Giant Wild Mushrooms! Harvesting and Drying Morels
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- (2022 Morels episode 18)
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In this episode we harvest the biggest morel we found this season. It gets us excited for what's coming next!
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00:00 Highlight intro
00:21 Day 33 Harvest 1
4:33 Giant morels!
6:03 Drying 1
7:23 Day 34 Harvest 2
15:08 Packboarding
15:21 Harvest 3
17:55 Drying 2 - Розваги
Morels are a sustainable wild food source that can sometimes grow in abundance. If you're new to foraging, make sure you have identified mushrooms correctly and be sure to cook morels before consuming them. We encourage people to be aware of the ecosystem they are harvesting in. We usually try to harvest in wilderness areas where the ecosystems aren't fragile or at risk and there are no local foragers. If you're in a local forest be aware that others might also harvest that spot with their family's. Using carrying containers with holes will allow the morel spore to escape to new areas that didn't previously have active mycelium. If you're concerned about large scale harvesting like this and aren't familiar with mushrooms, read more below.
Mushrooms are the fruiting body of the organism. The mycelium is the living organism under the ground, harvesting the morel does not harm the organism. A common analogy is that harvesting mushrooms is comparable to picking an apple from a tree, although it is a bit more complicated than that. As mentioned above, be aware of the state of the ecosystem you are harvesting in. If it's a fragile or damaged area it can be better to not harvest to allow it to recover. In the case of this video, we are harvesting over 100km into the bush from a small town, where no locals harvest apart from the ones we have taught, and other commercial pickers.
Morel mycelium is amazing because it forms vast amounts of sclerotia that are able to self reproduce more mycelium underground without the need to fruit morels. In the case of western North America, where we are harvesting, these mostly coniferous forests don't often produce morels in large quantities unless a forest fire occurs. In many cases the morel mycelium spends long periods of time, up to a century in the case of this patch, growing underground via sclerotia germination. For reasons not fully understood by science, a forest fire causes the mycelium to fruit morels the following spring - there are many theories as to why. Although forest fires can be devastating, they are a natural part of a forests life cycle, especially in northern boreal forests of north western Canada and Alaska. Morels and other wild harvested food are very nutrient rich because the soil is healthy and full of microbes in the environments we harvest. Microbes help escort mineral nutrients from the soil into the food we are harvesting, this is one of the many reasons that wild food is so valued.
In some cases have the opportunity as harvesters to benefit the ecosystem, without the use of soil tilling or heavy chemical fertilizers like in conventional agriculture. We think that alongside farming, foraging can be a great supplementary food source that needs to be valued for what it is and not looked down upon. In order to do that we, as harvesters, need to be aware of what and how to harvest responsibly. Be safe out there everyone!
Ive honestly never even heard of an operation like this. I missed my calling. Ive foraged plenty of mushrooms living in Vermont but the sheer volume and size of these patches is blowing my mind. This is the best thing on the internet.
Well we're happy to share in our foraging adventures! This patch was definitely better than most and we were very lucky to be the only people harvesting it.
I think they missed 1 about halfway through the video.
Never seen such large Morels. Thanks!
wow that's a huge Morel👍❤️😊
Just discovered you guys, and have watched several of your videos and what an amazing channel, better than any TV documentary I have seen. I love the outdoors and you guys show it how it is, absolutely fantastic!
Thanks Emma! That means a lot. We have some exciting plans for this year, is there anything you want to see more of in particular?
I love hunting burn morels!! It's a magical time with all these fires in the west and good rainfall this spring🔥 😊
Wow, love this! Thanks!
That morel is enormous. Thanks for another great video.
It was a big one for sure!
Just found your channel. Been binge watching. Great stuff.
That is a nice Job.
