Morel mushroom delicacy

“Morchella, the true morels, is a genus of edible mushrooms closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi. These distinctive mushrooms appearhoneycomb-like in that the upper portion is composed of a network of ridges with pits between them.

These ascocarps are prized by gourmet cooks, particularly for French cuisine. Commercial value aside, morels are hunted by thousands of people every year simply for their taste and the joy of the hunt. The American state of Minnesota has adopted the morel as its state mushroom.[1]

Morels have been called by many local names; some of the more colorful include dryland fish, because when sliced lengthwise then breaded and fried, their outline resembles the shape of a fish; hickory chickens, as they are known in many parts of Kentucky; and merkels or miracles, based on a story of how a mountain family was saved from starvation by eating morels (the spelling "merkel" reflects a corruption of the word "miracle" as spoken with an Appalachian dialect common to SW Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky area).[2] In parts of West Virginia, they are known as "molly moochers." Other common names for morels include sponge mushroom. Genus Morchella is derived from morchel, an old German word for mushroom, while morel itself is derived from the Latin maurus meaning brown.”

“Free Quick and Easy Mushroom, Morel guide to cleaning and cooking

Hello everyone, I have been finding morel mushrooms since I was a little kid. As mentioned in one of my other article's, I gave you a guide on how to find Morel Mushrooms, now I am giving you a guide on what to do with them once you have found the ever so popular morel mushroom.

First you want to start by taking a knife and chopping off any dirt that you find on the stem.

Second you want to get all of the bugs out of them, the first thing you want to do is split them down the middle long ways with a knife.

Next you want to run them under some water washing out all of the bugs. Once you have washed the bugs out you want to place them in a bowl of salt water. 2 Tablespoons of salt per bowl of water should be enough. You can use the regular salt found at your local grocery store.

After cleaning all of your mushrooms, you want to let them soak in the salt water over night. This will continue to clean off and kill any insects that you may have missed.

Once the soaking process is done, you need to determine how you want to cook them.

I like to take 3 bowls and fill one with flour, and the Second one with cracker crumbs and the Third one with beat up eggs.

The first thing you do is soak the morel in the egg bowl, then you roll the morel in the flour and last roll it in the cracker crumbs.

Once you have completed the Three bowl system, place your morels in a frying pan that has heated up on medium heat with about a quarter of a cup of vegetable oil in it.

I like to cook my morels until then are golden brown, but you can cook them less or more depending on your liking.

Last step is to take a plate and place a paper towel on top of it. This will assist you in absorbing the left over vegetable oil.

Use a fork or something to scoop the mushrooms out of the pan and place them on the paper towel.

I like to add salt to mine, but again you can use your personal preference.

Allow to cool and enjoy.

This concludes my quick and easy guide to cleaning and cooking morel mushrooms.

Last but not least remember that these treats are very rich and if you eat too many of them you can get sick.

I have heard that once you get sick on them, you will not want to eat them again for a very long time, so be sure to eat them in moderation.”