Morel Hunting In NC An Antidote To Coronavirus Weariness

NORTH CAROLINA — The annual hunt for the morel mushroom was probably never as welcome as it is this year. Morel aficionados in North Carolina are notoriously secretive about the best spots to poke around in the woods for the spring delicacies. And with group socializing on hold to control the spread of the new coronavirus, mushroom hunting is a good and potentially delicious way to pass time.

Folklore is spun around the morels — really, just decaying fungi that pop out of the ground under just the right fusion of atmospheric conditions and pollen counts — because they’re so elusive, and those who hunt them are so protective of the location of prime spots.

Even seasoned foragers are often disappointed. One year might produce a bumper crop of morels and, the next year, the same spot can be fallow. The morel whisperers at The Great Morel may not be able to pinpoint exactly where to find the woodsy, earthy spring delights, but they do offer mushroom hunters a crowd-sourced map to help determine when the spores are likely to start popping.

The Great Morel’s interactive morel Sightings Map shows where the first mushrooms of 2020 have been found. A report from Georgia was the first, and while the site says the season arrived a bit early there, it’s a “sign for many that the season is finally approaching.”

Morel hunters have been rewarded in North Carolina already this year, according to the map, which shows sightings in Charlotte, Huntersville and Mooresville. Launched in 2017, it also includes seven years of historical reports of mushroom hunting in North Carolina.

In March, reports were taken from more than 230 mushroom hunters, mostly in the Southeast and South Central parts of the country, as well as along the West Coast.

The 2019 map shows the first morels were found in North Carolina in March.

The Great Morel is accepting reports of morel sightings through its website, or by emailing them to sightings@thegreatmorel.com with the ZIP code, city, state and date found, along with any other helpful information, such as weather conditions. The website will be updated daily as prime hunting season arrives.

Hunting mushrooms isn’t just a folksy tradition. Morels are so prized they can sell for commercially for around $20 a pound. In some cases, they can cost hundreds of dollars a pound.

The Food Network gets positively weepy over morel mushrooms. Alex Guarnaschelli of “Iron Chef” called them the “sacred mushroom,” wrote food author Simon Majumdar, who said morel mushrooms “will bring a look of appreciation to every chef” he encounters.

“The morel, or morchella, is actually more related to the truffle than it is to other mushrooms and, like truffles, is the fruit of a fungus that sprouts in the moist soil of woods and forests,” Majumdar wrote. “There are debates about the number of different types of morel, but the most common ones are black morels and yellow morels. They both have a stem and a conical body that is covered with pits and ridges like a honeycomb, which makes them instantly recognizable to anyone who spends time hunting for them.”

Mushrooms are typically found from March to May. Morels prefer certain habitats, for example near the base of dead or dying elm trees or around ash, tulip and old apple trees.

Experienced hunters also report finding them in areas around washes, downed trees or logging areas, old flood plains and burn sites.

The website Mushroom Appreciation offers morel hunting tips. After nighttime low temperatures warm up to 40 degrees or above, head out into the woods on a warm morning after a spring rain.

The big thing to know before heading out is how to recognize the difference between an edible morel and a poisonous false morel that can make you sick or even kill you. This page has everything you need to know about morel mushroom identification.

No matter how tempting, “don’t pick every mushroom you see,” the site suggests. “Leave a few so they can continue to drop spores and you and others can enjoy them for years to come.”

Also, be sure to take along a map, compass and a phone with GPS tracking. While practicing safe social distancing, it’s also a good idea to take along a friend. Mace or pepper spray is a good idea, too, in case you run into a moose, bear or dog taking exception to you tromping around the woods.

Mushroom Appreciation cautions against coming right out and asking hunters where precisely to find morel mushrooms, though.

“If you have superior charm and people skills, you might try asking about local morels in a roundabout and modest way,” the site advises. “Just beware that you may not get the desired response, or you may wind up with directions to the local haunted forest!”

Or, might we add, directions to a local snipe hunt.