I have to say that Morel Mushrooms are one of the best tasting foods on our planet. The taste is so unique it cannot be compared to any other food I have ever had the luck to eat. The fact that they taste so good and are rather hard to come by makes them food fit for the Gods. Morel Mushrooms are a double special treat and are only available fresh in the midst of Spring. That is one of the things that make these mushrooms such a treat. The delight in walking through the woods in Spring before the underbrush is too thick to pass is a wonder in itself. Finding Morels amongst the early grasses and dead leaves from the previous year is like magic.

I have been thinking about the Morel Mushrooms that grow wild in the Midwest for the past couple of weeks. The reason they have been weighing on my mind is because it is prime time around this area to start hunting these tasty little jewels. Every Spring for the past 40 years I have been stalking the wild Morel Mushroom. Though I was first introduced to them at a very young age I had no desire to eat any of them.

My turn off, as a child, was the way they looked floating in the bowl of water to soak the dirt and insects off before cooking. Not to mention that they have the look of a tiny little brain or some sort of alien appearance. Morels are rather strange looking. My Mother's family hale from central Indiana and their heritage had them foraging the woods for the Morels at a young age. Mom has told me many times how she use to wait for the weather to be just right so she could gather mushrooms to sell. She said she could earn a quarter for a handful of fresh Morels and never have enough to keep all of her customers happy no matter how much she hunted.

Where To Fit Mushroom Hunting Into My Busy Schedule

My Uncle Bob's house was a favorite place to visit each spring and you could bet that there would always be a bunch of "shrooms" waiting to be prepared in his kitchen. Along about the time I turned twelve the curiosity to hunt them myself had gotten the best of me. I did not find any Morel Mushrooms the first couple of times I tried hunting them but once I did start finding them you can bet that I always tried to make time to hunt Morel Mushrooms each spring.

Last year we only got to go hunt them one time. We did not find the bunch we had hoped for. The trip home showed three very tiny mushrooms for the day of driving, hunting and driving home near empty handed. I tossed the three mushrooms out the car door when we got to the house. They were too small to eat and about dried up to nothing.

This Year The Weather Felt Perfect

With the flood from last fall, all the snow from last Winter and the temperature hovering around sixty and rainy, I just can not get the mushrooms out of my head. I was obsessed with hunting them a few days ago but could not figure when I was going to fit that task into my busy schedule. I pulled up in the drive to meet up with a friend and go run some errands. I suggested that I would like to go mushroom hunting that evening if i could get everything I had to do done.

I had been scoping the area for places that looked like they could be hosting the perfect patch of mushrooms. Finding a location to hunt the mushrooms is over half the battle. It is not a good idea to trespass on someone Else's property and many of the parks that are wooded are also Nature Preserves. It is illegal to remove or damage anything natural in these locations. We usually go to a friends farm on one weekend each year but that has to be planned and finding the time and right weather is hard to accomplish.

The weather seemed perfect and it was the middle of the week. The feel of mushroom weather is something experienced hunters understand. You just know you can find some if you can make it to a good stand of woods. I was hurting to do that.

There was enough time to drop some things at the house and maybe get in a couple of hours of mushroom hunting by the time errands were finished. We were talking about where we might try looking when we pulled into our driveway. I opened the car door and what to my astonishing surprise? I gasped LOOK!!!

They were there just feet from the car. I was stunned an amazed and surprised and shocked all in the same second. Mushrooms were everywhere. Morel Mushrooms, gift from the God's. The culinary delight of delights had come hunting me.

All together I picked up 138 Morel Mushrooms and that was the beginning of our dinner plans for the following night. We were going to feast on the jewels of the woods and food fit for the Gods. The kitchen was going to smell like a piece of the heavens when it was all said and done. We cooked steaks on the grill and baked potatoes too.

We invited a few people, Mom was included and hunting mushrooms had never been so easy. This is my 100th hub and it only seemed right to share my culinary jeweled surprise for the occasion. My lucky 100th hub. Mother Nature is the best!