Comments on: Photo Diary #2: Hunting Fungi for Fun and Profit

By: reulte

reulte — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:36:08 +0000

There is a ‘false friend’ of the morel, but when you cut it open, the true morel is hollow (as seen in the above phote). I believe the false friend is Gyomitra.

Another easily recognizable and distinctive edible species is Auricularia (sorry about the spelling – I’m not sure its correct). These are the black or brown rubbery mushrooms frequent in Chinese stir-fry. They look exactly like ears! Not as wonderful as morels, but still worth looking for. The grow on trees but not usually like a shelf fungi.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 07 May 2007 13:28:36 +0000

Thanks for a nice tutorial. Very inspiring! My biggest question is, are there any “false friends” of the morel? I’ve heard of people being poisoned by something that looked like a fungus they were hunting for…but I don’t know if they were hunting for morels or what.

By: lorax

lorax — Sun, 06 May 2007 12:32:13 +0000

> fishing in your local reservoir or lake

If you live downwind of coal-fired power plants be careful with this. For example, the fish in the northeast US have a very high mercury content. The bigger the first, the higher the content, unless it was stocked.

I think the west coast is safe.

By: Gal Josefsberg

Gal Josefsberg — Sat, 05 May 2007 22:57:36 +0000

There are a lot of other ways to save (or even make) money off of the environment around us. Many people don’t pick fruit from the fruit trees, which means you can come over, clean up and get some great fresh fruit. The owners will typically appreciate it since you’re saving them the cleanup. There’s also fishing in your local reservoir or lake, wild trees like oaks whose fruit can be edible and so on.

By: Zachary

Zachary — Sat, 05 May 2007 20:02:52 +0000

I have always wanted to try this also. I would be concerned with accidentally picking up something poisonous, though. Botany has never been my strong suit.

By: TiP

TiP — Sat, 05 May 2007 18:45:44 +0000

I do the same in the Fall here in Oregon, but instead of morels I hunt for Chantarelles and King Boletes (essentially the same as Porcini mushrooms). It’s great fun, like being on a treasure hunt. And you get to be out in the woods.

…BTW: I had no idea there were woods in Iowa.

By: lorax

lorax — Sat, 05 May 2007 16:04:18 +0000

Great post. This is something I’ve always wanted to try, but have never had the time to learn. So I limit my collection to young leaves and stuff I can recognize easily. Young dandelions should be available now, and are quite tasty before they flower.

I hope the ticks aren’t out yet in Iowa!