No, we won't tell you where... Fenner's secret stash of morels

Before I even start, I have to tell you all that we don’t allow collecting of anything—berries, nuts, woodchucks, whatever—at Fenner. As much fun as it can be to go stomping out into the woods with a bucket or a grocery sack and come home with edible foraged goodies, Fenner is an oasis of nature in an urban area and we want to make sure that everybody in Lansing has a chance to see the species that call it home. This means that you cannot take those species home for your personal enjoyment…no matter how delightful they may be. If we catch you, you will get in trouble. 

 
With this disclaimer out of the way, we have morel mushrooms. These wrinkly, gray-to-brown delicacies are growing on our property. Found in hardwood forests all over the United States, morels grow in mid-spring and their season is upon us! In Michigan, morels can often be found poking up through the leaf litter on forest floors among trilliums and jack-in-the-pulpits. The mushrooms grow in clusters or “messes,” so where one morel is spotted there are most likely others nearby. If you see a morel, look for bulges in the leaf litter. These often conceal the other members of its mess. 

Morels are easily distinguishable by their pitted, wrinkly caps. These caps are connected to the stem, which is hollow. There is only one major poisonous look-alike: the false morel. False morels have caps that are brain or saddle-shaped. Their caps, unlike true morel caps, hang around the stem instead of being connected. Once you know this difference, it’s pretty hard to confuse the two.

Morels are delicious, but you have to prepare them correctly or you can get some unpleasant results. First, it’s best to soak them overnight in salt water to kill any insects that might be lingering in their hollows. Next, you need to cook them before eating them. While raw morels won’t kill you, they can make you sick. I recommend sautéing them in butter with some garlic, as this generally enhances the taste of almost all wild-foraged foods. From there, they are delicious in pasta dishes, on pizza, on Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, or anywhere else that you would normally put mushrooms.

In today’s ultra-cautionary world, mushroom foraging is put in the same category of daring as bungee jumping and tiger-wrestling.  As far as morels are concerned, however, safety is only a matter of being properly informed. Now that you are, feel free to go out looking for them! Just remember to make sure you follow these identification and preparation instructions closely. That, and make sure that the morels you pick are not at Fenner. Not that you know where ours are anyway…