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You guys ready to hunt some MOTHERFUCKING MUSHROOM? Please feel free to post any other mushroom pics I have an exploratory hike planned for Sunday in a really promising area >:]
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Mar 22, 2016 15:16
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Here is a great blog about mushroom hunting in general (be advised: mainly talks about hunting them in NC) http://www.crazyaboutmushrooms.com/ Her section on morels is very good for basic info: http://blog.crazyaboutmushrooms.com/hunting-morel-mushrooms-morel-species-habitats-features/ quote:Morel Mushroom Fruiting Conditions Pretty much the perfect excuse to go hiking
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Mar 22, 2016 15:26
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What are you doing noo don't tell them about these
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Mar 22, 2016 19:26
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Epitope posted:What are you doing noo don't tell them about these Thrill of the hunt! Go get them hickory chickens!
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Mar 23, 2016 02:34
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which northeastern usa edible is the most identifiable with the least risk? i asked a couple of biology professors this and even the guys who knew 100 mushrooms said they're in the camp of people who won't eat wild mushrooms
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Mar 23, 2016 04:33
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extra stout posted:which northeastern usa edible is the most identifiable with the least risk? i asked a couple of biology professors this and even the guys who knew 100 mushrooms said they're in the camp of people who won't eat wild mushrooms It's true. Oil of Paris is a known troll (check the post count) who's trying to get goons killed.
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Mar 23, 2016 08:43
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extra stout posted:which northeastern usa edible is the most identifiable with the least risk? i asked a couple of biology professors this and even the guys who knew 100 mushrooms said they're in the camp of people who won't eat wild mushrooms I'll do a little research for you later on the subject, but the vast majority of mushrooms are perfectly safe to eat (although many are truly disgusting and therefore considered inedible). Very few are outright poisonous and hazardous, but you should definitely educate yourself on the real bad ones in your region, such as the appropriately named DEATH CAP. There are often local or regional mushroom clubs that you can take advantage of as well. They tend to have a lot of collective knowledge. That said, it's real hard to gently caress up identifying a morel. They're pretty unique looking
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Mar 23, 2016 12:42
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extra stout posted:which northeastern usa edible is the most identifiable with the least risk? i asked a couple of biology professors this and even the guys who knew 100 mushrooms said they're in the camp of people who won't eat wild mushrooms Found a short little blog with some of the heavy hitters of "Babby's First Wild Mushroom" http://wildfoodism.com/2014/10/07/5-easy-to-identify-edible-mushrooms-for-the-beginning-mushroom-hunter/ All of these are in the Northeast and are very hard to misidentify. Chicken of the woods and hen of the woods (maitake) are excellent and quite common to find. Look for hen of the woods on oak, and if possible, always try to pick fresh since they can get kind of leathery if they are old. Epitope posted:It's true. Oil of Paris is a known troll (check the post count) who's trying to get goons killed. It is very FYAD to enjoy the bounty of nature. On morel identification: So the true and delicious morel is going to look like one of these:  Yellow Morel (Morchella esculenta)  Black Morel (Morchella angusticeps)The fruit is connected quite firmly to the shaft from top to the bottom, and as you can see, takes up a significant portion of the entire fungus. Most false morels are extremely easy to identify, especially Gyromitra esculenta, which in my opinion looks so different from a morel that I can't really fathom why it's called a false morel Ex:  i mean, come on, lolNow what you will need to look out for are the verpas, which look somewhat similar to morels, but upon some really cursory inspection prove to be quite different.  early morel (Verpa bohemica)Looks fairly similar, but there are some important distinctions: 1- the fruit is quite dinky compared to the true morels and only takes up a small portion of the shaft 2- it is quite easily broken off from the shaft and is not connected throughout 3- they tend to bloom before true morels  bell morel (verpa conica)1- again, underwhelming amount of fruit 2- typically smooth cap, only wrinkled if old (and would look like poo poo anyway) 3- not connected throughout the shaft None of these are virulently poisonous (there is some debate on the gyromitra. I probably wouldn't eat it, but people do all the time so whatevs), but all of them, including morels, need to be cooked before consumption.  This is what you seek!! Oil of Paris fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Mar 23, 2016 |
