Wild mushrooms

[chas]

Okay, here's some Wikipedia info about morels:

"Morchella species don't have symbiotic mycorrhizal relationships but they are commonly found beneath certain trees. Trees commonly associated with morels in the northern hemisphere include ash, sycamore, tulip tree, dead and dying elms*, cottonwoods and old apple trees (remnants of orchards). Yellow morels (Morchella esculenta) are more commonly found under deciduous trees rather than conifers, and black morels (Morchella elata) can be found in deciduous forests, oak and poplar. Morels in western North America are often found in coniferous forests, including trees in the genera Pinus, Abies, Larix, and Pseudotsuga, as well as in cottonwood riparian forests.

*Well, I got that part right, anyway.

We just have one tiny elm, but have dozens tulip trees, including some uncleared logs anywhere between 2 and 20 years old, and several stumps. Thanks for the info. A friend of mine collects morels for a few of the best-known restaurants in Virginia, and, although he doesn't tell anyone where, I'm pretty sure the area he goes into is mixed coniferous and deciduous (depending on elevation).

[Borderpiper]

I haven't managed to find real morels here yet only false ones. Saying that though I had false morel sauce at Christmas in Sweden and it was lovely and no sore stomach. They had been dried for a long time, boiled then the water discarded before making the sauce. Really earthy almost truffly taste.

D

[dwest]

Here in the States most false morels are probably better left in the field. The levels of gyromitrin in most Gyromitra sp. is high enough to cause serious health issues. They can be par-boiled a few times, doing it outside would be the safest way, in freshwater each time and dried but there is still the risk that levels of gyromitrin, a hemolytic toxin, could be high enough to cause problems. Mycology taxonomy in the States can be quite challenging at times, just the edible morels are confusing to most taxonomists.

[Nanohedron]

Yeah, I'm with dwest on that one. On the other hand, the idea of fugu sashimi doen't put me off at all, so let's not try to chalk this up to reasoning on my part.

[dwest]

Preparing certain hot peppers for canning can be an interesting endorphin and pain filled adventure. I rarely have made that mistake more than twice.

[Nanohedron]

Yeah, I remember chopping up hot peppers and then going off to take a leak. Wow.

[dow]

A good friend of mine, who makes all of his own salsa, was roasting some chili pequins several years back and they had to leave the house. He sent his sons back in to turn off the stove and open all of the windows. Apparently, he had created organic tear gas.

[dwest]

Apparently, he had created organic tear gas.

Exactly!

[dow]

Kind of brings a tear to your eye, just thinking about it.

[dwest]

Kind of brings a tear to your eye, just thinking about it.

Actually it made me look like a giant red haired pink and red raccoon.

[Nanohedron]

Someone took a photo: