Spring is mushroom hunting time, but beware of toxicity
GRAVETTE — Spring has arrived in the Ozarks and mushroom hunting is a favorite pastime for many in the area.
With social distancing mandated because of the current coronavirus pandemic, several sources have recommended taking the family hiking, exploring the woods and admiring the unique beauty of northwest Arkansas as a recreational activity. The warm, wet days of spring provide an ideal opportunity to do both.
And the time is about right. Seasoned mushroom hunters say April, May and early June are the best months for finding mushrooms in the Midwest, but they can sometimes be found in late March.
The wild morel mushroom common in this area is perhaps the most highly prized variety. Its thick white stems topped with cone-shaped caps that look like sponges are truly a tasty treat. They are light tan or grayish in color and their stems are hollow.
Ozarks writer Joel M. Vance, who described himself as a “dedicated woods tromper,” once wrote, “There is no way to describe the taste of morels, other than to say that if you like mushrooms, you will love morels.” He claimed, “God invented spring for the fortunate few who hunt morels and call turkeys in the same breath.”
Karen King, a Kansas City mushroom hunter, calls them “the filet mignon of mushrooms.”
Don Runyan, of Gravette, has already harvested two large mushrooms. He reports he saw the pair early last week near a wooded area at the edge of his yard in the north part of town. On Thursday, he walked out to inspect them more closely and picked them. Research in a few mushroom identification guides has confirmed his find is false morels.
False morels have wrinkled, irregular caps that are brainlike or saddle-shaped. They may be black, gray, white, brown or the reddish variety which Runyan discovered. The largest of his finds was nine inches tall with a five-inch cap atop a four-inch stem. He has bagged his specimens and put them in the freezer and declared, “I’m not going to eat them.”
Don’s decision not to consume his find is probably a good one. Many people have enjoyed eating false morels for years and may even consider them a favorite mushroom, but they have been known to cause serious illness and even death. They contain a toxic chemical called monomethylhydrazine (MMH),
which causes diarrhea, vomiting and severe headaches. However, because of different cooking techniques and different individual sensitivities to MMH, false morels poison some people and leave others unaffected.
Barbara Bassett, a Jefferson City, Mo., naturalist, in an article on edible and poisonous mushrooms, explained about MMH and added, “False morels in some areas of the country contain more MMH than in other areas. All this makes these mushrooms a very doubtful group as far as edibility is concerned. Because these mushrooms have definitely caused deaths, we cannot recommend that you eat them.”
Louis C.C. Krieger, author of The Mushroom Handbook, agrees.
He wrote, “The false morel, like the true morel, is enjoyed and highly praised by many who regularly make a practice of eating it. The writer has had letters recommending it as one of the very best mushrooms yet, in view of its record, it would appear that extreme caution should be used in preparing it for the table.”
Bassett outlined two significant ways false morels differ from true morels: “1. The cap surface has lobes, folds, flaps, or wrinkles, but it does not have pits and ridges like a true morel. You might say their caps bulge outward instead of being pitted inward. 2. The bottom edge of the cap of a false morel hangs free around the stem, like a skirt. On true morels, the bottom edge of the cap is attached to the stem.”
The website www.mushroomexpert.com offers this clever advice about the false morel, “1) When in doubt, throw it out; 2) If it ain’t hollow, don’t swallow — slice it open and you should find only air in a true morel; 3) If it’s wavy, don’t make gravy — this refers to the caps; a morel cap will be pitted, not wavy; and 4‚ If it’s reddish, you could be deadish — false morels have reddishbrown shades.”
My husband Jim and I are morel lovers. Every year about this time, I begin to yearn for a big batch of the little treasures. We haven’t found many the last couple of years, so I’m hoping for a good crop this year. When we find some, I slice them and soak them in a bowl of saltwater to eliminate any insects that might be inside. Jim likes to coat them in an egg batter and seasoned flour, then deep fry them in vegetable oil. But if we don’t find very many, we usually just enjoy them in a serving of scrambled eggs.
Jim assures me it’s still a little early yet but, nevertheless, I’m keeping my eyes open. Happy hunting to all you mushroom lovers out there!