Wednesday 11 April 2012

How to identify morel mushrooms


There are two types of edible morel that you are likely to find in the UK – the morel (morchella esculenta) or semifree morel (mitrophora semilibera).

The morel (morchella esculenta)

morel mushroom

Cap: light brown-grey honeycomb-like, pitted head. Younger caps are darker than mature ones

Stem: pale yellow, with a mealy surface

Inside: when cut in half, the interior of a morel is hallow

Size: they vary in size, and the cap can grow from around 5cm-20cm

Spore print: cream to pale brown 


The semifree morel (mitrophora semilibera)

semifree morel mushroom

Cap: dark grey-brown cap, thinner flesh and a free cap rim (not attached)

Stem: a longer, paler stem than the morel

Inside: hallow

Size: smaller than the morel, with a cap growing to between 1cm-4cm

Spore print: cream

Warning

Do be aware that there is one deadly poisonous type of mushroom that can be confused with the morel – it is called the false morel (gyromitra esculenta), or sometimes the beefsteak morel.

Also, morels and semifree morels are (reportedly) delicious, but never eat them raw.

Want to know more: what is a morel mushroom?

3 comments:

  1. So that is how to best identify it easily. Thanks for the post. Really helpful.

    magic mushroom kits

    ReplyDelete
  2. Easy to identify? yes! However it could be very discouraging to see your note about False Morel. A photo and explanation would be better and more helpful.
    (comment is feedback only not criticism.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are five types of 'morel' if you include the 2 lookalikes and Morchella vulgaris, esculenta and importuna

    ReplyDelete