I'm getting excited!

[Hoosier65]

I can hardly stand it. It's almost mushroom hunting time! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif Does anybody else out there hunt for them? There is nothing like that first batch of fresh morels in the spring. Talk about good eating. And it's so much fun, tramping around in the woods, seeing the early spring flowers and seeing that first mushroom. It's heaven. One of my DH and my favorite things to do together. Sorry to rattle on, I just can't help myself, I can harldy wait!

[lsdesign]

Hey! Fancy that! I have just gotten interested in this sport as a retired neighbor of my inlaws sparked my interest last summer. One thing I am afraid of though is not being able to tell the poisonous from the nonpoisonous. I am in New Hampshire, think I could find morels up here? About when do they start showing up around where you are?

[brad]

I am visiting my parents' farm in East Tennessee this weekend, and someone once picked some morels from a certain wooded area there, so I know where to go. Will it be too early to find them this weekend, you think? When should I start looking?

Brad

[Hoosier65]

I have been hunting mushrooms since I was a little girl, my grandmother used to take me, so I know what to look for. We start looking here in southern Indian, depending on the weather, about the first or second week of April. I would think that Tenn. would be a week or two ahead of us. I would deffinately look if I were you, Brad. And lsdesing, I would expect you could also find them in NH but later for sure. Maybe the end of April. Your library should have a book you could consult for finding the right ones. My favoites are the early black morel. They are few and far between and are only around a few days. People around here have their "spots" and they are top secret!

[BethH]

Hoosier--

Hello from a fellow Hoosier! We love to hunt for morels too and can't wait to get started. We usually drive down from Indy to Bloomington and start looking off the trail of our favorite hike. Our friends lease some property near Boonville (close to Evansville) and they host a Mushroom Fest every year. Very fun!

What is your favorite way to prepare them? Also, do you dry or freeze your extra? I'd appreciate any tips as this is only our second year of hunting. We are beginners! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[barbra2001]

Sounds like great fun!! My Dad used to hunt them... I ate them.. never did learn the good ones.. -- I was sitting in a restaurant and overheard friends at a table conversing about the mushrooms they picked.. oops.. got a bad one.. and he was sure down & out sick!! I'll skip but wish I could join you guys! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gifBarbra

[erinyyc]

There is only one type of mushroom I can recognize and have actually gone picking. Thank God I out grew that habit in my teens!!
Erin http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif

[Hoosier65]

Our favorite way to eat morels is sauted in a little olive and butter. We also like them in scrambled eggs. I have tried freezing and drying them with not much success. They were okay but could not compare to fresh. My feeling is if you could eat them all year they wouldn't be that special in the spring. And half the fun is the hunt.

I'm not far from Boonville, about 45 miles north. My sister lives in Bloomington and my son in Indy.

We need to get some serious rain for a good crop, so pray for rain in the next couple of weeks.