Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Morel along with all the Morel containing recipes presented on this site, with 8 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Morel as a major wild food ingredient.

The Morel, Morchella esculenta (also known as Merkel, Sponge Mushroom, and Molly Moocher), is a species of honeycomb-shaped fungi and is a member of the Morchellaceae (morel) family of ascomycete (that typically reproduce sexually using non-motile spores) fungi. They prefer well-drained sandy, chalky and lime-based soils and can be found in a range of habitats, including open woodland, under ash and elm trees, and in old hedges and gardens. They are most frequent during the first three years after a forest fire. They also grow in the same spot every year so once you've spotted a morel growing area you can return again and again. It is a native of Europe and North America. It is one of the earliest of the edible mushrooms, first appearing in April and most prominent in May. Morels are beloved of gourmands, especially in France, but they do contain small amounts of toxins which are removed through cooking and should never be eaten raw. This also removes the risk of poisoning from the Helvelacea which look very similar but are poisonous if not cooked.

Morels are very variable in appearance but always have caps covered in deep honeycomb pits. The texture is brittle and the cap and stem form a single hollow chamber when cut (see image). The caps range from being conical to being egg-shaped and even globular. Typically the pits range from light ochre to brown but can be paler and the pit walls are often lighter than the pits but can be the same colour. The spore print is a creamy yellow and the fungus has a distinctly 'mushroomy' smell. The stipe (stem) is white or pale brown, tends to be grooved or wrinkled and is fused to the cap (indeed, the hollow of the stem runs into the cap). Typically morels grow between 3 and 10cm tall, and are 3 to 6cm broad with stipes about 3cm in diameter.

As an early-fruiting fungus the morel is distinctive and culinarily important. For the most part it can only be confused with other morels which are edible. The one exception to this rule is the False Morel or Turban Fungus (Gyromitra esculenta) which is highly poisonous. It is rare in coniferous forests and bears a large (often fist-sized) cap that's chestnut brown and deeply convoluted rather than being pitted. Its most distinguishing feature is that the stem, though hollow is multi-chambered, just as the cap is. True morels have hollow stems. This is why all morels should be halved lengthways to check inside (this also aids with even cooking).

If picking, care should be taken not to confuse it with the uncommon but deadly poisonous Red-Staining Inocybe Inocybe patouilarde which grows in the similar habitat but is distinguished by its fruity smell which becomes foetid in older specimens. It is distinctly bell-shaped with a raised dome even at the button stage, its olive green gills and cut stem are distinctive and they slowly colour red when cut. The fungus bruises brick red, often in radial lines from the cap. As it ages the uneven radial margins of the cap tend to split.

Its firm texture makes the Morel excellent for pickling and preserving by drying it also makes an excellent mushroom powder if dried and ground.

Possible Confusion:

The False Morel (Gyromitra esculenta), pictured, but this is more lobed or brain-like rather than the pitted and honeycomb like cap of the morel. The False Morel also differs in not having a completely hollow cap.

The Black Morel (Morchella importuna) can be similar, even in colour when young, but usually the ridges are arranged in fairly regular vertical lines, unlike the completely random honeycomb of the Yellow Morels. The ridges on the Black Morel also become darker than the rest of the cap with age, unlike the paler ridges of Yellow Morels.

The Common Morel (Morchella vulgaris) is very closely related to the Morel. It is usually more grey in colour specially when young. The ridges of the cap are thicker and the pits are more irregular and labyrinthic in shape. The Morel has thinner edges and polygonal shaped pits. Intermediate forms exist that may be hard to differentiate at the very young or very mature stage.

For other edible mushrooms, see the guide to edible mushrooms

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants