Fungi Friday - Yellow Morels and Some other Characters

Found a good batch of coveted yellow morels aka Morchella esculenta.

I look for dead trees in the forest with bark falling off them to guide me to where they like to grow.

This is an example of a full grown morel.

This one was still expanding. They are a bit more gray and small while they are growing.

This is an example of and older one, it started turning reddish brown. I ruined this poor millipede's home.

I also found this "peckerhead" aka half-free morel or Morchella punctipes. These are edible though they are really brittle and when cooked don't have a nice texture. They seem to have a more mushroomy taste than other morels.

I also found a Verpa bohemica which is in the morel family. These are distinguished by the cap not attaching to the base of the stem. The cap is only attached at the top then hangs down like a dress around the stem. I don't eat these because there are some toxins in them if not cooked the right way, the toxin causes bad gas and in big doses lack of coordination.

I found this false morel aka Gyromitra brunnea. I know people who eat this but it contains a toxin called monomethylhydrazine which in high enough doses can cause liver and kidney failure as well as seizures as it depletes you of vitamin b6. The toxin builds up over time and is also carcinogenic. So i avoid these even though they are exciting to find since true morels often grow near them.

These are pretty easy to differentiate from a true morel.

I ended up making a morel pork loin sauce with asperagus. It turned out really good, here's the recipe i used. https://www.williams-sonoma.com/m/recipe/roasted-pork-loin-with-morel-sauce.html

Happy #fungifriday @ewkaw @qwerrie @nikv @gulia.peito @melinda010100 @annephilbrick @brianphobos @xorb

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