WOW LIKE SERIOUSLY WOW. I HOPE YOU GET THIS. I LOVE MUSHROOMS MY FAVORITE IS RED BEEF STEAKS. I HAD NO IDEA Y'ALL HAD. I WATCHED UR VIDEO I DIDN'T REALIZE MY MOUTH WAS DROLLING. THE HONEY HOLES. I APPLAUD YOU DOING UR HOMEWORK ON MUSHROOMS. THEM SPORES ARE THE KEY, GROUND, TEMPS. DNT DISTURB THE GROUND. WELL I GOTTA TELL YA CAN'T WAIT TIL NEXT HARVEST STAY SAFE N STAY HEALTHY PEACE
I don't think I'll ever get bored of watching these videos. Awesome :)
Thanks Luke! Glad we are able to share in our passion for wild mushrooms. Happy to see your spring mushroom season starting!
@@northernwildharvest Yes, the season is slowly starting here. I've already seen some reports about true morels but I'm focusing on Verpa bohemica now :) A new video will come soon.
So jealous of you guys. I grew up and live in N.E. Wisconsin and growing up always caught smelt right along with river steelies and suckers. Lol you might speed up your game if you nip the heads then come in and slice the belly. Also try soaking them in milk roll them in seasoned flour and fry. Ok sorry for all the old man advice. You guys have a wonderful family and I really enjoy tuning in.
That is some good advice, thank you (I'm a very amateur fisherman). I grew up along what used to be a world renowned steelhead fishing river but damage to the riparian zones has resulted in almost no steelhead now unfortunately. Every so often I'll see some big ones while snorkeling the river, but they are so few now-a-days that you aren't allowed to keep them. Lots of pink salmon, along with some coho and sockeye in smaller numbers. Thanks for watching👍
I’m binge watching and loving every second! Good job filming. I feel like I’m with you guys. I love seeing you back at camp too!
Thanks Michelle! So glad you’re enjoying it. We’ll try to film more of our camp life going forward, good to hear you like that part of our adventures.
@@northernwildharvest I'm loving you're vids too, everything you're showing us. Thank you.
You need a zoom lens for the wildlife. 🐻🦬🦘🦌🐒
But how do you save your backs??? And wouldn't knee pads be helpful? 🍄. (The only mushroom emoji is a poisonous one)
@@ginfonte3386 Glad to hear it Gin! A better camera with a good lens would be a nice addition. Having a decent quality packframe helps save our backs but it's definitely hard on the body. I do have knee pads and I'll use them if my knees are hurting but the straps tend to rub on the back of the knee. They are a good thing to have though, especially if you kneel down on a few too many tree roots expecting soft ash.
This looks just as fun as gold! I'm going to have to study more and watch for these treasures too
Heh buddy, thx for stopping in.
Stay safe this season on goldrush whitewater
I watch all ur video from tonyt itself..continuously watched them😅..
Amazing!
I honestly have no idea how I stumbled upon your channel but I really enjoy your videos! I’m surprised you don’t have more subscribers but I would imagine you will be getting many more soon! You should do some other videos on other types of mushrooms/plants you forage for. I saw in one clip you were collecting stinging nettles but I have no idea what purpose they have that people would buy them - keep it up 🤙
We plan on doing videos about other plants and mushrooms we harvest! Video on nettles will be coming in the future for sure, they are a great protein rich plant. I’ll show how to harvest them in a way that will increase growth and seed production following harvesting. Thanks for the comment! 👋
Those are crazy!!!!!!I'm excited if I find one thats the size of a thumb😁
It was an exciting find!
Nice
That's a monster for sure .
In the Southeast they don't seem to key to burned areas as often as elsewhere , and those monsters ( thickfoots ) seem to come on in the later part of the season and are often found in areas most never think to look , like around old ponds especially on the pond dams , along roadsides and fence rows , etc .
Before I.learned to pay attention EVERYWHERE , I only found them when walking to ot home from , more traditional morel habitats .
Morels and mushrooms in general don't seem to like to follow rules as much as we would like them to . Like gold , they are where you find them .
.
How is that big one even real?! Unbelievable find 👏
It was unreal to find it. Catch of the day!
@@northernwildharvest catch of the year
Omg that is impressive I'm so jealous lol
Huge grays
I loved to find that many that size
😊
Pozdrawiam z Polski 🇵🇱 ♿ 😊👋
cześć z Kanady
@@randym8963 Pozdro
I would die happy if I could fine a morel mushroom that big! Tell you what. Subscribed!
