Where to Find Morchella Esculenta?
If you haven’t found your first morel DON’T GIVE UP! I wasn’t even mushroom hunting when I stumbled on my first one. I ran into the trees near a local park to take a pee and there it was sitting next to my foot. HAHA!
Morels like sandy soil & river bottoms. They can be found growing near many hardwoods such as oak, ash, cottonwoods, and especially dying elm trees. The esculenta variety grow all over the Midwest so you just have to spend more time hiking in the trees, at the right time, to find them!
When to hunt morels?
Here in South Dakota I have only found them in May. However, David Arora from “Mushrooms Demystified” says they can pop up randomly throughout the summer.
How to eat?
I’ve heard a few people on the reddit foraging page talk about how hyped morels are and that they don’t taste much different. I disagree, the first time I ate a morel it was incredible. Just fry it up in light amounts of olive oil then in the last minute or two add butter, onions, and garlic. Eat it straight from the pan before anyone steals them from you.
Do you want to see more of TREEfool’s fungi?
TREEfool 