It was a lovely spring morning, washed and smelling fresh by yesterday’s rain – the kind that makes doing chores sheer joy. Leading all the puppies, Richard and I dashed down our aspen covered hillside, and half way down he tripped on a morel!
Morels are an illusive and highly prized mushroom. Their brainy caps give them the
perfect camouflage – a challenge to every mushroom hunter. Often on a nice spring day we’ve searched for these in what I thought were excellent growing grounds – fruitlessly.
People say they like to grow around trees, in disturbed soil or places where fire has passed by. Some say to hunt mid April, or in spring after a good rain. Then others report a morel will grow any where it cannot be found.
After this find of course, all of us kids turned out for the hunt and scoured that hill side. And, to our amazement, found mushroom after mushroom, often two or three at a
time! After the pickings got slim there, we continued hunting farther down, but could not find a single one under the pines, or in rocky soil, or where it was too wet. In fact, the only place we could find them was in the old pig area! Our guess is that their thorough tilling did the trick – along with the rain we got a few days earlier.
While we were out hunting, other spring edibles were also found. The violets, a fun cake decoration, were blooming. Horehound, an excellent cough medicine, was leafing out. Tiny horsetail ferns were coming up. And the Stinging Nettle (yes, it stings painfully at every stage) was in its perfect prime for cutting and drying. The Oregon Grapes were also setting on their bright yellow blossoms, and they make an excellent though tart – foraged jam.
Now we had a basket full of weird looking mushrooms we had never cooked or tasted before. What to do with them? Youtube quickly remedied our conundrum, and after trimming the ends off, splitting them, soaking them in salty water to get all the dirt and bugs out (yes, quite a few bugs can live in there) and patting them dry, they were ready for cooking.
Mom decided to simply saute the morels in olive oil with a little minced onion, and they
were delicious! The darker mushrooms were most tender, and had nice mellow mushroom flavor, while the lighter ones were chewier with a stronger taste. You do want to cook these, because they have some toxins. But the morel is a very safe species. Just be sure they are morels: easily identifiable by their conical, pitted, brain-like caps, and hollow core.
I hope everyone can get out and enjoy the wonders of God’s creation this Spring. You really can see his handiwork in everything! How good He is to us!
Deuteronomy 8:10
When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
~Ann
Rosehaven Homestead 
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