Morels

Health

Today's major success was the discovery that our garden is providing the perfect growing conditions for one of the more the prized fungi, Morels!

There are several varieties of Morels and they can be found throughout North America. They have a distinctive 'pitted' cap and are sought after in gourmet Kitchens and regular homes alike but starting price can be as much as $20 a pound! The flavor is highly distinctive; Morels have a rich, nutty, smoky flavor and almost meaty consistency. Perfect with a knob of butter and splash of white wine. http://www.mssf.org/cookbook/morels.html

Morels come in a variety of colours but are primarily classified by their hollow stem. 

*** Mushroom Warning. As with ALL wild fungi, please be VERY careful when picking and deciding to eat anything you find in the forest. Bad mushrooms can be VERY bad ( A module in fungal biology at University nearly put me off for life). If your 'morel' has a solid stem, it's a baddun: throw away. If in doubt: throw away. 

Luckily, Darren has great experience with Morels and was responsible for the first sighting which lead to a good stint in the garden trying to hunt down more. They are tricky little blighter and very well camouflaged, even if they have achieved significant growth.  

Once we had plucked the morels, we washed them in cold water and then Darren chopped them up into small pieces. In the sidelines, I had made up a mushroom risotto which we were hoping to serve with our garden treats. 

Darren fried up the mushrooms in a pan full of melted, bubbling [full fat] better. After the butter has fizzled away, he added a huge slug of white wine and the morels were done!

We spooned the morel mix over our risotto and were good to go; it was pretty delicious and needless to say I am hoping our current forecast of perpetual rain my inspire more Morel growth in the garden!