I wish I had some on my property 22 years I have found 1 shed and no mushrooms. I have never eaten one and I have never heard a person that did not say how good they are when they tried them.
Found my first two here on the 31st. When I get back to work I shall put my vacation notice in for the 15th - 24th. Should start off in good greys and end in yellows. 3 day weekends should suffice to end the season. This brief cold spell is going to slow the season around here, this wind isn't good without getting some saturating rains to follow.
This is the best I have ever did for this time of year! I left around 50-60 decided to take my son in law and my Daughter tomorrow
You know there may actually be something to that. I think it takes a while to get one's "eye trained" to pick up the look and color of mushrooms. I know in the past I've looked and looked going through an area and when I've finally found some I've gone back through the area I had already searched and found several that I'd missed the first time through. My theory is that after I found a few my visual acuity adjusted and they started becoming more obvious. That carved morel on that stick may do something similar.
If I found some in a spot last year will they most likely be there again this year? That was my first time finding any so I thought I would start with that location before walking many other spots and wasting my time.
Yes, they do seem to grow in the same areas year after year. Also when I pick mushrooms, I like to carry them in a net rather than a plastic or paper bag. If they lose any spores while I'm carrying them then they'll drop out on the ground and hopefully seed new areas as I hunt.
Just put in my vacation request, last week of April it is. Think this cooler weather is going to slow them down a bit around here, should be good to go then. Just need the rain to cooperate. As far as will they be there 2 years in a row. It depends on the source of them. An elm just starting to die will often produce for a few seasons, living trees like Ash, Cotton wood, Tulip Poplar, Silver Maple etc will often prduce every year. If not out of the way and easily findable again I will check previous spots each year. I've found them one year, nothing the next and then found them again the 3rd year. Then there's times where you find the absolute perfect spot that never produces. I have a spot that I call the elm graveyard, has a hundred elms or more on about an acre hilltop. All stages from living to a strong wind will knock them over. Think I have found 5 mushrooms total over the 6 years I have been checking it. Very discouraging, yet i have to check it every year just because the one time i don't is when a 15lb single days haul will be there
I have a few spots like that too, it is frustrating. I've even carried mushrooms through there, the only thing I have not tried is carrying shroom wash water in there and dumping it out. I have a couple of spots that generally produce year after year too. Both are valleys in between coal dump ridges where the valleys are about 100 yards across and elevated from the surrounding area. You have to climb up to get into the valleys and walk through a washout to enter from one end. It's like walking back into time or something, back in the middle of nowhere it takes 20 minutes to hike back there. Once in the first valley, you have to walk east up and over the 18' tall center ridge and there's another valley on the east side of the first. Both are full of elms from the size of your wrist to the size of your leg and a lot of them are dead. I've found two brown paper bags full at a time there in years past. Last year I only found that many in three trips through.
All good things to know. Do you all just soak them in water? I did that but had bugs crawling everywhere the entire time.
It depends on my plans. Generally I'll eat a batch early on and then don't eat any more until the season is done. I like to portion them out and have a batch throughout the year. I'll soak a few early on, but a lot of times I just put them in a bowl and put them in the fridge. Covr with a damp paper towel and maybe flip them into another bowl after a week or two to rotate them out. Holding them in water for an extended time I feel loses some flavor and moreso they get mushy. Once done for the year I'll prep them all at once, cook them and then vacuum pack individual servings to freeze. Whenever I want a few I'll pop them in the oven frozen just like any other frozen appetizer. Some people like to bread them and then freeze before packaging them up and go straight from frozen into the frying pan. Works equally as well. Drying works good as well, but I prefer the cook, freeze and oven method. Regardless of what anyone says though, there is no "tastes like they were just picked" storage method. I am reminded of that every year when I fry up my first fresh batch. They're still good, but they always lose some quality
I soak mine overnight in brine, runs the bugs out and helps preserve them then I rinse a couple of times and bread and fry.
