So...my gal and I got started on it last year and found that chantrelles and lobster mushrooms are not impossible to find

Gathered up a handful of other edible types, too, including a bunch of the rare and tasty Prince mushrooms...strangely enough growing in the gravel by my garage, of all places.

This weekend we are going to venture to the hills to see about morels...I haven't gathered them on purpose before, but have stumbled across a few on accident while tripping around in the woods turkey hunting this time of year, so this will be our first planned trip for morels.

Anyone else getting out yet to try it? I know it's "early", but so is spring

Fish on...

Todd

"Tripping around the woods" eh? Well then, the ones you want have little blue rings on em' (or that's what I've heard). Not that I know would anything about that stuff because I don't. Good luck and I hope the snozzberries taste like snozzberries (you are welcome Stamly).

Magic mushrooms are a myth...but to be fair, so are a lot of things that I do or have done

Fish on...

Todd

Not a mushroomer but the trilliums have been blooming the past two weeks between 500' and 3500 '

then stop eating the wrong mushrooms Steve...


id like to go this year, have no clue where to start tho...

Lots of trilliums in the lowlands already...I'm going to go over the other side and see what's up...might be a little too early, but I am betting not

Fish on...

Todd

West side and east side morels are not the same so don't confuse the tips on hunting them.

Search in the duff around the base of cottonwood stands.

I've always stuck to Chanterelles. Morels grow in the Midwest too. My cousin posted a pic on FB and one of my friends found a bunch last year. I need to find some areas of wild blackberries for my dad.

Most of the westside, trillium timed, cottonwood beneathing "morels" are false morels. Their edibility is iffy, as they contain a liver toxin with cumulative effects. Individual reactions to the toxin vary. Experts recommend par boiling false morels and pouring off the water before eating the mushrooms. I gathered and consumed false morels for a couple years; not a favorite.

Springtime is a great time to go wandering in the woods, and hunting mushrooms is a good excuse to be out there. Eastside or westside, true morels will usually be found in burned over locations; areas as large as the site of a forest fire, or as small as a campfire. Three of my relatives lost their homes in last year's Carlton Complex fire. It's a micro-slim silver lining, but they expect the morel gathering to be excellent this spring.

This site has some good info and images of the morel mushrooms: http://www.michiganmorels.com/morels2.shtml#verpa

Also...if you gather/eat the false morels, besides boiling them to remove the toxins you need to stay away from the steam, as that's where the toxins are being boiled off.

Considering the lower quality taste and the poisonous nature of the false morels I'd just as soon pass on them, and hit last year's burns and get the real ones

Sorry to hear about your relatives' places on the Methow...not going to drive that far for a day trip, but plan on heading up there later in the summer.

Super slim silver lining, to be sure...but a tasty one, at least.

Fish on...

Todd

I will never forget a few of my mushroom adventures.

I haven't ever gathered a false morel, but the identifying characteristics that I have read up on, for whatever it's worth, are that they are darker, often reddish or brownish, are not hollow inside like a true morel, and are more squashed or irregular shaped than the true morels.

Both grow on both sides of the mountains, so like with all mushroom gathering be sure of what you are taking, and triply sure of what you are eating...it's worked for me so far on the varieties I have managed to harvest...and at least from what I have seen and read these are one of the easiest mushrooms to identify.

Fish on...

Todd

A buddy of mine got into mushroom picking pretty hardcore a few years ago. He sent samples to UW to make sure they were safe and then kept a really organized log with pics and whatnot.

So if your not 100% sure that may be an excellent idea.

I've seen a lot of the King Bollete's in the burns the last few years. Yum!

Yes, those Bollettes are on my radar...and Greg, I found a spot absolutely crawling with Bollettes last fall about ten minutes from your house

Fish on...

Todd

I will do both, about a lot of them.

Fish on...

Todd

Todd - Good luck with your forays. I've been mushroom hunting for over 30 years. Lots of fun starting with morels in the spring right thru the late fall until the first frost. Chanterelles are my favorite. My wife prefers morels.

It's the peak of the morel season right now. Look for the biggest stand of mature black cottonwood trees. The bigger, the better. Look around the base, extending out 50+ feet. Morels can be tricky. They may be here one year and none the next. If we get a wet spring, the morels can be very plentiful. It's been fairly cool and dry around the Portland area, so I'm anticipating no better than average morel crop this year.

Plus, if the rains continue into June, the king boletes will come up in the high elevations (Cascade Range). That's very unpredictable but it can be very productive if you hit it right.

Agaricus agustus (The Prince) comes up all summer, and sometimes where you least expect them (next to your driveway). It's a great edible mushroom but you must be certain of your identification to eat that one. Lots of lookalikes that are not edible or poisonous.

And then there is Chanterelle season...... The best time of year!

Good luck.

Some other mushrooms that I've been able to find locally here in the Bellevue area:

Barrow's boletes (similar to King Bolete, but considered by many to be better tasting): around oak trees in Bellevue during June-Sept

Shaggy mane (coprinus comatus): often near driveways or landscaping areas, during late summer to fall. A friend showed me a pic of the grass lawns at Point Defiance Zoo that were covered with them this past fall

Oyster mushrooms (specifically Pleurotus populinus): late spring to early summer in some of the local nature parks. Look for them growing on dead alder(?) or dead non-conifer trees.

Be careful with those shaggy manes. They're an excellent edible but don't drink any type of alcohol with them (beer/wine). They contain a substance similar to antibuse which inhibits your ability to metabolize alcohol. It can make you really sick.

I found some huge Oyster mushrooms last weekend in a local park...already too far gone to harvest...and was lucky enough to find an area with at least two, and maybe three different species of boletes here locally, too...but they, too, were just a bit too far gone, it was mid-October.

Fish on...

Todd

Oysters from a local park, pics taken on Saturday afternoon:





The biggest cap in the picture was about ten inches across...after this next rain I will be checking out that area of that park again

They were growing on a very alive, but very big and mature alder.

Fish on...

Todd