Great video guys that sure was a big mushroom 😮
Thanks! Alec still has that big morel sitting at home dried.
Hey Rich, thx for watching our journey
@@randym8963 love them Randy very interesting 😊
omg , thats amazing!!! how much can you guys eat?
What an amazing channel you have! I've watched every vid at least twice and look forward to each new one every Friday. I have learned so much since finding your channel. I didn't realize there was more than the blondes. I'm heading for northern Michigan in a few weeks for the season. I have picked out 3 burns that are within an hour of where I'm staying and am really looking forward to watching the progression of the different species especially the greys while I'm there. Keep the great vids coming please!
Wow thank you, mean a lot! We’ve had all winter to reflect and brainstorm on how to improve in documenting things so if there’s anything specific you want to see more of, let us know! We have some exciting adventures on the horizon this year. Good luck in Michigan, stay safe and i hope you have a great time.
@@northernwildharvest You mix a good amount of educational information in your videos, how about an instructional video where you go through the sequence of the species you find in a fire and the differences in each, all in one video? I'm pretty sure I have it from watching your vids but having everything on one video would be great!
@@greybearoutdoors6144 Perfect, we we’re already talking about doing a video like that over the course of this season. Hopefully it’s a good flush so we can get the footage we need. Thanks for the feedback, helps a lot.
Bro looking like the gigachad meme in that thumbnail.
As a kid we had 18 acres Indiana and picked these every chance they are delicious fried after you brine them to get the critters out hehe
Sounds like some good memories! Can relate to that! Foraging mushrooms is a family pastime for me as well.
Amazing video. Eventhough it's really hard work you got some good vibes and the harvest seems really fun. I'd be very interested in the different species growing there. Whats called blonde fire morel might be quite a few different species, scientifically speaking.
Thanks for the compliment. It's hard work but we love it - hard to capture how difficult it can be but i'll try to do document the whole process better this coming season. There's a ton of unknowns with morel species, we've watched the taxonomy change over the years which is fascinating. This morel is a Morchella tomentosa - they usually start off gray and can turn blonde as they mature, little hairs visible when young. That said morels are known to hybridize and be be polymorphic, so it becomes very difficult to categorize them. For example what we call "naturals" are actually within the burn morel super species M. septimelata, sextelata, eximia which from a consumption perspective, are very similar to non-burn associated morels. The M. tomentosa and M. exuberans are distinctly different and almost always grow after the "naturals" so in the field we call the later morels, fire morels, even though the majority of what we're harvesting are technically fire morels. All a bit confusing but we're open to discussion and any insights from personal experience if you have any!
@@northernwildharvest Wow thanks for the detailed reply definitly gonna read into that. I'm from Germany so unfortunatly not familiar with the species you got. But yeah I agree taxonomy can be really confusing with the new molecular genetic classifications. But really cool to hear thanks for sharing the information and good luck for the new season.
@@KRTRWZRD Neat to have you viewing all the way from Germany. Look up M. tomentosa unique underground structures if you get a chance. Hope you have full baskets this season!
i´ve watched all your vids in a couple of days and enjoyed every one. keep up the good work. I would love to see more of your harvesting as well, like other mushrooms or berrys. also, how did you prepare the giant poof mushrooms? greets from Germany
Thanks for the kind words. More harvesting of different plants, berries and mushrooms and other more niche products to come. The puffballs that weren’t for spore we pan fried with butter garlic and soy sauce sliced about 1/4” they are similar to tofu in my opinion. We’ll try to capture more of the cooking in the future, when we have the energy 👍
I can spot a buck knife a mile away lol
For as many morel mushrooms that you are find you all might want to think about getting another door dryer I think you'll really need it it's messed up when you have to sell them to your supplier when they're fresh you probably don't get as much compared to that they were dried
Working on it :) hard part is fitting everything we need while traveling long distances.
I can’t find that type of ventilated storage container. I’ve researched for hours. I have the frame pack but those basket don’t exist on the web.
