Today was a success! We felt the curse of no morels has lifted. Everyone collected a nice share of three or four different morel varities including the Half-free Morel, the Black Morel, the Gray Morel and the Tulip Morel. One member, John Santella, even found a huge False Morel. Other fungi observed included Trichaptum biformis, Ganoderma applanatum, Nolanea (Entoloma) verna, Stereum commune, Exidia recisa and Exidia glandulosa. Following our hunt, we sat down by Morrs' and Beverly's gazebo and feasted on all kinds of shared goodies from smoked salmon and caper sandwiches to mangos and giant sweet strawberries to a fantastic pasta dish made by the Brandts with a nice dose of four wild mushrooms and ramps.

By the way, I received the following message from joe Brandt regarding critters found in some of the morels and directions on how to eliminate them - should you be squeamish about insects and arthropods:

Dianna:

As you know, I'm not an entomologist, but this morning, my dehydrator revealed that at least some of the morels we gathered were infested with very (and I mean very) small insects, and I'm not talking about just a few of them... however, from the pattern of dead insects on the (solid) bottom level of the dehydrator, the infestation was by no means uniform... meaning that some of the morels were infested, and some were not.

If I'm not mistaken, even IF they could carry pathogens of some sort, they would be rendered harmless by cooking, although I'm not sure how many of us would still be interested in eating them.

Of course, I have no way to determine which particular type of mushroom (we were harvesting at least 3 different types) was infested, or perhaps only those morels from one particular area had hitchhikers. (My two dehydrator trays had been completely mixed.)

For those still in possession of fresh morels, I would advise soaking in salted room-temperature water for about 10 minutes. (The mushrooms must be weighted if they float to the surface. A strainer or small colander works well; you don't want to trap the insects against the mushrooms, and having the insects and the mushrooms on the surface of the water will get you nowhere.) I have found in the past that a very gentile agitation after a few minutes will help speed the process. Carefully pour off the water (the insects will have risen to the surface), and repeat the process, checking to see if all insects have been removed.

Regards,

Joe

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