By Carina Magyar in Fungi — Apr 2, 2023

III: Morel

The pleasures and profits of morel hunting.

A pair of tasty morels. Photo by Ken Mattison.

Good morning. Today is tridi, the 13th of Germinal, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate la morille, a delicious fungus with a sponge for a head.

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Morels are a delicacy, but they must be cooked before eating, perferably lightly sauteed in a bit of butter with salt and pepper to bring out the flavor. They're not proven to be toxic, but raw morels will cause a fairly severe upset stomach, supposedly due to the presence of hydrazine. They're also difficult to clean due to the divots of the head, so be willing to ingest a little dirt. If you hunt for morels yourself, beware of false morels, particularly gyromitra, which will have a similar appearance but be more folded than honeycombed, and tend to a reddish hue. Brown with pockets is good; red with wrinkles is bad.

Morel hunting is a big deal in certain pockets of the North American midwest, where spring comes in rough and uneven, and rivers carve out hollers in the forest where morels like to sprout at the base of elms and tulip poplars. A good spot – also called a honey hole – can produce a bushel of morels, but more commonly a good solid day of trudging in the woods with your dog will yield a handful or a dozen from a couple locations.

The activity itself is fun, healthy, and wholesome, but it's given a lot of extra vim by the fact that morels sell for up to $200 a pound and (until very recently) resist any sort of controlled cultivation. Morel hunting's a good springtime hobby, and also a trip to a woodsy casino.

III: Morel

II: Hornbeam

IV: Beech

II: Hornbeam

IV: Beech

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