1lb Dehydrated Morel Mushrooms

What are morels? 

Morels are arguably the most sought after mushroom in the entire United States, if not the world. This tasty fungus has a very short growing season ranging from 4-6 weeks. Unlike many other gourmet mushrooms that are consumed, morels have a meaty texture and earth like nutty flavor that makes them a favorite ingredient for many cooking enthusiasts. 

There are many different types of morels and these differentiate depending on the geographical location in which they grow. Coming in all shapes and sizes with a honeycomb like appearance morels are an elusive treasure of our forests. Every year around mid-May til the end of June, foragers gather by the dozens in hope that they can find enough to take home for dinner. Here at Mountain River Morels we have dried morels year round to supply your mushroom cooking needs. 

Morels of Midwestern states (Wisconsin, Michigan, etc.) spawn off the mycelium of dead elm trees tend to be blonde in color with a shorter growing season in comparison to those in the Pacific Northwest (Idaho, Oregon, Montana, California). Although occuring natrually in late spring, those that grow in the Pacific Northwest tend to have a longer growing season a forest fire occured the year before. These forest fires in coniferous trees tend to produce a bumper crop of morels roughly 70 percent of the time. Morels of the Pacific Northwest can come in all colors from blonde to brown and even dark velvet grey. Morels are a truly one of the most fascinating mushroom in our eco system. 

Cooking with morels

The scientific name for this elusive mushroom is Morchella, which is latin for sponge. This name demonstrates their ability to soak up water like a sponge once they have been dehydrated from their original state. Morels, like most plants are about 90% water and lose an abundance of their weight when dried. However, their sponge like nature allows them to be reconstituted in your favorite broth, water, milk or wine returning them to their original size within 30 short minutes. Morels are highly perishable when fresh and must be stored in cool temperatures with a short shelf life when fresh. Dried morels however can be stored away in your cupboard and used in your desired dish year round. 

Why are dried morels so expensive? 

For one morels are an extremely hard mushroom to cultivate in relevance to mushrooms like oysters, crimini, shiitake, etc. Although they have been cultivated in countries such as China, morels taste best when foraged from the wild elements of nature. That is why the our morels are wild all American hand picked. It is also important to note that 8-10 fresh pounds as picked makes about 1 dry pound until reconstituted back to their original state.