More Morel Mushrooms Mark Meadows

POPULAR HUNTING SEASON SHORT

During years of hunting morel mushrooms, Sheila Edwards of Farmington says she finds morels in the same types of areas each spring. Here Edwards spots a morel mushroom April 24 near some sycamore trees, which is one of the prime areas to find the seasonal fungi.
During years of hunting morel mushrooms, Sheila Edwards of Farmington says she finds morels in the same types of areas each spring. Here Edwards spots a morel mushroom April 24 near some sycamore trees, which is one of the prime areas to find the seasonal fungi.

FARMINGTON - One of Arkansas most popular hunting seasons is a short one, but there’s no limit when the quest is for those delightfully delicious spring delicacies, morel mushrooms.

Warm spring days are when mushroom hunters can be seen strolling slowly through a forest, chins down, to scan the ground for creamy-colored morel mushrooms.

Sometimes it’s a needle-in-a-haystack search because morel mushrooms blend so well with greening ground cover. It can take an experienced eye to see them.

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Edwards collects another morel April 24 from one of her mushroom hunting spots.

Not many morels escape the gaze of Sheila Edwards when she patrols the woods for a mess of morels. After a decade of hunting them, she can spot the smallest and most hidden specimens. Edwards, of Farmington, proved that last Wednesday when she walked one of her favorite areas, a spot where morels grow year after year.

Most of her hunting grounds are on private land, such as the spot Edwards selected last week. After a 10-minute drive from Farmington High School, she was in the thick of it, walking through briars beneath tall trees with her mesh mushroom collecting bag in hand.

Edwards makes the bags herself .

The mesh lets tiny spores from the morel mushrooms drop through the fabric while she walks the forest.

Spores falling to the ground help boost next spring’s crop of morel mushrooms, Edwards said. An onion bag or any mesh bag will work.

If mushroom hunting was easy as going to any old place in the forest, it would be mushroom picking, not hunting. Edwards has paid her dues by checking several places and asking landowner permission over the years. She finds them in the same types of areas every spring.

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Big morel mushrooms are prized for the table, but Edwards says they signal the end of prime mushroom hunting time. She found this morel April 24 in Farmington.

Standard spots to look are around sycamore or ash trees, but they can be anywhere.

“The first ones we found this year were under maple trees,” Edwards said. “Then last Saturday we found them under sycamore trees and they were the big mushrooms that you can’t miss. You always want to look around sycamores.”

Weather for two days before our mushroom quest was frightfully cold for mid-April. We wondered how the chill would affect our search on this milder, sunny day. “We’re about to find out,” Edwards said.

Off we went with Edwards leading the way, meandering among hardwood trees and greening grass on our hike up a ridge. Edwards inspected the ground as we walked, but her real destination was a small grove of sycamore trees out of sight on the other side of the ridge.

Along the way, Edwards picked some poke leaves and stuff ed them into her mesh bag for a mess of poke salad. There was plenty of room for mushrooms. She found her first morel as soon as we reached the sycamores.

The first mushrooms Edwards collected were the size of an adult’s thumb.

The mushrooms looked like little gnome sentries standing at attention with their pointy little heads that are wrinkled like a brain. Three or four sycamore trees grew tall in this tract of private forest. There were tiny morels that looked like sewing thimbles. Others were thumb-size or bigger. Small or large, they all taste great on a plate, Edwards testified.

The cold spell didn’t hinder the mushroom crop on this Wednesday evening.

“That good rain we had popped them up. You get a nice day of sunshine after some rain and they really come up,” Edwards said. Her mesh bag bulged with about 20 mushrooms.

She shook the bag above her upturned palm.

We could see the mushroom spores fall into her palm, tinier than fine flakes of g round black pepper.

Deer don’t eat morels, Edwards said.

“If they did you’d never find any.”

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Where one morel is found, others are likely nearby. Edwards plucks a pair of morels during a mushroom hunt April 24.

Indeed, we spotted deer droppings here and there on our hunt, but there were plenty of mushrooms.

There’s good news and bad when Edwards finds big morel mushrooms.

Good because they’re prized for eating.

Bad because these big morels mean the end of mushroom season is near. There’s a little time left to find your own morel mushrooms.

Let’s say you’ve sacked up a mess. Now what? Edwards advises soaking them overnight in lightly salted cold water. This draws any insects out of the mushrooms.

To cook, cut each mushroom in half lengthwise.

Drizzle the damp mushroom halves with cornmeal on both sides. Saute them in butter or fry in oil.

Don’t overdo the cornmeal, Edwards cautioned.

Too much will mask the taste of the mushroom.

Edwards got bit by the mushroom bug the first time her husband, Warren, took her on a hunt. “I didn’t really want to go, but I was hooked after the first trip,” she said.

“I just enjoy it so much. I like walking in the woods. You see turtles, rabbits and deer.”

We heard a wild turkey gobble as Edwards bagged up the last morel mushrooms of our trip.

The window of hunting opportunity is short when it comes to morels. “It’s kind of like crappie fishing,” Edwards said. “When they’re biting you’d better be out there.”

Out there for Edwards means her favorite forest when morels are ripe for the picking.

Outdoor, Pages 6 on 05/02/2013

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