As aweful as fire can be it revilalizes the earth🙏🙏
Agreed, living in the fire as the new plant life springs to life is something incredible to see. Since we are there at the perfect time, I plan on doing a short video in the future, showcasing the new life as it first re-emerges.
Some times they look like they are making their own rays of sunshine Eh. Euphoria with no side efects.
The sun rays, and the heat they carry, helps in the release of spore.... Just think, these spores from fire morels may grow for a 100 or more years before they bear fruit again.
Something so small its hard for the naked eye to distinguish from dust particles floating in the sun, and have the potential to start a fruitful crop so far into the future.
I find it profound that a firemorel glowing in the sun, seems to proudly show off its promise to the future.
@@randym8963Its a beautiful thing Rando. Well said by the way. Spores no doubt, remain sustainable for a long, long time. I have a theory Spores are trapped in the trees whether they are absorbed by tree roots then into the tree OR get caught on their bark and become incapsulated by the barks growth. In your burn sites you find more morels in certain areas where its been burned..but not to much or burned...but not quite enough. I'm just guessing( never been their) but I assume theirs that fine line of the proper amount of burning or heat and you get bigger productive flushes more flushes in those just...right..spots. Well maybe spores have been released from those trees layers that received just enough heat to expose them but not enough heat to destroy them. Maybe the spores aren't in the ground for a long time ...THEY are IN the TREES. Its not the burn damaging the mycelium or the host tree to the mycelium being damaged and the mycelium reacting to repair itself. Could be that the mycelium wants to fruit all the time whether its healthy or unhealthy! It just can't because there no spores around. Then BOOM! 346kwinzillion spores are released from this dam burnt up tree and BOOM! Royal flushes of moorels. maybe?
@JohnnyFish a little bit of this and a little bit of that lol
Each mushroom has a K zillion spores. They have a little hook on each spore that can hook onto you, trees, passing animal etc..
The spore can drop off about anywhere.
Each variety of morel is different and the science of each is in Flux as we learn more each year. For example, the variety you pick fruits almost every year apposed to the fire morel only fruits for 1 or 2 years after a burn. The firemorel organism grows underground and forms a web matting that breaks down organic compounds for years and years. I suspect firemorels are more mycorhizal and the tree burning stops the exchange of sugars from the tree host and that triggers fruiting.
Interestingly I can show you multiple sites where we dried hundred of thousands of pounds of morels and even after 20 years there are no morels growing there.
Simply put, we don't know very much about the morels and their varied cycle of life.
@@randym8963 very cool! Makes sense.
I guess thats why you never find a morel patch in the middle of a wild open meadow or hay field with no trees in it. No tree roots?
It appears that y'all are only interested in the head.. but I do save the stem as well.. but with the size of the bonanzas that you are finding, I suppose it really doesn't matter.
Stems are often covered in dirt/debris in burns so many buyers will only buy mushrooms with 1/4” or less stems here
@@northernwildharvest yes! I do understand that now and after further watching the video.. I realized that you sell them, so it makes sense now.. we only pick what we can find for our own personal use.. southern Minnesota
@@tomkarau Yes and there's also other reasons to have short stems when dehydrating them. We often keep our stems longer when we're harvesting fresh for our own dinner - provided they aren't dirty. Cheers, hope you have a good season this year!
I wonder do these sites ever get a second flush? thanks for sharing
It’s common to see a few flushes the spring following the fire. It’s possible to see some parts of the burn produce again 2 years after the fire but its much less common and usually smaller yields overall.
My morel season is about to kick of here in west central Illinois. Awesome video 👍 what part of the country are you in? Thanks for the content
We're in Canada, most of the time harvesting in remote wilderness areas. Good luck this season! hope you have a great time
would be nice if you explained the dryer more and the flashing process
I explained a bit more in a previous video on our channel, but we're also planning to do a more in depth video dedicated to the whole process in the future.
@@northernwildharvest Awesome.Just subscribed.That would be great
Never saw morels this big.
