cluster of fire morels. They camouflage with pine cones but you can train your eyes to spot them from quite far away. Morels are not to be eaten raw or consumed in large quantities because they contain a mildly toxic substance, which is destroyed in cooking. It is possible for some people to have an allergic reaction to morels. As with all new food, if you are consuming it for the first time a moderate amount is recommended.

A skilled mushroom picker could confidently distinguish them as clearly as a cucumbers vs zucchini. Slicing the specimens in half reveals a lot of helpful information. Verpas are more commonly considered safe, although must be properly prepared.

There have been toxic reactions and fatalities reported on gyrometrae, which have great regional variation, but they are considered a delicacy in some countries where they are consumed widely with no ill effect.

Again, proper preparation is essential. It is like picking apples off of an apple tree. The tree will continue to thrive, many apples will fall to the ground and rot, and perhaps one of the thousands of apple seeds will eventually yield a new tree.

When you harvest morels, just as when you harvest apples, there is no damage to the mycelium just as there is no damage to the tree. Fresh morels are fragile. They may crumble when handling, cleaning, and cooking.

They cook more quickly and have a slightly more delicate texture. Their flavour is a little more musty or exotic. Fresh morels will keep about a week if conditions are ideal. Dry morels are easy to handle. They are also cleaner. When you dry a morel they contract a little, causing sand, dirt, pine needles, poplar fuzz, moss, or other bits of nature to fall off.

When you rehydrate them, any remaining bits of nature fall to the bottom of your soaking liquid. When using your soaking liquid in your dish, leave the last few tablespoons in the bowl. When you dry a morel you concentrate the flavour, think of raw fresh nuts versus roasted nuts. The flavours are quite different. When dried in the sun, the morel absorbs additional vitamin D, like the human skin, and most of us could use a little more of that. Dry morels can be enjoyed all year long.

Time and time again, when eaten fresh and dried with our fellow harvesters out in the bush, dried is the clear winner. Drier and older better? We think so, but decide for yourselves. Drying morels is a bit of an art.