Mushroom hunters scour US wildfire maps in search of elusive morel

[n2doc]

Foragers in the US have begun checking maps outlining where the wildfires of 2015 scorched the Pacific north-west in the search for one thing: morel mushrooms.

“It’s going to be a good season for finding morel mushrooms, there’s no doubt about that,” said Brian Harris, spokesman for the Payette national forest in Idaho.

The spongey-looking, woody-tasting delicacies have defied commercial cultivation and can retail for $20 a pound (£14 for 450g).

“They’ve got a kind of cult following,” said Tommy West, a produce manager at the Co-op in the Iadho city of Boise. “When they do come into season they usually move pretty good.”



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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/morel-mushroom-hunters-wildfire-maps-search

[Orrex]

1. The morel of the story is that we all have mushroom for improvement.

This Tommy West fellow sounds like a fungi.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. ...

[underpants]

7. 1,2,3

[closeupready]

15. lol

[Scuba]

3. It's supposed to rain here tonight (finally!) so I'll be out hunting them tomorrow mid-morning.

Do you know the cry of the morel hunter?







"I found one!"

[Vinca]

4. I'm watching an area around a tree stump in the back yard.

$20 a pound? I had no idea.

[sufrommich]

5. We went morel hunting last Friday in northern

Michigan and found nothing even though we have a lot of trilliums this spring. We need some rain here to pop them up and there's no rain coming for the near future. I love morels,they're the best tasting mushrooms as far as I'm concerned

[safeinOhio]

6. After hours of looking out in the woods

Only to strike out, I found a couple in my yard.

[sufrommich]

13. Ha! Right under your nose.At least you found some.nt

[nykym]

8. My neighbor called and said she

had some funny looking mushrooms in her yard.
Wife went down to check them out and bingo a cro of morels.
They were delicious. WE are in the Hudson Valley of NY close to the CT border.

[Separation]

9. Yep I live in morel country

I live in the heart of morel country. It's smack dab inbetween Nashville and Knoxville. Around 35 miles northeast of Cookeville. People here find them by the car load.

I however have yet to find one of these mother f'ing morchella esculenta's!¡!¡ psilocybin's-check. Laetiporus'-check. hydnum repandum's-chickety check yo!

Freaking morels, I even set an acre of my land on fire (needed to anyways) and nada. I've searched in my area and on my land and have come to the conclusion that morels are fake. They have been invented by certain mycologists just to piss me off!!

[jtuck004]

12. Maybe you could set up a grill out front, put up a sign "Your Morels cooked Fresh!"

All you need is for one car to stop, eh?

[sufrommich]

14. Lol.nt

[madokie]

10. The season is over for us this year

Brother and I found close to 1000 this year, last year we found a few over 2000

So now I live for the next years season

ETA: The morel season here in northeast Oklahoma is the last week in March and the first three weeks in April. Pretty much

[jtuck004]

11. We had a few fires in WA state, and a big rainstorm moved through over the weekend,

so maybe they will be appearing at the Farmer's Market shortly...

[L. Coyote]

16. We've been using fire maps for decades. Buyers make sure the pickers know where they fruit.

A mushroom company I consulted for in the 80s (went to Chile and hiked the forests for three weeks seeking an elusive species of edible) acquired the fire maps for the Western USA and they really covered the territory, making sure they had pickers in place at the right times.

The fruiting season varies with altitude and climate. In the cold Midwest it is later than on the West Coast, and as the season goes on, picking moves up in elevation.

[Herman4747]

17. Me personally I would prefer to find the psilocybin...

just don't know where precisely to find it.

[AwakeAtLast]

18. My parents ate them all the time

I don't like mushrooms (I have tried!), but I will help hunt in our secret hideaways. I will never tell!

[ChisolmTrailDem]

19. C'mon! I promise I won't tell anyone. nt