Morel Mushrooms

They say April is the "cruelest" month.  It might be because the weather is so fickle.  One day it is 80 degrees and the next day it is 50 degrees.  Maybe April is cruel because the showers that are promised in the rhyme to bring the May flowers sometimes inundate the fields or bring hail.  But I think the real reason that April is cruel is that just when I am dreaming of their sweet buttery goodness, there are no morel mushrooms to be found.

The environment here is not right for morels.  I've tramped my woods and looked next to every dead log and under all the May apples, and there is not a morel in sight.  For one thing, we don't have good deep black dirt here.  We have red, chert rock filled soil.  Not a good morel seedbed.  Even though it has been years since I lived in good morel country, in April my mouth still waters for the unique flavor of the little sponge looking caps.  

If you are lucky enough to find morels, you have to soak them first in salt water before you cook them.  Ants tend to like to live in the sponge like folds, but a good soaking removes anything lingering there.  Dip the sweet morsels in flour and fry in butter.  It only takes a few minutes to have a crispy sweet bite that rivals anything else on earth.  My mouth waters just thinking about them. We used to find them by the sack full, and every night the main course was fried morels.  In about a week the season was over, but the joy of those delicate fungi lingers.  Alas, but another cruel April will pass, and I can only dream of morels.