After our third spring here in our woods, I finally found them: those elusive Morel mushrooms. I found one by accident and then began hunting in earnest. I harvested about twelve yesterday and plan to hunt again in the coming days. It was so exciting and rewarding when I sauteed some in butter and fried a couple after tossing them in flour. I hope I find many more to experiment with different recipes. I also hope to find and try many Missouri edibles this spring and summer.
[PLEASE NOTE: Anything here I've attempted to identify is an educated guess but by no means fact. I'm no expert] Bolete Mushrooms are the giants of the mycological realm, lurking in the damp woods but not at all hidden because they are, well, giant most of the time. It was Boletes that shocked me a few summers ago with their enormity - mushrooms bigger than dinner plates, some near a foot tall. I like to call the pale ones pancake mushrooms because they look and feel like pancakes to me. The great edible Porcini mushroom is a bolete but sadly doesn't grow in Missouri. This summer I have seen a great many boletes though not as giant as I have in the past. They are incredibly fun to spot - even a small bolete is a giant among the other modest mushrooms of the woods. Many are very dense and sturdy, too, which helps them last many days longer than other mushrooms. What makes a bolete unique, and a good way to identify a bolete, is it's underbelly: beneath that cap
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