Thursday, May 19, 2011

Morels

Yes, it is morel season here in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and I've been spending a lot of hours in the woods.  So far I've found wood ticks and morels in roughly equal numbers.  We've had a long, slow spring, and while there are a lot of mushrooms out there - or so I've heard - I have not been collecting bushels.  More like a few ounces here and there, just enough for a few meals.

Yesterday I was at Byerly's and saw that they had morels for sale.  Three point five ounces of mushrooms so raggedy and dried-out that, had I found them in the woods, I would have left them to rot.  The price?  $19.99.  That's not the per pound price, that's for 3.5 ounces!

So, today, I am going out again, my pant legs soaked with DEET for the ticks, and an optimistic number of bags to be filled.  Wish me luck.

2 comments:

RelevantAging said...

Pete,

I was out yesterday afternoon and found nothing but false morels. Do you think it might still be too dry?

Pete Hautman said...

There's a lot of moisture in the soil right now. I think what we've been missing is warm, humid nights. I found some today - enough for a meal - but scattered, and of poor quality.