OUTDOOR CORNER: WHEN THE OUTDOOR APPETITE MUSHROOMS -- HUNT

Just one bit of a crispy brown, fried morel mushroom can be dangerous. Their fabulous flavor can turn the unsuspecting person into a mushroom fanatic. That's what happened to me: I've been a mushroom hunter ever since my father forked a couple of them onto my plate some 25 years ago.

Every April I am haunted by a powerful urge to take to the woods and seek out these delicious fungi. Several kinds of morels occur in Missouri, but my favorite is the common or yellow morel. They first appear around mid-April, usually after daytime temperatures rise into the 70s. To develop, morels need warmth and moisture, so the ideal time for hunting them is on a sunny warm day following a rain shower.

Morels are found primarily in wooded areas. In the early part of the season, I like to check forested stream bottoms and south and west-facing slopes, because these areas receive more sunlight and warm up faster than surrounding areas. I prefer forests with mature timber and little undergrowth to shade the forest floor. I also hunt fence rows and other narrow bands of timber in April.

Another good place to hunt morels is in woodlands that were burned the previous year. The bare ground of recently burned woodlands is darker than leaf litter and warms up faster. Fire also creates other soil conditions that stimulate mushroom growth. Furthermore, the lack of leaf litter makes the mushrooms easy to spot. Later on, as temperatures rise, I switch to moister sites such as north and east-facing slopes.

My technique for hunting morels is simple: I walk very slowly and scan the ground. The cream-colored, honeycombed surface of a common morel is unlike anything else you will find on the forest floor, except maybe a bleached out corn cob. Beginners may want to fix a search image in their mind by staring at a photograph of a morel for a few seconds. In fact, bring along a good field guide or an experienced mushroom hunter if you are at all unsure of your identification skills.

Once you spot a morel, stand still and search carefully in the vicinity, because morels often occur in groups. Remember, a cardinal sin of mushroom hunting is to accidentally step on a morel while attempting to pick another one.

When I find morels, I always make a mental note of the location as well as the habitat type, orientation of the slope, soil moisture, associated plants and other features. Then I adjust my hunting pattern to reflect the location of my recent find. After a few years, you will begin to learn the general habitat conditions that are likely to support morels.

Pay special attention to dead and dying elm and cottonwood trees and fresh stumps of those species. Morels are saprophytic and live on the organic matter provided by the roots of these trees. Actually, the mushrooms we pick are the fruiting bodies of the fungus organism. The vegetative stage of the fungus is the mycelium or spawn, which is an underground network of thread-like cells called hyphae.

Under suitable conditions, the spawn forms mushroom primordia or buttons. These buttons enlarge the life cycle of the fungus, the mushrooms release clouds of tiny spores, a few of which will eventually germinate and grow into new mycelia.

Even if the biology of morels doesn't fascinate you, I'm convinced that their flavor will. If you manage to find a few, cut them in half and soak in lightly salted water in the refrigerator for a few hours. Then rinse well and pat dry with a paper towel. Dip them in a mixture of egg and milk and then dredge in flour. Fry in butter or oil until brown.

The Missouri Mycological Society is hosting their 5th Annual Morel Madness on Saturday, April 27 at Meramec State Park, near Sullivan. This event is a good opportunity for beginners to learn from experts and develop their mushroom identification skills. For more information, contact Jim Winn at 314-532-8030.

~Doug Newman is a natural history regional biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.