What Is Dry Land Fish(morels)

Dry land fish is an edible mushroom that grows from April to mid May (may differ depending on where you live). They're found just about all over the world. they can grow about up to over 12 inches and look like a sponge.

netted bag(like the bags oranges come in)the NETTED BAG is important you'll see why coming up

walking stick

that's all you need if you're not going to hunt for to long, if so have a bottled water it's a lot of walking.

in my 3 years of hunting for dry land fish i've learned some things form experience. dry land fish don't like poor, dry, or rocky soil(they like moist good soil). they also like to grow close to rotting wood or decaying wood (like dead tree stumps, decaying branches, etc).

The best time to start looking for morels depends on where you live. where i live in virginia the best times is from April 15th to may 15th. so do some research and find out when the best time for your area is.

remember that netted bag well here's what it's for. when you pick a morel and put it in a closed bag, you are keeping the spores in that morel from falling out so there for there will not be any there next year. also it helps keep them aired out. When you put it in a netted bag the spores will fall out as you are walking.

Remeber to use the netted bag. so that we can perserve these delicacies for years to come.

When hunting for morels watch out for false morels. false morels are morels that can be mistakend for true morels and are responsible for about 20 percent of mushroom related deaths.

there are three distinct features of a real morel:

1st:Cut lengthwise it will be hollow from bottom of stem to top of cap. It'll look like a rubber mold.

2nd:Bottom of the cap is attached to the stem
Cap and stalk all one piece

3rd:Cap is full of Ridges and Pits


notice in picture 1 the Bottom of the cap is not attached to the stem

in picture 2 and 3 it doesn't even look like a morel

in picture 4 the morel on the left is a real morel and notice how the morel on the right isn't hollow it's a false morel

in picture 5 the cap looks more like a brain it has wavy lines. a real morel has ridges and pits like in picture 7.

morels taste great, there are all kinds of recipes for tasty morels
i prefer having them covered in cornmeal and frying them but you may like them some other way so here are a couple recipes:

MOREL MUSHROOM SOUP

4 c. morels, fresh
1 med. onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 c. asparagus, cooked
4 c. milk
4 tbsp. whole wheat flour
Salt & pepper to taste

Saute morels, onion and celery in a small amount of oil until barely tender. Stir in flour gradually, add milk, salt and pepper. Add cooked asparagus. Simmer until slightly thickened


Wood Family Favorite in a butter entrée

1 big haul of fresh morel mushrooms
2 lbs real butter (or margrine)
1 doz eggs
1 box saltine crackers

Mushroom Preparation - Wash and cut fresh mushrooms into quarters, slicing long way. Soak in large bowl of salt water to remove and kill all those little pesty critters. Leave soak in refrigerator for a couple hours.

Preparing the Feast - Pre-heat skillet (cast iron preferred) and about 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium low heat. Crack eggs into large bowl and beat till blended well. Place a large amount of crackers into a ziplock bag and roll with a roller to finely crushed crumbs and place in large mixing bowl.

Place a hand full of cut and cleaned mushrooms into egg batter and coat real good. Individually cover mushrooms in cracker crumbs. Place in pre-heated skillet (cast iron preferred) and butter. Saute in butter for approx 5 minutes over medium heat turning as needed

Note: add more butter as needed and be carefull not to over heat the butter.