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Mar 23, 2016 14:36
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Oil of Paris posted:It is very FYAD to enjoy the bounty of nature. Alright, but if these dweebs clean out my patch I will be Not Happy. The first time I ate morels I was four. My mother called poison control, heard about the false morel, and made me take syrup of ipecac. I was hooked. In indiana we get some decent greys, blacks, and yellows. One year there was a flush of 8 inch yellows by the creek, an epiphany. We also eat a fair amount of pecker heads, which I guess are a verpa? They're definitely not quite as good as the real deal. Last year I went to a burn, and finally saw why they look like that. They look exactly like a burnt pine cone. I feel a little guilty getting excited for fires now.. staring lustfully at burnt areas. Last year: 
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Mar 23, 2016 16:57
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Epitope posted:Alright, but if these dweebs clean out my patch I will be Not Happy. Mighty fine looking shrooms. They just did a controlled burn on a mountain across from my town, so I am PUMPED to get out there soon. Might do some exploring tomorrow, though I don't think it's been consistently warm enough yet
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Mar 23, 2016 17:36
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Alright pecker heads are not verpa, they're Morchella semilibera. Cool phylogenies here https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...sexbUzX_I5pRRUA
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Mar 25, 2016 03:52
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Here's a useful site that keeps track of ambient soil temperatures on the daily. Morels like to come out after the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees, so we are in business folks!! http://www.mushroomfarm.com/mushroom-hunting-info/hunting-morel-mushrooms/soil-temperature-map.html  Hell, it rained a little last night and I might just make a trek out this afternoon. NC overall is a little wetter and warmer this year on average, so they could indeed be out early here in the southeast.  Here's another site if you would like to check on the progression of spring throughout the country https://www.usanpn.org/data/spring Good hunting!
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Mar 25, 2016 13:14
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Epitope posted:Alright pecker heads are not verpa, they're Morchella semilibera. Cool phylogenies here Indeed. A good identifier between these bad boys and the verpas is the lack of connectivity between the fruit and the shaft. semilibera:  nice.....verpa:  What a piece of poo poo!I did not include the semilibera in my original list just bc they are somewhat difficult for a Shroom Noob to distinguish them from verpas, but they are safe if you check the dang cap!!
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Mar 25, 2016 13:25
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 One of the girls on the FB group found some badass Devil's Urn (Urnula craterium) If you see these weird little guys, you are in a good place for morels, as they tend to prefer the same areas The devils urn itself is classified as inedible, not due to toxicity, but bc it is tough and loving nasty
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Mar 25, 2016 13:51
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we're in business 
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Mar 28, 2016 04:45
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Looks like maybe maple, oak, and is that a Hickory hull?
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Mar 28, 2016 09:16
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Epitope posted:Looks like maybe maple, oak, and is that a Hickory hull? Poplar and oak I believe, and indeed a hickory hull, from which the hick'ry chicken springs forth!
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Mar 28, 2016 13:15
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 i saw this online and thought of your great mushroom thread i wonder what kind of environment they live in and how many hours that took just to hike around, if you told me to pick every single mushroom regardless of species on every single hiking trail in my town i wouldn't be able to haul as much as they got in just what looks to be morels
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Mar 30, 2016 18:15
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Oil of Paris posted:You guys ready to hunt some MOTHERFUCKING MUSHROOM? That picture is staged, though. There are different types of morels there. I can tell because I am an expert mushroom hunter.
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Mar 30, 2016 18:49
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extra stout posted:
That is an incredible harvest, but you can find tons of morels in a relatively small area if you get lucky. The biggest harvest I've ever taken part in was in Kentucky, where we stumbled across an old farmstead while doing some geological survey work.It must have been an absolutely ideal environment, because there were a TON of morels growing in just a couple acres of land. It was near the end of the survey, so we (4 people) were able to pack our backpacks and all of our unused survey bags (pretty much exactly like the plastic bag in the pic) completely full of morels. i would imagine we came out with about half of the amount that's in your picture. I've never seen even close to that many ever before or since; at least in my experience, you're usually lucky to fill up the bottom of a typical picnic basket, if you're REALLY lucky, you will fill it up halfway. As for the environment that would nurture such a bounty of merkels, I think most likely you're looking at old orchards, which present some unique problems. An ancient, abandoned orchard is pretty rare, so good luck finding one to begin with, and they also tend to be pretty off the beaten path, since the land for the park or whatever you're in had to be bought out from the original farmer a hundred years ago and likely doesn't have a convenient access point anymore. However, if you find one of these locations, that is extremely badass, because they're a wonderful environment for mushroom growth and drat near ideal for morels. I'm pretty sure that's what we came across out in Kentucky. HOWEVER!! while orchards are a sick hunting ground for morels, Beware!! morels like all mushrooms are very susceptible to environmental influences like pesticides, and for a good chunk of the 20th century, orchards, in particular apple orchards, were treated with lead arsenate pesticide, which does not readily break up in soil. All these pesticides seeped into the ground and hosed everything up for the rest of us. If you come across a bounty of morels in an area you suspect to have been an orchard (these can be super hard to distinguish from just a regular patch of forest, I can go over how to detect some subtle signs of historical habitation in another post), then it might behoove you to look up the history of the area. If it hasn't been an orchard or farm since pre-1900, then you are 100% good to go. If it was later in the century, there is a risk of lead being in the soil. This was super popular from 1900-1920ish, so an orchard active during that period deserves a close look.
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Mar 31, 2016 13:48
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Vitalis Jackson posted:That picture is staged, though. There are different types of morels there. Those are all yellow morels. Please do niot troll. GOOD HUNTING GOON
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Mar 31, 2016 13:49
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Oil of Paris posted:If you come across a bounty of morels in an area you suspect to have been an orchard (these can be super hard to distinguish from just a regular patch of forest, I can go over how to detect some subtle signs of historical habitation in another post), then it might behoove you to look up the history of the area. If it hasn't been an orchard or farm since pre-1900, then you are 100% good to go. If it was later in the century, there is a risk of lead being in the soil. This was super popular from 1900-1920ish, so an orchard active during that period deserves a close look. This is super interesting to me, I would love to hear more. As for Kentucky, what region was this? Also, most of my hiking tends to be in nature preserves and such that frowns upon foraging. How does one get access to land where foraging is OK?
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Apr 3, 2016 01:02
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When the weather gets nicer I'll be out looking for various mushrooms.
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Apr 4, 2016 01:43
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It's like 60 today, and it feels like it's time. Woot. But alas it's still probably a month out
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Apr 4, 2016 02:01
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We just had our (hopefully last) snowstorm of the season. Morel time should be in about a month. Usually I have a friend who shows me his spots to look but he's moved away, what kind of terrain and soil type do I want to look for?
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Apr 4, 2016 18:47
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Science WHORE posted:We just had our (hopefully last) snowstorm of the season. Morel time should be in about a month. Usually I have a friend who shows me his spots to look but he's moved away, what kind of terrain and soil type do I want to look for? Moisture is one of the big factors. They like to be moiste, so really sun baked is no good. But they don't like to "get their feet wet." The other important thing to remember is not to startle them. Avoid running, stomping, loud voices. Also if you're in a rush they can usually tell, and will hide just out of view, snickering at you
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Apr 5, 2016 04:39
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 This showed up on my Facebook. Now confess, which one of you was it?
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Apr 5, 2016 04:55
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Epitope posted:Moisture is one of the big factors. They like to be moiste, so really sun baked is no good. But they don't like to "get their feet wet." The other important thing to remember is not to startle them. Avoid running, stomping, loud voices. Also if you're in a rush they can usually tell, and will hide just out of view, snickering at you Are they nocturnal creatures? Will I get bit if startle them?
