Mushroom Surprise

No. This is not a recipe. No. It is not a bad memory from school lunch menus either.

I was surprised to find a mushroom growing in my flower/rock garden earlier this summer. It was a cool wet May so seeing mushrooms is not exactly all that surprising....but the type of mushroom was.

This is a Morel Mushroom. It is of the yellow and cream variety. It is considered a delicacy. People spend all kinds of time and energy hunting them. I picked it. Took pictures of it and put it in the fridge....but couldn't bring myself to eat it...although I am 99.9% sure that it is safe. I have eaten them before. Our friends Del and Aleta had us over for breakfast last summer after finding a mess of them and she battered them and fried them for us and they were absolutely delicious. I really like mushrooms anyway but these are rich and tasty with a sort of nutty type flavor. I can see why they are such a sought after find.

So....I will check in the same place next year to see if there are any more....no guarantees. It seems to take a perfect storm of temperature, moisture and growing conditions to make morel mushrooms.

They don't look that attractive....they look like a sponge or a brain....but a cone shaped one. But I guarantee that they taste a lot better than they look. But just make certain you have an edible mushroom and not a poison one before you indulge.