Morel mania: A favorite mushroom dodges spring foragers

It’s hard to overstate the mania for morel mushrooms.

From March to May, in Canada and the United States, morel hunting is a seasonal delirium in which novices and pros tramp the forests looking for fungus gold.

The wily morel is not easy prey.

Difficult to cultivate, morels remain mainly volunteers and they guard their secrets.

While they may grow in the same spot for years, they may also suddenly disappear. But when the spot is right and the temperature is over 40 degrees, the tasty mushroom grows in wild abundance, peeking out from under trees for a couple of weeks before they are gone.

According to fieldandstream.com, morels are found in and on the edge of forested areas, especially among leaf litter. They grow in the shade of trees like ash, aspen and oak. They cloak themselves in colors similar to the forest’s floor, making it difficult to find the early, smaller specimens. Often located on the southern slopes of fairly open areas in the early spring, as the season progresses, morels are found on north-facing slopes and tend to grow deeper in the forested areas.

They also love wooded areas which have been burned by a fire. These slippery ash-covered forest floors are often a challenge for hunters.

There is some money in the fungus; maybe not enough to make a hunter rich, but enough to encourage enthusiasm. The market for morels veers wildly from season to season and place to place. Sometimes fetching as little as 50 cents per pound and sometimes up to $6 or more, according to the New York Times. Serious morel traders carry backpacks suitable for 120 pounds of morels. At $6 a pound, that would justify a wet, itchy, thorny 12-hour day tromping through the forest. At 50 cents, maybe not so much.