Morels in Colorado.

Two different morel seasons

Natural morels

Lower and mid-elevation, April into June, following the snowmelt line uphill as spring progresses. Cottonwood bottoms along Front Range creeks, aspen stands, and old orchards and disturbed ground are the classic places. In a dry spring there is very little; in a wet one they are worth looking for.

Burn-site morels

This is the Colorado phenomenon. In the first and second spring after a forest fire, burn scars can fruit morels in extraordinary quantity — the fire kills the trees the mycelium lived with, and the fungus responds by fruiting heavily. It is the one situation where a Colorado forager can genuinely fill a basket.

Practical realities of burn foraging: recent burns are dangerous ground. Standing dead trees fall without warning, footing is unstable and ashy, and access is often legally closed for rehabilitation. Check closures first — see rules and permits — and never go alone into a fresh burn on a windy day.

Identification

• Cap: a honeycomb of genuine pits and ridges, not a wrinkled or brain-like surface. Colour ranges from pale tan to nearly black.
• Completely hollow. Cut one lengthways: a true morel is a single continuous hollow chamber from the tip of the cap to the base of the stem.
• The cap is attached at the base to the stem, not hanging free like a skirt.
• Habitat: soil, especially disturbed or burned ground and near hardwoods.

Cut every single one in half lengthways. Hollow all the way through and cap attached at the base is the entire test — and it is the test that separates true morels from the false morels that are not safe.

False morels — the real risk

Gyromitra species are the problem. They appear in the same season and habitat, and they contain gyromitrin, which metabolises into a genuinely toxic compound; poisonings have been serious and occasionally fatal. Tell them apart:

• False morels have a wrinkled, lobed, brain- or saddle-like cap, not a pitted honeycomb.
• Cut lengthways they are chambered or cottony inside, not a single clean hollow.
• They are often reddish-brown.

Also note the Verpa species, whose caps hang free from the stem like a skirt and attach only at the very top. Not in the same risk category, but not a true morel either.

Cook them thoroughly. Always.

Raw and undercooked morels make people ill even when correctly identified. They contain heat-labile compounds that need real cooking — sauté them properly, several minutes, no pink centres, and do not taste-test raw. Some people also react to morels combined with alcohol.

Handling a big find

Morels are hollow and often full of grit and insects. Halve them, soak briefly in salted water if genuinely dirty, then dry them thoroughly before cooking. They dry superbly — better than almost any mushroom — and rehydrate well, so a burn-site haul should mostly go into a dehydrator. See drying at home and rehydrating dried mushrooms, where the soaking liquid is the prize.

Common questions