Yellow morels are prized for their rich, nutty taste — they sell for $20 a pound. These honeycomb-looking mushrooms usually spring up in forested areas starting in March or April. But this year, Oklahoma foragers started finding morel mushrooms in late February — about a month ahead of schedule.
Jacob DeVecchio is the founder of Oklahoma Fungi, a business that promotes mushroom education and encourages foraging. He says we have a mild winter and recent rains to thank for this year’s extended morel season.
“There's a saying that we have in the mushroom community, and that is when it rains it spores,” he said.
The mushrooms are thriving after recent rains followed by mild, sunny weather.
“If you're seeing morels now, one of the best things that you can do is go out and forage them,” DeVecchio said. “That way when it rains again, these organisms have enough water and hydration to produce even more.”
Morels are tasty and safe when cooked, but there are poisonous and inedible lookalikes out there. DeVecchio says to never eat mushrooms raw, and to be confident you know what kind you’ve found.
Oklahoma is one of the only states in our area without an official mushroom guide, although DeVecchio hopes to change that later this year.
“With our major biodiversity in our state, there's a lot of mushrooms to be researched and to be studied,” he said.
DeVecchio has already compiled a list of 384 fungi that grow in the state. He reckons about a quarter of those are edible, and 10% are poisonous.
“And then the remaining mushrooms, as a scientific community, we don't actually know what the mushrooms do,” he said. “Whether they taste good, whether they're poisonous, whether they have psychoactive properties.”
If you need help identifying a mushroom you’ve found, you can email him at oklahomafungi@gmail.com. You can also learn more at Oklahoma Fungi’s third annual Morel Mushroom Education class at the Myriad Botanical Gardens on April 7.
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