Northern Michigan's Black Morel Mushroom
May 15 '00
This little piece of heaven is unique to our wooded lands of northern Michigan. It is called the Morel Mushroom and can be found around the base of Ash and Poplar Trees. The black morel mushroom has a growing season of about three weeks. Following that you can find the gray and white morel. Their seasons last only about one week.
When searching for this tasty morsel, we tote used orange bags, like the onion sack. These allow the mushroom to stay fresher, longer and tiny insects will fall through the bag and stay in the woods, where they belong. We have learned that if it rains while you are picking mushrooms, the rain will not damage the sack like paper ones, and you won’t lose your container. The mushroom looks black in color and coned shaped, it is important to pick the mushroom off at soil level. If you don’t leave part of the stem in the ground, they won’t come back in years to come.
Upon arriving home, we soak the mushrooms in cool, salted water and then drain them well. The salt helps bring the tiny insects out of the mushroom. I also cut my mushrooms in half lengthways so that there is no guessing as to whether the critter got out or not!
I add a bit of water to a beaten egg and dip the mushroom, followed by rolling it in half pancake flour/half white flour. Pour vegetable oil (I use Canola) and margarine in a skillet and add coated mushrooms. Fry until nicely browned on each side and remember to salt and pepper. If I’m in a hurry, I eliminate the egg solution and just roll the mushrooms in white flour and fry. They are scrumptious.
Another method you can use to have your mushrooms this winter, is to dry them. This is why I like to cut them in half, because it enhances the drying process. We sometimes dry the mushrooms on a screen in the sunshine and other times we just use a dehydrator. Either way, make sure the mushrooms are completely dry before storing them.
I store them in one-gallon glass jugs and I have also used one gallon size bags. Mold is the mushroom’s enemy. If you have so many mushrooms you don’t know what to do with all of them, you can put them on E-bay, like we do. Fresh mushrooms sell for $20-$50 a pound, where dried mushrooms sell for $6 an ounce.
Some of my favorite things to add these tasty morsels to are stews, spaghetti sauce, pot roasts, casseroles, soups, gravies and if you precook them, you can add them on top of pizza. Many of these dishes, you can crush the dried morel and sprinkle over the recipe. As long as it gets cooked in the hot liquid, it will be edible and delicious.
A word of caution, if you’ve never eaten morel mushrooms before, is to eat a small helping the first time and add more gradually at future meals. We have known friends to get very sick, especially when they over indulge on the first sitting. They taste wonderful, and some people get carried away by the morels unique taste, so they have too many at one time. Other people cannot eat them at all.
If you’ve never had the opportunity to pick or eat morel mushrooms, you will get more than you bargained for in the wonderful outdoors, romping through the woods, seeing wildlife at it’s best. We are losing more and more of the natural breeding grounds for the morel mushroom as we continue to clear cut woodlands and build recreation parks, apartment complexes, residential housing, etc. Try it while you can or one day you may have to buy it in a can!
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