Those were big but we have actually seen bigger ones while running large scale drying operations where we handle thousands of lbs a day. Sometimes you see a huge one and go “wtf that’s a monster!” Always exciting!
@@northernwildharvest Jesus, that's crazy.
Even bigger?
Yep, not often though
@@northernwildharvest do boletes not grow up there? Haven't found any videos on your channel about them aside from those couple of specimens.
Not even neoboletus erythropus? Although I doubt you could sell those.
They grow up here we just haven’t filmed harvesting them much, we don’t film all of our harvests. Some years we see quite a few king boletes but the most widespread species we find is Aureoboletus mirabilis
Love watching you guys video. Are you guys on private land or public land?
We just happened to have some friends that owned a remote ranch which sadly burned during the fire. That’s where our camp is. We’re harvesting partially on their land but most of the time on crown land in Canada. Usually we’re in areas that have almost no private land so it was pure chance that we had friends in this area.
@@northernwildharvest That wasn't chance, that was pure luck!
Oh ok sad to hear that
I've always cut the stem off at the ground, but I noticed you cut it off completely, leaving no stem. Can you please tell me why? I've never seen or heard of that before. And why do you dry them?
1/4” or less stem where we live is the commercial standard. It’s partially because we’re drying them and the caps rehydrate better as well as it saves valuable dry rack space. It also helps prevent debris and insect contamination. Drying them improves their flavour and we’re too far into the bush to sell them fresh, they store well. Long stems are fine for personal consumption or fresh market.
Wow in germany 1/2 not full crazy❤
Could you please tell me why you only cut the caps off and leave the stems behind?
1/4” or less stem length is the commercial standard where we live. The stems don’t rehydrate as well and the most insect and debris contamination usually comes from the stem.
Hello ❤❤❤❤
Where are you filming from?
Western Canada
How long after the burn was this?
First spring after.
What is the difference between natural and fire morels? Is it just location?
It’s complicated. Generally naturals are morels that don’t require a burn in order to flush. In western Canada, the term naturals has been used for the early burn associated morels for a long time because they are so similar to true naturals from the black morel clade. The early burn morels, which we refer to as “naturals” (M. eximia, M. sextelata, M. septimelata) often grow along side true naturals such as M. brunnea or M. snyderi in the burn. They often come up together, early in the season, look and taste similar with a similar texture. For this reason all the early flushing morels have been called naturals here, since before the modern scientific studies had categorized them as new species.
What we call “fire morels” in western Canada, colloquially, are morels that flush later in the season. They are the M. tomentosa and M. exuberans and they are distinctly different than other morel species. Often double or triple walled and very durable. The clear divide in fruiting time is the main factor that sets them apart, from a harvesting perspective. We even look for different ground temps between the early burn morels and the late burn morels.
My comment OMG
Mine “holy crap” 😂
Know how I can get my hands on some greys? I'm in Australia, we don't get them here.
There’s multiple species of “grey” morel here, send us an email northernwildharvest@gmail.com
@Northern Wild Harvest Apologies I meant greens! Will email you now.
What does flashing mean?
The final stage of drying where you add more heat to finish off the drying process. In the case of morels we use dry cool air until about 80%, and then finish off using heat between 135f and 185f which heat flashes the mushrooms once there isn't a risk of cooking them.
...Do they generate by spores?...Do you need to leave some behind?...
We leave some behind but mushrooms are the fruit of the organism. The organism is the mycelium in the ground. Mushrooms fruit so the spores can reach areas that don’t already have mycelium and can start germinating. They are dropping spores as we carry then out, so as long as the mushrooms aren’t too small we are actually helping spread the spores to new areas. This is one of the reasons wild mushroom harvesting, when done correctly, is one of the most sustainable food sources on the planet.
Ours isn't black like that but yellow
It's messed up when y'all find a patch that is blowed out that's a loss
Where are you guys at BC? Or?
ya BC
My husband just sent me this. Y’all ever tried growing them with the “green slurry” method?
Yes we have tried a number of different slurry methods. The species we get on burns usually require burning to fruit again but we've done slurry's with non-burn associated morels quite a bit. A number of species grow around my yard naturally from years of laying out my gear after a season.
