Anyone ever dehydrate morel mushrooms???

[lacy]

Has anyone dehydrated morel mushrooms? How did you go about it?
I looked it up on the web and there is lots of conflicting information. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[cReAtIoN gRoAnS]

Hey there!

The best way that I have found to do this is to freeze them while they still have some consistancy to them like you would find in the wild. When ready to use them batter them before they thaw and fry or grill them and this usually keeps them from getty mushy. If you let them thaw out they get really interesting. But I have never try the drying thing. I usually only find 40 or so a year so it makes for good fresh eating. I do know some guys in Missouri who are big time hunters and they find thousands and the only way they will store Morrels is in the freezer (these are 20 year veterans who have tried it all.)

By the way...when hunting morrels DO NOT use a plastic sack. Use a breathable bag of some sort. Mushrooms spread by spores and when you pick a mushroom it senses it is going to die and is "sneezes" out all the spores it has for future reproduction. If you have them in a plastic sack chances are good that all those valuable spores will end up stuck in the bag and the bag usually ends up in the trash. Use a cheese cloth bag. Some guys will even pick the mushrooms and hang them in a cheesecloth bag in their spot overnight to let the spores explode onto the ground thus making their spot more prolific each year. To many morrel hunters hunt their spots dry by picking all the mushrooms and not letting spores spread. Or you can leave one mushroom there and it will do the job naturally.

Oh...established morrel spots are usually great spots for turkey hunting....they love the things.

Later!

[leelanau_ferg]

We dry them on old window screens. We wash them, soak them in salt water, slice them in half lengthwise, then lay them out on the screens in the garage. Once they're dry, we just put them in quart canning jars. They'll keep as long as you can keep your mitts out of them (which for us is usually only 6 months or so) Once rehydrated,we cook em just like they were fresh. Had a good season so far, found about 12 lbs or so. Blacks are almost done and whites ought to be up soon-we're expecting 70s and rain.