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April 26th, 2010
Secret Mushrooms The thing about morels is that it's sort of a cult. Only a few people seem to know the secret, and they're ignored by everyone else. Odd, because you go to the store and pay $12 for four of them, or you walk out into the woods and come back with a bagful. They're valuable. But more importantly, they're indescribably yummy. Part of gathering morels (besides knowing that they tend to favor growing under dead elm trees that have reached a certain stage in their decay) is developing 'morel vision'. This is like agate vision. Once you get the knack for it, morels start popping into view all over the place. But if you don't have the vision, your gaze will move right over them without registering their existence. It can be uncanny, really, because the vision can come and go. One moment you'll scan over a patch of grass and see no morels whatsoever, and then 'POW', morel vision will engage and suddenly you realize that there are actually about eight of them sitting there, right in front of you.
There are lots of ways to enjoy these mushrooms, but for me and Rebecca, the best is just to sauté them in butter with a dash of sea salt and fresh ground pepper. A touch of brown carmelization on the edges, and you have yourself quite a treat.
Now's the time if you'd like to look for them yourself.
Get out there and search under dead elms. A treasure might just await you.
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They're
early this year. Peeking up from the leaves and grass, their alien heads
emerging into the light. Yup. It's the morels. 
We
told Mom, who is an expert mushroom gatherer and had just a week ago
voiced her intuition that the morels would be early this year (last year
we weren't gathering until after Mother's Day), and she went out and
promptly returned to her home with a lovely harvest.