The Hunt for Morels

It could be their earthy, smokey, nutty flavor, or their rarity, but at $75-100 per pound, there’s no denying that wild morel mushrooms are one of the most sought-after mushrooms in the country. Morels are species that are nearly impossible to cultivate, leaving those who enjoy their flavors to wait until Spring when the soil temperatures are just right before venturing into the woods and searching for them. With a little know-how, anyone can learn to identify and cook these delicacies. For generations, hunters of all ages have enjoyed foraging for morel mushrooms because they’re difficult - but fun - to find, delicious to eat, and the experience is an opportunity for families and communities to bond as they share their bounties.

Morel mushrooms are from a species family known as Morchellaceae. They’re found in most regions of the United States except for the southern coastal areas and dry desert regions. Morels are more commonly found in the Midwest and Great Lakes Regions (The Great Morel, 2021), perhaps because they thrive in environments that offer river bottoms, moist forests, and different facing slopes (Morel Hunting, n.d.).

Missouri is home to three species of morel mushrooms: black morels, half-free morels, and yellow morels. Each of these varieties has hollow stems that extend up into the somewhat conical cap which has pits and ridges that resemble a sponge.

When foraging for morel mushrooms, care should be taken so that morels are not confused with false morels, shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, which are considered poisonous and not recommended for eating. Unlike their edible lookalikes, false morels can grow in every season but winter.

Where true morels have a spongy, conical appearance to their cap and a hollow stem, false morels have wrinkled, irregular caps reminiscent of a brain. They can be red, white, brown, black, or gray in color. True morels also have a hollow stem, where the stalk of a false morel tends to have chambers. (False Morels, n.d.) This could be why many hunters will slice the morels lengthwise when cleaning them. (Smith, 2020)

When in doubt about the type of mushrooms a Missouri hunter may have, the Missouri Department of Conservation offers tips and referrals to experts for the questionable finds.

While all hunters seem to agree that springtime is the only time to find a true morel, the exact timing of which is somewhat debated (Morel Hunting, n.d.). The Missouri Department of Conservation calls morels, “finicky fungal organisms” because they don’t appear in the same places every year, and what is known about morels is based on the diverse observations of hunters in different regions.

While not much is known about morels in the science world, researchers have confirmed that moist conditions, such as the day after a hard rain, combined with soil temperatures of 48 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, will trigger the fruiting of morels (Cotter, 2015). Soil tends to reach this temperature when daytime temperatures consistently begin reaching 70 degrees and don’t dip below 50 degrees at night.  There are tools online that can help determine soil and moisture temperatures of different regions (Soil Temperature Maps, n.d.).

When going into the woods there is always some basic hiking gear that is recommended: a hunting partner for safety, bug and tick repellant, hiking boots that offer comfort and protection, drinking water, a cell phone for emergencies, and adding geo-markers where morel caches are found, and a portable charger and cable. When hunting for morels, it’s a good idea to take a mesh bag to gather mushrooms in too. (Wagner, 2021)

When foraging, the idea of doing so ethically has been a part of many family traditions and knowledge passed from generation to generation.  The unspoken rule of thumb is to harvest all but one or two mushrooms, leaving some for wildlife that depends on them (Heartland Lodge, 2021).   Some hunters harvest morels by plucking the stem from the ground with their hands, while others use a knife to cut them at the base to keep the root system intact.

Mesh bags, and how to harvest morels, are a source of debate in the community. Some hunters claim that plastic bags make the mushrooms slimy before they can get them home to clean them. Other’s claim that the mesh bags help with the spreading of the spores so that more mushrooms will grow.

To explore the idea of ethical hunting, it’s important to examine the lifecycle of a morel mushroom – research that is still a work in progress - and focus on how they reproduce their numbers. Morels can reproduce using either a two-parent model or an asexual model. The lifecycles are similar but introducing a second set of parent cells creates a longer cycle. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll be looking at the asexual means of reproduction.

Morel mushrooms, unlike other fungi species, have a honeycombed cap. The individual cups within the cap contain bundles of tubes, called asci, that vent bursts of spores into the environment. Spores can be carried by the wind, on clothing, animals, or travel on the water until they land on something suitable for germinating and producing new mushrooms. Once the spores have germinated, they become mycelium. Mycelium is the name of the white, vegetative filament network found in the soil.  The mycelium doesn’t form fruit bodies without an environmental stressor to prompt them to form sclerotia. Stressors can include fire, flood, drought, and freezing temperatures.

