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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Foraging and Cooking Black Morel Mushrooms

black morels

In the Midwest, most people will be familiar with morels, especially in Minnesota where it’s our official state mushroom. Most likely people will probably describe the morels they find as either blondes or greys. Those species grow around dead elms, cottonwoods, as well as a few other scenarios. There is another morel that can be found though: the black morel.

If you purchase dried morels from a store most likely you are getting blacks. Black morels are foraged in mass quantity each year in the United States, dried and shipped all over the world, they form the bulk of the commercial morel market.

I knew of black morels, and that they liked to grow in burned areas on the west coast, but it wasn’t until a couple years ago that I discovered through talking with other Minnesota mushroom hunters that blacks grow here in the Midwest as well. After poking around and asking some questions, I learned that they like to grow in stands of aspen. Other than that, their Midwest habitat remained a bit of a mystery to me, until now.

aspen clear cut

Areas of aspen that have been clear cut will often give black morels. The mushrooms will continue to fruit during the spring for years to come.

Habitat

In Minnesota, black morels will be in the state’s northern coniferous forests.After the yellow and grey morels start to fruit in the southern  portion of the state, as a rule of thumb, you might want to wait a week or two before venturing up north to look for black morels, since the temperature can still be much colder than up there, which will slow growth a bit.

Habitat wise, these are a real bugger to discover unless you have some inside knowledge of local spots or a lot of time on your hands. Stands of aspen will give natural black morels, which seem to grow in harmony with nature as opposed to reacting to death and decay. Confusingly, they will also grow in areas that have been disturbed as well.

On my first foray hunting black morels near Bemidji Minnesota, we found the heaviest fruitings to be in areas of aspen that had been clear cut a year or two prior. Just like with burned areas, the black morels will keep coming for a few years after their habitat has been disturbed, although they will gradually reduce in number year after year as the land heals.

Cooking

See a basic video of cleaning morels here.

These can be prepared just like other morels. You could cut them in half if they are large, but if they are very small I like to leave them whole, which allows them to catch and hold a bit of sauce, and highlights their interesting shape. To clean, I like to give them a quick swish, one at a time in cold water to remove any debris, then allow them to drain on a towel. After drying on a towel for 30 minutes or so, they will have shed water they may have absorbed, and will be ready to cook.

black morel in northern minnesota

A developed black morel. Notice how the cap almost comes to a point.

A Black Morel Allergy?

I had read in David Arora that some people have an allergy to species of black morel, but didn’t really expect I would see it. Let me tell you though, it’s true. At a foray/culinary expo I was at a couple years ago, two guests out of 27, both of whom had eaten species of yellow and grey morels for years both experienced severe intestinal distress after eating small quantities of mushrooms for the first time, even after they had been thoroughly cooked.

The guests showed the same symptoms I experienced with my one and only run in with leccinum poisoning: nausea, emesis, and diarrhea, followed by a feeling of relief once the mushrooms have been removed from their system.

At first I was really confused, I mean think of how many black morels are sold every year, how are more people not having reactions to them? Here’s my take, keeping in mind I’m a chef, not a mycologist.

There’s many, many different species of morels. The morels we were picking were natural black morels that like to grow in aspen and coniferous and hardwood forests of Northern Minnesota. Black morels picked from burn areas you will get if you typically by them in a store, are a likely a different species of black morel, and the allergy *should* reside with the particular species we were picking in Northern MN.

More 

Forager’s Guide to Morel Mushrooms

35 Essential Wild Mushrooms Every Forager Should Know 

Related

Previous Post: « Sunflower Crusted Whitefish With Two Lilies
Next Post: Black Morel Hootenanny: 2014 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Darren weimert

    May 4, 2015 at 7:34 am

    What time of year do porcini’s fruit there?

    Reply
  2. Jeanne

    November 29, 2018 at 10:31 am

    Can you find black Morel’s in the smoky mountains?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      December 1, 2018 at 8:01 am

      Hi Jeanne, sorry I can’t speak to that, but I wish I could. I would contact your local mycological society, or look for a facebook group.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Hunting and cooking morels sponge mushrooms, or fish mushrooms in Minnesota, says:
    December 1, 2014 at 1:45 pm

    […] We know a lot more about morels than in the past. Plenty of hunters might say they pick “blondes and greys”. There are many more individual species though. I’m not even going to attempt to directly identify the individual species, but I’ll list a few of the different ones that I notice, since I do think some of them cook up a bit better than others, although the differences are slight. To keep things easy, for now I would say you can think of morels as 4 different types: blondes, greys, deep woods morels, and black morels (these are covered in a separate post here) […]

    Reply
  2. Morilles noires – Cuisine-nature says:
    May 15, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    […] <! – -> Source link […]

    Reply
  3. 4 Top Facts of the Black Morel Mushroom says:
    December 22, 2020 at 1:14 am

    […] https://foragerchef.com/black-morels/ […]

    Reply

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Alan Bergo
Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of t Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of the plant, besides the pods in my opinion. They need to be cooked to be edible. 

I only pick from common milkweed in areas where there’s very large colonies. 

I leave some buds to flower on each plant, I also avoid any tops that have insects or monarch caterpillars. Plenty of food to go around. 

#milkweedisafoodplant #foraging #milkweedbuds #asclepiassyriaca
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
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