Wow, Where is this place?
I pick mushrooms
Awesome…How Come yous cut so much stem off…Isn’t that A lot of Weight left on the ground…Or do they grow back Quicker that way…Shrooms for Thought!!!🍄
Couple of reasons for shorter stems. Commercial standard here in western Canada is 1/4" or less. It's partially to reduce debris and insect contamination which starts from the ground. It is mainly a quality thing but it also saves drying rack space. Stems don't weigh as much as caps and 10lbs of clean mushrooms is better than 10.5lbs of dirty mushrooms. :)
We often do see later mushroom flushes come from the same stem base, which is why we try not to pull them out of the ground.
Thank you for that detailed response…very cool…Makes sense…I’m thinking from a chef’s Perspective I guess Lol..Some of us Like the stem…lol..but these are of the Highest Quality…Prime…I get it…🍄
@@robertgraham1821 keep in mind that most of the species we harvest in burns, don’t have long stems until they are getting to be over mature. The Morchella americana is a better example of a morel with a nice long stem while still fresh and they are less common in burns. That said, we’re willing to harvest to spec if it’s worth our while. 👍
what is the point of drying them like you guys do, about how many pounds do you find in one day, do you guys eat them or sell them
We sell some and eat some, they last a really long time dried and rehydrate very well. We’re usually too far in the bush to ship them every day, so we dry them. If we sell to a buyer in the field, the price is often quite low.
Fun fact: True Morel mushrooms are a little bit toxic if it(True Morel Mushrooms) is improperly prepared, 51 customers got food poisoning at a Dave's Sushi restaurant outlet all because Dave's Sushi restaurant serve the customers improperly prepared and raw True Morel mushrooms 🍴🍣😬😨😰🍄
Why do dry them all? I don't understand.
They re-hydrate incredibly well, one of the few mushrooms that's just as good if not better after drying. We are very remote so shipping off our own fresh mushrooms isn't viable sometimes, drying them allows us to market them after the season is done, avoiding the low field price.
@@northernwildharvest ok. Thanks. I'm in Indiana and my store purchases burn morels from the west coast of the United States . Sometimes the morels have a lot of little white worms. Any insight as to why that might be? I love watching your channel.
@@loishunt2347 The worms can be a problem in all food, not just wild food. We try to be very careful to avoid them - they start in the ground and work up through the stem. The benefit of harvesting and drying our own is that we can grade them well and flash them at the correct heat and limit insect issues. Personally if the worms are an issue in a morel patch, I usually just stop harvesting there because I don't find it ethical even if they are harmless, although sometimes it's hard to spot them. Glad you're enjoying our channel! :)
@@northernwildharvest Thank you
Hello, where do you sell and what is the price?
send us a message at northernwildharvest@gmail.com
What the heck do indo if i aee a bear while picking morels or anything eles 😮😮
Why leave so much stem behind, especially if you are selling them by weight?
It’s the commercial standard on burns where we live to have 1/4” or less. Mainly to reduce debris and insect contamination. The stems also don’t get a vary good dry ratio and take up a lot of drying rack space.
Never mind... you explained it well in another comment below.
@@michaelspunich7273 All good, I should have been mentioning it during filming. It's a fair question and honestly we often leave our stems longer when harvesting just for dinner, it's just common to see buyers reject peoples mushrooms or make them sit there cutting stems before buying them.
Why do you not pick the stem
1/4" or less stem is the commercial standard on burns here. I often leave them longer when picking for dinner. It's to limit debris and insect contamination and maximize dryer space mainly.
Leave roots in the ground
Where are you at? Beautiful!
We live in Canada. Most of the harvesting we do is in wilderness areas. :)
if you need help for harvest, i'm your man !
Man this is BS why can't we have them like that in kansa
This was a rare find for us here!
Why do navel mushrooms appear more frequently in burnt forest areas?
iam form nepal🇳🇵cantak nambar please sar
So, twenty minutes of picking them. Very educational. 🙄