One of mushroom hunters' favorite phrases is that the tasty fungi just "pop up" out of the ground before they're prime for picking. But the Morel Mushroom Hunting Club is here to set the record straight with an incredibly cool time lapse of a morel mushroom growing and dying over the course of 15 days.
If you've been hearing the pop-up life cycle line among your foraging friends, you might be amazed solely that the spongy fungi grow instead of sprout. But even if you were in the growth camp like us, we're still amazed that it only takes two to three weeks for the edible mushroom to fully form.
Known scientifically as Morchella esculenta, these wild edibles are really fascinating. Morel mushrooms have become a bit of a staple of the spring season for outdoorsmen and are going to be even more plentiful with all the rain we're having this year. Morels have a touch of nostalgia as many mushroom hunters view the search as an adult Easter egg hunt.
This video is also interesting in that, if you're out searching your local shroom grounds and you find a tiny morel, know that you can wait a few more days and it'll likely have grown even bigger—as long as you can keep all the other egg hunters away from it, that is.
But true morels really are a delicacy; you can sauté them, fry them up, or even preserve them. So the bigger the wild mushroom, the less you'll have to pick. Right?
If you haven't had much luck hunting morels yet, know that they're are typically found on or around dead elm trees or other fallen forest trees, but they also have a habit of popping up where you least expect them. Check out our article on the 10 Best Places to Find Morel Mushrooms for some help.
Happy hunting!
NEXT: HOW TO SPOT A MOREL MUSHROOM (AND THEIR FAKE LOOKALIKES)
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