Bountiful Morel Harvest

 Last year I found a spattering of morel mushrooms, and this year I was thinking might be the same. I went to my spots, and found one or two, here and there. It's still early, and yet...you never really know with morels, and mushroom hunting in general. Had I lost the magic?

On Friday I went back to one of my spots and found three small morels. Oh well. I decided to go on a hike afterward. A slow hike, of course, all the while looking out for morels. I found one half-free, and then veered into the woods. 

Eventually I ran into a bird watching group, and as I had my binoculars with me, I joined them for a stretch. 

Then my trail turned uphill so we parted ways. I sat and had my breakfast, overlooking a beaver dam.

After breakfast I made my way up the hill, and back toward where I had parked. At this point I was three hours into my walk. But then, finally, I saw what I was looking for!

And another, and another, and another!

I finally came upon a new patch of large yellow morels: eighteen in total. I was elated!

I invited a friend over, and we figured out how start up my grill, which had been dormant all last year.

I marinated the morels in a mix of olive oil, tamari (gluten-free soy sauce), rice vinegar, crushed garlic, ginger powder, and liquid smoke. Then I threaded them onto a wooden skewer, making kabobs with cherry tomatoes, red onions, and zucchini.

They were delicious!

I hope you are having a successful year finding morels, or whatever it is you are looking for.

Stay healthy, stay safe. 

Love to you all,

Melissa

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Have you seen our Food Under Foot full-color digital magazine? The April issue is all about morels and spring mushrooms! You can get it by becoming a patron on our patreon page, or buy it directly from Amazon/Kindle.

April Issue of Food Under Foot Digital Magazine Available Now

 The April, 2021 issue of our monthly, digital, full-color Food Under Foot magazine is available today! Visit our patreon site and become a member (any level) to access it. Once a member, you will also be able to access all past (and future) issues!

I hope you enjoy the issue! If you haven't checked us out on patreon, please do. Even if you aren't a member, there are posts and photos and podcasts and tons of stuff over there that are available to the public, not just members.

Have a happy spring, hope your mushroom hunts bring abundant joy this year!

April Walks Scheduled

I have two walks open to the public scheduled so far for this April:

April 10, 11 am at Bandi Schaum Park, in Pittsburgh's South Side

April 25, 11 am at Frick Environmental Center in Pittsburgh.

The walks are free, sponsored by Frick Park's Earth Day Celebration! However, there are limited spaces (COVID precaution), so please sign up today.

Finding Morels By Following A Trail of Tulip Poplar Petals

April 24 is my wedding anniversary! It has become a tradition for me and Dave to look for morels on our anniversary. This year was no exception and our search was not in vain.

I thought I'd share with you a tip on how we hone in on where to look for morels, so I made the little video (above). We love looking for morels around tulip poplar trees. Tulip poplars are great big trees that grow straight up for a long time before you see branches. Their leaves' shape always reminds me of pokeman. So when I'm walking around looking down (to find mushrooms) and I start seeing petals from the flowers way on top of the tulip poplar trees, I know I'm in a good area.

Photo by Bruce Marlin, Wikimedia Commons

Today we found a bunch of morels. I sauteed them with onions and spinach, then topped our pizza with them (only half the pizza, as my daughter doesn't like morels...!)

Hope you are able to get out into the woods and find some morels of your own!

~ Melissa

Wild Mushroom Soup

This is a great time of year: Morel Mushrooms! And while you are out looking for morels, you may find some gorgeous dryad saddles, growing on dead wood. Here is a delicious, vegan "creamy" wild mushroom soup that incorporates both (but you can really use ANY mushrooms in this soup!)

This  amazing vegan "cream" of mushroom soup...and the mushrooms are MORELS and DRYAD'S SADDLES! It doesn't get better than this!

Vegan Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

vegan, gluten-free, soy-free

In a pot with water, boil:

• 3 potatoes, peeled, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 5 button mushrooms (optional)
• salt
• pepper
• paprika

Boil until POTATOES and CARROTS are tender. Remove from heat.

Add 1/4 cup raw CASHEWS or cashew pieces and blend well. (We used our vitamix, but any blender should be fine.)

In a pan with olive oil:

saute chopped MORELS with salt.

In another pan with olive oil:

saute chopped DRYAD'S SADDLE with salt.

(I sauteed in them in two separate pans because later in the season dryad's can become bitter, and in case this had happened, I didn't want to ruin the batch of morels!!! But they were just fine.)

Return now creamy broth to pot and adjust seasonings: SALT, PEPPER, PAPRIKA  to taste.

Add sauteed mushrooms and enjoy.

PLEASE MAKE 100% CERTAIN OF IDENTITY OF ALL WILD MUSHROOMS USED!

~ Melissa

Food Under Foot