Morel Morchella esculenta
Right now
The morel is not yet covered by the Sporia radar: there is no daily map for this species.
When to look
From March to May. Favourable temperatures: 8 to 16 °C. It usually fruits 5 to 16 days after at least 15 mm of rain.
Where to look
- Habitat
- Ash, elm, orchards, chalky soils, old fellings/burnt ground
- Soil
- Lime-loving (chalky/neutral soils) (pH 6.5 to 8.0)
How to recognise it
Ovoid to globose cap 3 to 10 cm, hollowed with deep, irregular pits separated by paler ridges, never mere folds. The cap is fused to the stem all the way round its edge, and cap and stem form a single continuous hollow: cutting the mushroom in half lengthwise is the decisive test. Stem whitish to cream, rust-spotted towards the base, finely scurfy. Flesh thin, elastic, greyish white, smell faint.
Dangerous look-alikes
False morel
Gyromitra esculentadeadlyReddish-brown cap, lumpy and folded like a brain or a walnut kernel, without distinct pits bounded by ridges; the inside is divided into irregular chambers instead of forming a single continuous hollow. Its gyromitrin partly survives drying and cooking: no preparation makes it safe.
Wrinkled thimble cap
Verpa bohemicapoisonousCap wrinkled and folded lengthwise rather than pitted, and above all free: it sits on the stem like a thimble and is attached only at the top, so a blade can be slipped between the two. Stem white, stuffed with cottony flakes. Sources disagree on its status: MycoDB classes it as ‘edible’ and several authors eat it well cooked, while French Wikipedia calls it poisonous raw or undercooked and reports, after large portions or repeated meals, digestive upsets, loss of motor coordination and even comas. We class it here as ‘poisonous’ as a precaution, for want of consensus.
Foraging tips
Two distinct risks, not to be confused. The first comes down to cooking: raw or undercooked, the morel contains a heat-labile haemolysin and causes digestive upsets; cooking it for at least 15 to 20 minutes after blanching, discarding the water, is enough to destroy it. The second does not depend on cooking: a cerebellar syndrome (ataxia, dizziness, tremor, visual disturbances, appearing 3 to 24 hours after the meal and usually subsiding within about twelve hours) is documented by poison centres after morels that had been properly cooked, following a large portion (more than 100 to 200 g per person) or several meals close together. Stick to small quantities and space out morel meals.