Linder Finds a Mushroom

Well, it's the second day of April and time to start seriously looking for Morels. For those who have tried this early spring mushroom, it is a golden season. First of all, hunting for Morels in the woods is a most pleasant experience because the insect population is minimal {ticks are out but the little chiggers are still in bed for a few days.} Later on, when some of the other `shrooms' are appearing the bugs are at their worst.

Sunday started sunny and warm so I decided to take a walk in the woods south of the Ware house to take a look around for my favorite spring delectable. Cookie, our pregnant German Shepherd, and Enkido, Dave Ware's dog, and I started crashing through the underbrush and scaring all the wild critters in the area. I heard deer in front of me and saw a whitetail disappear over the hill about the same time I heard some turkey' s gobbling.

The timber directly in back of the Brizzley's is mostly hedge and thorny locust and not the best place to find Morels. On the other side of the hill the woods have not been cut and the creek there is lined with 100-year-old stands of Hickory, Hackberry, White Oak, Walnut and Sycamore, timber much more likely to produce Morels.

A morel looks like a diseased penis. But don't let the looks fool you. Sliced, cleaned and fried crisp in butter, a morel can provide one of life's better moments. The taste is nut like, but sweeter.

But alas, it was too early and the only thing I found was a mushroom called the false morel because it looks like a real one except the head is smooth and a deeper red. The stalk is also a more stark white than the coffee color of the real morel. A word of caution: Never east a mushroom unless you are sure of it's identity. While some mushrooms are among the best taste treats in the world, some mushrooms will kill you quite dead, so it's a good idea to know the difference.

Early on I learned a trick about hunting mushrooms. When you go to the woods, take a book with pictures for identification and try to look at and identify every fungus you see. By looking at all fungus you will learn the edible ones faster.