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Apr 5, 2016 18:12
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Science WHORE posted:Are they nocturnal creatures? Will I get bit if startle them? Well of course if you're facing them they freeze like the ghosts in mario. At night though they're basically invisible, so if you tried hunting in dark it would probably be like in Pitch Black Riddick where the creatures are just a writhing mass just outside your lanterns reach.
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Apr 6, 2016 01:01
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hail hunters. Sorry I kind of abandoned this thread this past week, I work in sports and our opening week was this week so it's been a bunch of 12 hour days (15 yesterday!! and again today! yeeeesh!) so I haven't had much forums time or more importantly, morel hunting time >:] Going out early Saturday and checking out my mountain. Lots of people in the FB mushroom group are posting pics of their bounty!! I will share some here if I can get imgur to fuckin work. It got super cold here the past few nights and I'm wondering if there have been any repercussions to that cold snap. Hopefully not! The merkel is a hardy beast. Science WHORE posted:We just had our (hopefully last) snowstorm of the season. Morel time should be in about a month. Usually I have a friend who shows me his spots to look but he's moved away, what kind of terrain and soil type do I want to look for? Morels tend to like damp environments, but they can grow in a variety of areas. drat near everywhere really, especially for the black morels. You could probably go off a trail slightly and have some good potential to locate a spot if you're lucky! For this early in the season, focus on the south side of mountains/hills, since they get more sun and will encourage growth more readily. Yellows are more choosy, and they are less likely to pop up in a habitat that you can reach without a little bit of effort. However they have a good marker: specific, old trees. You'll be looking for elm, cottonwood, sycamore, oak, and especially ash (for some reason I have found plenty near ash trees). You want really mature, old trees, sometimes those that look like they're dying, because as their root systems decay, this provides a great environment for morel spores to thrive. These are some of the spots where you can find morels year after year, as the roots continue to provide for the colony. As an aside, I read a great point in an article about morels recently. If you do find them, try and carry them out in a mesh bag so that you help spread the spores. I had never thought of this! here's some pics from the FB group! THEYRE FUCKIN NAILIN IT    Good hunting goons! vonnegutt posted:This is super interesting to me, I would love to hear more. As for Kentucky, what region was this? Also I'll probably post soemthing about this tomorrow; maybe I can get some good pics for you during my morning hike if I come across some old historic poo poo. I think you'll get a kick out of what is considered a "road"
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Apr 8, 2016 16:25
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Picnic Princess posted:
lol i saw some of my friends posting that. I wish i had thought of it!
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Apr 8, 2016 16:36
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Oil of Paris posted:As an aside, I read a great point in an article about morels recently. If you do find them, try and carry them out in a mesh bag so that you help spread the spores. I had never thought of this! This is good practice, although I think it only really works if they're starting to dry out already. The other thing is to not rip up their "roots". Pinch em off. I.e. not like the semilibera pic from earlier Oil of Paris posted:semilibera: Epitope fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Apr 9, 2016 |
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Apr 8, 2016 21:37
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Somebody in my Gym brought some in and I made soufflé! I used this recipe and it was good, but it's hard to beat morels simply simmered in garlic. http://culinaryalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/04/morel-high-ground-morel-souffle.html
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Apr 9, 2016 01:21
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My poor morel thread! Life gets in the way of the Great Hunt. I have abandoned you... but here is an incredible picture I found!  Found in Missouri, might be a record!
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Apr 27, 2016 02:50
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Tfw you come upon a flush, oh man. Just imagine if they were that size, holy moly.
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Apr 27, 2016 07:37
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Went out looking in the Twin Cities area last weekend and didnt see any, probably about a week or two early. Lots of friends in SE Minnesota and Iowa starting to haul them in however.
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May 3, 2016 20:40
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Took some newbies out and didn't even lose anyone in the woods, despite our best efforts to get lost. Still really early but that meant the ones we found were super fresh, if small. Also some newbie advice- don't step on them! This sounds too obvious or patronizing but it's really not I swear. Especially once you find the first, stop and don't step anywhere without checking it well first. Checking where I step is how I see half of the ones I find.
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May 12, 2016 02:37
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