Four Months Until Morel Season

Dwindling supply of yellow morels.

New Year's resolution number one: Gather more morels this year. My dried reserves are already running perilously low and there are still many months of snow to outlast. Last year the first morels in my neck of the woods appeared on May 1st. Those were some half-frees (or "pecker heads"). A week later I happened upon the first stash of big yellows.

I was never a morel guy specifically, though I always appreciated their appeal. For me, morel season simply meant the beginning of the mushroom season altogether. Their appearance coincides with that of hawks wing (Dryad's saddle), mica caps and their dinner table companions: fiddle heads. However having a supply of oven-dried yellows and greys to prey upon through the off season, so far, has led me to become a bit more of a morel nut.

Fortunately, my dried morel supply isn't the only species I have to count on through the winter. It's just the one I'm tapping out first, knowing - or rather, hoping - that it will be the first to be replenished this Spring!

Tip - Yellow and grey morels are better preserved by drying, while half-free morels do better when frozen.