Sclerotia are structures within the mycelium that store energy, or nutrients for fruiting later. It forms in the summer and fall, and stressors such as freezing temperatures encourage more sclerotia to form. Experiments have shown that morels require a “chill hour” in which soil temperatures are a consistent 32 degrees 4-10 inches deep (Cotter, 2015). The following spring, when the soil temperatures begin to elevate and if the moisture reaches a level desirable for the morel to grow, the fruit will extend above the soil and release spores once the light touches it. It continues to grow until it reaches maturity and releases a second burst of spores (Morchella esculentoides - The Morel n.d.) before it begins to decay.

Cutting the morel at its base prevents disruption of the mycelium network, which could unearth sclerotia and remove the source of nutrients for morels that have not yet fruited for the season. Since the morel spores twice in its lifecycle – once as it erupts from the ground, and again when it matures - there is no need to worry about harvesting them too early (Long, n.d.). Spores can be shaken from the cap, as evidenced by cultivation experiments, so the mesh bag theory holds water. Or doesn’t, which is another reason so many hunters opt for mesh bags.

Because of their complexity, they’re not an ideal mushroom for cultivation. Many have tried and many have failed, but research continues and there have been a few successful experiments (Dickinson, 2021)

Morels have been classified as saprophytic, because they help decompose leaves and natural debris on the forest floor, which returns the nutrients to the soil (Morels, n.d.). They’ve also been classified as a mycorrhizal, or a fungus reliant upon trees for nutrition. While it’s unclear which of these categories the morel should fall into, it’s also theorized that the morel is both at different times during their lifecycle (Cotter, 2015), which could be part of the problem in learning to cultivate them.

Because of their symbiotic relationship to trees, the most likely place to find morels is in the woods around trees that are in their first year of decay when it doesn’t have buds and may be beginning to lose its bark (Smith, 2020). Each region of the U.S. will have specific trees that the morels will be found around, such as American elm, slippery elm, white ash, tulip poplar, sycamore, green ash, domesticated apple, cottonwood, bitternut hickory, and black cherry. Many of these trees are found around streams and river bottoms where flooding is a frequent event (Haritan, 2021).

Early in the season, morels tend to grow on the South and Western facing slopes and later in the season, on the North and Eastern sides (Morel Hunting, n.d.). If a hunter observes the environment surrounding morel caches they find from year to year, they may notice that peak morel season occurs when the mayapples have sprung from the ground, and while lilac bushes and crabapple trees are blooming (Smith, 2020).

Hunters don’t need to be landowners to enjoy this Spring activity, but the rules are generally the same no matter where a hunter goes in the country: only hunt private land with permission and check state guidelines for any general rules for hunting.

In Missouri, there are a few regulations set for hunting morels.  Foraging for personal consumption is allowed in state parks and historic sites, but the quantity is limited to a two-gallon container per visit, and visitors are not allowed to collect the mushrooms for the purpose of selling them.

Most hunters will go searching for morels early in the morning, but it’s not because that’s when the morels sprout out of the ground. Hunters who use public land go early simply to beat other hunters to the harvest (Best Time of day for Shrooms, 2021), or to enjoy the cool, quiet mornings.

In any case, since foraging is the main method by which to obtain morels, care should be taken to preserve the environment during hunts.  Missouri State Parks has a campaign called Leave No Trace that outlines a basic etiquette of using public lands. While it’s written for backpackers and trail hikers of public land, it can apply to mushroom hunters on any land they forage.

Rules of etiquette may include:

• Use trails as often as possible to minimize the destruction of surrounding vegetation
• “Trash the trash.” Hunters should pack out any waste they’ve packed in and help reduce trash pollution by picking up things other visitors may have left behind.
• Respect wildlife. Be educated about species of wildlife, such as snakes, that may be encountered while hiking. Enjoy wildlife from a distance and never feed them.
• Respect other visitors by maintaining a 6-foot physical distance, talking with inside voices, and wearing headphones when listening to music.
• Avoid using trails and areas that are wet to prevent erosion.

With these rules in mind, it would be a good idea to pack an extra trash bag and a pair of gloves (Sieg, 2014). In Missouri, wild turkey season and morel season overlap. Be aware and respectful of any hunters in the area. For safety, it’s recommended that morel hunters should leave the area that a turkey hunter is occupying and come back in the afternoon.

