Originally posted by Venkman
morels are pretty uncommon in maine apparently.
They are incredible. They have such a distinct and powerful flavor, almost like a meat flavor.
It sounds like the west coast has the most, especially in areas that had forest fires.
We get them in the river valleys mostly and a great day is a 5 gallon pail full but it takes a fair amount of searching and you have days where you don't find any. I usually start looking when lilacs are about to bloom in the spring and depending on weather, you might have 4-10 days. I look on the north bank of the river valley, find some old elm tree's or occasionally an ash tree especially if the tree is dying or the first year after it fell over. The ground needs to be wet but not too wet, they don't seem to grow in the heavy black soil but the type of sandy sediment soils from river flooding. The last few days of the right temperature you go to the other side of the river where the shade keeps the soil cooler for a few more days.
The areas I look, they need to be washed because you'll often find the tiny little snail shells inside the ripples of the mushroom, it doesn't bother me but my wife will freak out if she feels that crunch. I've seen the summer varieties one time, I think they are called yellow morels but mostly once the ground is warm enough to plant corn, the mushrooms are gone until next spring.
If you calculate the time you spend in the woods, the time to dry them, it probably makes more sense to buy them but there is something about doing it yourself or taking your kids out and showing them how to look and where to look that make it fun.
