From mid-March to mid-May of each year (depending on how soon the warmer weather and rain arrives), thousands of Hoosiers take to the woods in pursuit of a delicacy available only once a year. (This also happens in other northern States, such as Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin!)

We're talking about Morels. Our answer to the French people's love of truffles. Also called "honeycomb mushrooms" or "spunge mushrooms," morels are a variety of fungus with a taste that has delighted generations of Hoosiers.

My great-great-grandfather, George Washington Timmons, taught his grandson (my grandfather) how to "hunt mushrooms."

My mother and her sisters, as well as my grandfather, were truly experts at finding these elusive treasures amid the left-over tree leaves from the previous fall. Mother and grandfather attributed their success to being able to smell morels, literally tracking them down like a bloodhound follows a trail.

Both because morels are loved by our locals, and because of the limited time frame when they are available each year, they command a hefty price for those who buy them instead of hunting them. A one-pound bag of this fungus sells for $20.00 to $30.00. That's a lot more than the cost of a fine steak. But, every bag sells.

Any review of Indiana history should include acknowledgement of the native food sources that became celebrated by the Kentuckian pioneers and their descendants. Things like morels, persimmons and walnuts fall into this category.

This is a big deal around here. It's not uncommon for local newspapers to document hunters' success in the annual morel harvest. Even State government recognizes the importance of morel hunting to Indiana culture, as mushrooms are exempt from laws prohibiting picking of some plants and flowers on State-owned properties.

Now, there are some important points to consider if you want to join the morel club ...

It unnerves some people to find out that our woods also produce poisonous mushrooms that look like our beloved morels.

So, how is it that generation after generation of Hoosiers continues to feed morels to their children, when there are look-alike mushrooms out there that can kill a person?

Well, if you're going to eat morels, you have to become a morel expert.

Here are some of the differences between morels and their poisonous replicas:



• Morels are hollow, while false morels may have flesh inside.
  
  
• Morels are ivory and/or brown/grey/black in coloration. False morels may have have a red cast. "If it's red, you're dead!"
  
  
• Morels have a pitted cap, while the poisonous imposters often have a wavy appearance.
  
  
• The caps of true morels are joined directly to the stem, while the caps of false morels are sometimes attached at the top of the cap, with the cap hanging like a skirt around the stem.
  
  
• If you aren't sure, don't eat it.
  

The easiest way to learn to hunt morels is to go hunting with an experienced morel hunter.

Focus on areas most likely to support morels, such as around elm or ash trees, especially if those trees are dead. To increase probability even further, find a dead elm or ash tree that was struck by lightening.

Walk slowly and watch the ground. Morels tend to blend in with the surrounding ground cover. But, you can train your eye to spot them as you gain more experience. (Carefully watching the ground also helps you avoid steping on the venomous snakes that are also ascending from the ground in response to the warmer weather of spring!)

When you find one morel, search that area. Several morels often come up in the same spot.

My mother always put morels, split lengthwise, in a large bowl filled with salted water in the refrigerator overnight. (But not much longer than that -- fungi don't last very long!)

My grandmother's instructions were to, "Wash mushrooms well. Then, split lengthwise and put in salted water and let set for about an hour. Rinse in several waters after you have poured the salted waters off. Drain mushrooms on paper towels.

The salted water brings tiny bugs and dirt out of the many pits on the caps of the morels, leaving them clean for cooking.

The morels are now ready to cook!

Grandmother Eddleman's instructions were:


Put three or four Tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet and heat. Let the oil get hot, because you want to cook the morels quickly, so that they will be crispy instead of soggy.

Place floured mushrooms in skillet, but don't crowd them. Have your heat high enough to brown mushrooms, and I prefer turning them only once! If frying more than one skillet full, more oil must be added.

NOTE: I slightly salt the mushrooms before I flour them. There are those who prefer to dip mushrooms in corn meal, or a mixture of half cornmeal and half flour. However they are prepared, they are simply delicious!

NOTE: the floured mushrooms are also excellent when cooked in melted butter, steak grease or bacon grease.

NOTE: If desired, mushrooms can be dipped in egg and milk mixture prior to coating with flour.

Morels are good, all by themselves. A plate of floured and fried morels is all one needs for an uncommonly good meal.

But, morel sandwiches are also excellent. Hot floured and fried morels between two pieces of bread is the best sandwich you'll ever have -- no condiments necessary!

Many Hoosiers also use morels as a breakfast meat. You'll bring a smile to any Hoosier's face if you set out a plate with floured and fried morels, fried or scrambled eggs, and buttered toast with jelly. And, a breakfast of this calibre also makes an excellent evening-time breakfast!

If a Hoosier gives you some of his morels, or invites you over for a cooked morel dinner, you have been highly complimented to be offered such a scarce commodity -- if you're host knows how to tell true morels from poisonous ones.

NOTE: People who eat mushrooms from the wild should be sure that they know how to distinguish the safe ones from the poisonous ones.

People vary in their reaction to poisonous mushrooms, with some people having severe, or fatal, effects immediately, and others seemingly uneffected. But ...

False morels may also vary in how much of the poison they contain.

And, the poisonous effects may be cumulative, with a person eating false morels for years, but then dying after eating one this year.

And, there is currently no antidote for mushroom poisoning. If you're lucky, you'll recover. Otherwise, you'll die.

So, here are a few Web site links where you can increase your morel safety expertise:

See Also:

Copyright 1996-2008, Granduncle Mark (Mark Ellsworth Hickman, PhD)

Granduncle Mark's Genealogy Parlor

Mark Ellsworth Hickman, PhD

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