The Missouri State Parks organization offers free mushroom hikes for those who wish to learn about mushroom varieties and enjoy the hunt as a guided group activity (Malven, 2020). Once morels have been harvested, they need to be cleaned and cooked. Morels can’t be stored for very long, so most hunters will eat them the same day they are picked. Eating anything foraged the same day also ensures the freshest flavor.

To clean the morels and prep them for cooking, they should be cut from the top to the bottom. This allows the hunter to ensure that the stem is hollow. If the stem is not hollow, the mushroom could be a false morel, which is dangerous to consume, and should be discarded.  Soaking the morels in saltwater will rid them of any bugs hiding in the cups of the cap (Smith, 2021)

Morels can be used as an ingredient in appetizers, soups, salads, side dishes, as the main entrée, and even desserts – though this is a less popular means of using them. There are many popular recipes for morels, and many of them involve sautéing the mushrooms in a pan with butter or olive oil until the water has cooked out of the morels. They can also be fried, stuffed and baked, used as a pizza topping, and in quiches.

The Missouri Department of Conservation, AllRecipes.com, and The Great Morel are all great resources for morel recipes.

Here is a user-submitted recipe for frying morels, featured on The Great Morel. It’s a simple recipe from Tiffany and won their Recipe of the Month contest in 2017.

Eating a meal prepared with a wild edible tastes even better when a hunter knows where the ingredients were sourced and that he/she/they had a hand in harvesting it. There is a sense of accomplishment and self-sufficiency that comes with foraging. It gives the hunter a reason to go outside and learn about the environment and the natural world that surrounds them, while also getting fresh air and exercise after a long winter.

Just as traditional hunting can encourage social bonding, so can mushroom foraging. It gives younger generations an opportunity to learn something from their elders while spending precious time with them and gives older generations a sense of purpose as they teach others about nature as they’ve experienced it. This extends into the kitchen and over the dinner table as morels are cooked and consumed (Palmer, 2021).

There is a whole community of passionate people online trading morel hunt stories like tall fish tales, and where morel sizes are only believable when there’s a store receipt, newspaper, or 20-ounce bottle sitting next to them. These groups can be found on social media, through local conservation organizations, and at any store where outdoorsmen gather for their morning coffee.

There isn’t a formal code of ethics that hunters follow, but most have opinions about harvesting, cooking, and what bags to use to transport their bounties. Forums are rife with these opinions and include these commonalities:

1. Trespassing is never acceptable
2. Never disclose hunting grounds where morel caches are found
3. If a hunter is introduced to a fellow hunter’s favorite grounds, never return without an invitation

In one social media group, a hunter said he’d received help on his farm from an Amish man, so he decided to return the favor by teaching the Amish man how to hunt morels. One day, he took the man out to his favorite place on private property where he knew morels would be found. They had an excellent day. The next day, the pair returned to that place in the woods, and to the man’s surprise, there were 15 more Amish who had beaten them to the area. The Amish man turned to him with a smile and said that he’d really appreciated the lesson. True or not – and even though it touches on Amish stereotypes - the story highlights the three behaviors that hunters generally find impolite.

There are several reasons why a new hunter may not find morels during their first season: someone or something, such as an animal or insect, beat them there; it’s too dry; the timing isn’t right; they’re hunting in the wrong habitat; they haven’t developed an eye for morels yet or aren’t looking hard enough (Haritan, 2021).

Perhaps a hunter wants to participate in the hunt but isn’t keen on the taste of morels, it’s the wrong season, or they don’t like the idea of traipsing through tick territory. Abrams Studios has created an open-world game called Morels: The Hunt where gamers can explore different environments under various weather conditions, complete tasks, experience the sounds of nature, take photos of wildlife, and hunt for the large, coveted “golden morel.”

While it’s interesting to have a game available, nothing replaces the experience of physically scouring the woods for the elusive little mushrooms. Morels are meatier than other mushrooms and pair well with beef and pasta, but they’re also a treat to serve as an appetizer. More than that, hunting the morel is a treasure-hunting adventure! Hunters will find themselves fully immersed in the moment and notice things in nature they’ve never seen before. It’s a chance to get away from technology and busyness, but also a chance to make some cherished memories with people you love.