During my son’s visit last week we went hunting for morel mushrooms. It was a beautiful, sunny May morning, just perfect for a mushroom hunt. We never did spot a morel but I did find this beautiful patch of wildflowers growing in our pasture.
If we had found some mushrooms, we could have kept them in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, 3 at the very most. Safe morels are yellow in color (early mushrooms may be gray) and have a hollow stem. Don’t soak them in water; instead use a soft mushroom brush to clean them. Late morels may have bugs and should be rinsed quickly.
We would have dipped the mushrooms in egg and breaded with either flour or cracker crumbs and then fried them. We could freeze any leftovers—if we had them. I would have placed them on a cookie sheet in the freezer overnight and then bagged them in a freezer bag the next day. Morels could also be blanched (3-5 minutes depending on size), chilled, and then frozen. Mushrooms frozen in this manner are more suitable for soups, stews and casseroles.
Enjoy any morels that you find this spring. I think I will have to go mushroom hunting again next weekend.
