In between all the wildflower images I captured this year I was able to gather quite a few of these tasty little morsels, or should I say Morels, this little guy is the Black Morel one of the best edible mushrooms that grow anywhere.

You can usually find them in a lot of the same places that I get most of my wildflower images, deep humus rich hardwood forest with an abundance of Poplar or Black Cherry trees. If you can find the “right” place in the woods ( a very closely kept secret) and the conditions are right you can definitely pick a great harvest of this fungus.

I usually find my biggest crops after a few nights of 50 degree or higher temps and couple good soaking rains, finding them by the hundreds is not unheard of, but to be quite honest I couldn’t possible eat that many so I now leave plenty to propagate for the next years crop. I also like to make sure I pinch them off at the stem as not to disturb the underground system that keeps them coming back, and when picking them I always carry a potato bag so that the spoors can fall from the bag and reseed the population.

There is also the Yellow and White Morels in this area as well, but not nearly as many as the Black, that are just as edible. Just be very sure of what you are eating because there is just not that many mushrooms that you can go out and pick and bring home to eat, it is always better to go with someone who has hunted them for a while to make sure you know what you are doing.