Is the asparagus or morels up yet?
Wisconsin
Going out turkey hunting tomorrow and Thursday. Is the asparagus or morels up yet?
Asparagus yes,morel only found 1 small one
Morels started popping about 4-5 days ago in west central Wi.
Central WI, no asparagus yet.
Asparagus is a go!! I've never found a morel yet. I would really love to try theml
Morels in Crawford Co. I picked a bag last week. Had enough for me and and my parents. GOOD, GOOD....
They were awesome!
Bill
Morels have been coming up for about a week here in southern WI.
Morels are temperature dependant. They need moisture and sun, and not too much or too little of each. Here in southern Wisconsin, I'd say they are about done. I picked a few today while walking out after turkey hunting. That's a 16 ounce can to give you an idea of size. They are close to being too old in my opinion. They simply swell with water as they turn from grey to yellow. I prefer the meatier grey shrooms. These are at least half a month old, and probably older. Dead elms that died last year from dutch elm disease, and the fungus must be there. Not all trees have them, and very few have them two years in a row. I just follow the dying trees and leave some shrooms for sporing.
How do you guys preserve them? I had so many I gave some away. Had three great meals with them as a side. Seemed particularly good this year.
Shared with my dad and he loves them.
I know you can clean and then freeze. Last year I brought some that I froze on a fishing trip. Won't do that again because they thawed out and were soggy.
I hear if you don't defrost and fry from frozen they turn out ok.... Are they as good as fresh?
Thanks! Bill
Bill, never tried it, but I've been told dehydrating them works. Nothing like fresh for sure! I give away plenty after eating a few. I haven't really looked this year. I find portabellas tastier, and cheaper in the long run. It's fun hunting them, but I feel it's a lot of hype.
Brother found 9lbs of morels and 5lbs of pheasant backs last night by Holmen
Bill,
I cut them in half, clean, vacuum seal and freeze them. The next batch I get I'll try drying some. I dry a lot of fall mushrooms, but haven't tried it with morels yet.
I dried some a few years ago. Just slice them in half and put them in the dehydrator. I dried them very dry.
They are still good now. It has been almost 4 years. Supposedly, you can store them indefinitely once they are dry.
Bill,
I found some more the other day, so I decided to dry them in the dehydrator. Got them cracker dry just like I do other mushrooms. Soaked them in water for an hour and they were almost exactly like I picked them. It worked out very well, so much so that I'll probably dry the next batch I find.
Good idea Jason. I have a dehydrator and will try it.
Thanks for the experiment.
Jason, you know Gale and you might find this funny. Ha, not sure I do. Well my daughter wanted some morels so I split my latest batch about 75/25 and wrote my daughters name on the 25% bag..... Thinking I would just give her enough to try, to see if she liked them.
My wife said she would bring my daughters bag over to her house the next day so I explained my daughters bag was brown and had her name on it.
I get a weird text from my daughter last night how good the morels were and that she gave some to her boyfriends dad. I was thinking wow, how did they split up such a small portion.
I think you can guess where this is going.
I checked the fridge and my wife had given away my 75% bag.... As soon as I showed it to her she knew what she did. She emphatically promised to go scout out more morels for me Saturday. All I could do is shake my head. Ha.
Can't be too mad because I don't mind sharing but still, take a mans mushrooms! UGH.
Bill
That's funny, and yet a little sad. :)
Yes, I encourage you to ask her about it at Compton. That will surprise her. LOL
How do you know if they are too old to eat/pick? I found a whole bunch today the size of the shoe, but they were brown and moldy.
Reggie, the morel will pop up, and continue to grow for a month if the conditions are cool, moist, and not too sun exposed. They will spore, then basically rot. You found some monsters, but you were far too late. If it was Southern Wisconsin, like at least 3 weeks late. I cannot attest to the northern tier, as I don't hunt them there, but would still bet at least two weeks too late. The good news is, if you let them be, they likely spored, and if you have any other new host trees dying, the fungus is present, and you will likely find more. Next year look earlier in the same locale.
