Who else is foraging?
General Topic
Ramps have been going good for the last two weeks.
Old patches still producing. Morel and swiss omelettes for breakfast today.
What are ramps, steff? It has been bone dry here for the past 2 months, so nobody has been finding any mushrooms in our area. Hopefully, the nice shot of rain we got overnight gets them popping.
Same here, t-roy. Damn chilly, too. Hope the rain isn't too little, too late.
Definitely getting late in the game for sure, Nick. Tougher to find in the taller grass and weeds, too.
Found a pile of Morels yesterday not too far from St. Croix River in MN.
Ramps are wild leeks. Delicious!
Few morels here but too dry and cold for good numbers.
Thanks for the info, Joe!
I watched a Youtube video the other day of a guy here in Michigan. He went trout fishing and caught 2 nice brookies and kept them. He picked some leeks along the stream bed on his way out and then stumbled upon a nice bunch of morels just before he got to his truck.
He took it all home and fried them all in a cast iron skillet. Looked delicious.
We use a sweet pickle recipe for the ramps (leeks). They're like candy. Also hard to beat sauteed with butter and crushed garlic.
Here's how they look pickled.
My sons and have picked over 150 morels here in north central Ohio this spring. I have picked a ramp or two while turkey hunting and ate them while in the woods but never picked them in large quantities.
Nice Steff We need some rain and warmer humid nights up here in Central MN. I’ve found a few. But the lilacs just started blooming here.
What hell are ramps?
Thanks to BOWSITE and a fine group of contributors now I know.
Interesting read about ramps. At link.
What hell are ramps?
Thanks to BOWSITE and a fine group of contributors now I know.
Interesting read about ramps. At link.
A simple favorite for those who want to try ramps.
Clean them by removing the root "tendrils" and outer skin on the bulb (just like an onion), toss leaves and all in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Get your grill good and hot and throw the ramps on for a minute or minute and a half, just enough to get a good scorch. Eat them hot!
Was actually in NYC last week, and was at a restaurant that had ramps on the menu. They were ok.
Love the foraging pics! We had a decent season for morels this spring. Not the best but certainly didn't get skunked. Also find Chants, Lobsters, Oysters, and Hens. The variety lets us hunt for something spring/summer/fall. Never looked for ramps. I read that there is a look-a-like that could make you sick? I'm pretty serious about getting a positive id.
Positive ID when foraging is a must! Always better to learn from someone, without jeopardizing their spots. Keeping them a secret is equally important!
steff - "Keeping them a secret is equally important!" Lol! We do not talk about our spots, and people know not to ask. It's crazy how protective we are. It's like they guy who has a 200 inch buck in his living room that didn't put it in the books or post any pics on social media. You aren't going to find out where he shot it.
A few morels that we found.
I think that the tailgate morel picture is obligatory...
Cats catch, yes, I agree. The 200 inch buck might be there. Foraging treats will be there for years.
I’ve picked wild onions/chives in meadows in the mountains
steff bring some to p and y please!!
Morels confuse me sometimes. 2 years ago I had two good patches only about 150 yards apart. Last year the better one didn’t produce a single shroom. This year the mediocre one produced a little over 100 and the other patch zero again. It’s like trying to figure out a woman!
We have been enjoying nettle for the last few weeks and are looking forward to milkweed in June.
Watercress, ramps, and morels so far here. Chanterelles in several weeks.
My kind of bouquet!
My kind of bouquet!
3.4 lbs.
3.4 lbs.
Blue Smoothie
Blue Smoothie
I've had a terribly tough turkey season and looks like I'm going to get skunked. We've had one of the driest Springs I can remember so I hadn't even tried looking for any morels. We had about an inch of rain in NE Iowa earlier this week so decided I'd take a day off and give the turkey hunting another go and one good hunt for some 'shrooms.
The turks were uncooperative again but I did manage to find a real nice mess of fungi gold!
My son got a few the other day while hunting with my brother. I’m not big into foraging for mushrooms but will pick morels when I come across them, which I don’t often. We made them the next day with trout he caught and they were fantastic.
Anyone ever try growing them and had success? I know conditions and location have to be perfect. I tried breaking one up and planted it by an old stump and mulch area and see if anything grows in the next year or two. I’ve had them in my yard on occasion.
Never heard of anyone having any success doing that or similar angles, tobywon. Some carry their picked shrooms in a mesh bag, to hopefully spread the spores. I don’t know if that even does any good. Can’t hurt, I guess, other than they tend to dry out a bit, if you’re out for any length of time. There’s always an add in our little local paper every year, of someone selling some kind of kit to grow-your-own morels.
Nick......looks like you got to them just in time! Looks like they’re just starting to dry out a bit. My wife found a patch of “diet” morels, yesterday. She found ONE! Same type of turkey season for us here at home, as well. We’ve been getting our butts kicked thoroughly. Thought we were finally going to have some luck last weekend. Had a nice longbeard just starting to come into the decoys. All of a sudden he takes off running. I look behind him and there were three thug jakes chasing him, and they ran him clean out of the field. Then they came in and beat the crap out of my Jake decoy. Almost shot one of them, just for spite! :-(
Troy, I had to leave a bunch of them in the timber that were too far gone. :-( Wish I'd gotten there a few days earlier!
Not foraging per se but filling the freezer
Now some of y'all never been down South too much I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this So that you'll understand what I'm talking about
Down here we have a plant that grows out in the woods and the fields Looks somethin' like a turnip green Everybody calls it polk salad,........polk..........salad
Used to know a girl that lived down here And she'd go out in the evenings and pick her a mess of it Carry it home in a tote sack and cook it for supper 'Cause that's about all they had to eat They did all right
We all called her polk salad Annie.......................
They will make you sick as a dog if you don't prepare them correctly.
Preparing them correctly is not rocket appliance.
Oh yes. Polk salad and scrambled eggs! It’s good stuff. Better if you pick the smaller leaves.
I used to pick truckloads of that stuff when I was a kid. My Grandpa would sell it in his grocery store.
Greg.......I just cut the larger leaves into 2" parts/strips with scissors......boil 'em down with a little bacon grease or fat back, and salt and pepper added.
Ha, Joey that's the same way I cook Polk Salad! You guys up north don't know what you're missing!!!
