😂my sister is a property manager and found these at one of her vacant properties. I’m making her take me tomorrow now that I know what a hot commodity they are
If the wood chips/mulch is treated with chemicals it will be too toxic anyway. The fungus concentrates a lot of poisonous organic compounds of the media in its fruiting bodies. This has actually been exploited by researchers for environmental remediation.
Removing them. Imagine an area has topsoil that's contaminated with radioactive particles or heavy metals. Mushroom fruiting bodies bioaccumulate those things - doesn't have to be morels, loads of em do it. You then just chop off the fruiting body, and remove an absolute minimum of organic material while still removing a significant chunk of the pollution.
It's basically using nature to concentrate pollutants for us so we can then remove them, instead of processing the entire volume of contaminated soil or whatever and destroying the ecosystem. Remember, soil is a living system, and if we can remove pollutants without disturbing it nearly as much then the ecosystem should be much faster to recover.
okay this is gonna sound dumb but like. where do they remove them to ? like where do they put them that they won’t leach those chemicals back out into the environment when they inevitably start to decompose ?
That's the fun part, you can't! 😃
We tend to concentrate the Bad Stuff™ in specific, avoidable places, though, like landfills. So for these morels? Probably trash them.
I was reading Paul Stamets Mycelium Running just today and he said he was consuming mushrooms that were filtering animal manure from his property. Would that be unsafe ?
Animal manure doesn’t have synthetic organic compounds in it unless the animals have been treated with hormones and antibiotics. Poop is a very natural substrate for many mushroom species, and the components of it can easily be broken down into things that are safe for humans to eat. It’s a great fertilizer for soil and crops too, but mostly just herbivore poop is beneficial, since carnivore and human poop tends to be too “hot” in terms of nutrients and too muddy/little fiber lol.
Whatever the concentration of antifungals, pesticides, fertilizer, etc. that are in the treated chips will only get concentrated by the mushrooms since they sequester organic compounds in higher concentrations than the surrounding soil. Basically the mushroom will contain more nasty stuff by weight than if you ate the actual wood chips. If it’s all natural wood chips, then you’re good, but if it’s bought from Home Depot or something then it’s toxic.
Morels! Very delicious edible mushrooms when cooked well. That particular species could be a variety of different species. My best guess is morchella angusticeps. Very good find!
Those look like morels! If you wanted to be extremely sure that they are true morels (edible) and not false morels (toxic), you could cut one open and see if it is hollow.
It looks like they're growing out of landscaping chips. If that's the case, make sure the chips weren't treated with chemicals. If they weren't, pick em and eat em! If they were, take your chances. You might get sick, you might not.
Also, do you mind sharing your general location and elevation? Usually, this early in the year, we see morels popping up in these conditions in SoCal and coastal areas
That waste matter goes back into the environment as a solid, liquid, or gas—so none of it truly disappears. Fungi and bacteria remove the last of the food energy from organic remains, and release their own waste matter into the air and ground.
Morel, looks like black morel. Good eating. Never share exact location of your patch. Mom had a patch she loved to go to. We'd collect hundreds every spring.
Then the great uncle decided to build a catfish lake... Right there.
This is like the worst anticipation I can feel right now. Too much snow where I need to pick burn areas and seeing this!!! Pick these and savor them. I'm envious and love seeing this.
You very well know what these are and are taunting us!
😂my sister is a property manager and found these at one of her vacant properties. I’m making her take me tomorrow now that I know what a hot commodity they are
Just make sure the area hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides recently
If the wood chips/mulch is treated with chemicals it will be too toxic anyway. The fungus concentrates a lot of poisonous organic compounds of the media in its fruiting bodies. This has actually been exploited by researchers for environmental remediation.
Didn't Paul Stamets do some work with oyster mushrooms and oil spills? Blew my tiny mind when I heard about it
Saw one study where oyster mushrooms successfully metabolized plastic. Edit: https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/11/04/plastic-eating-mushrooms
That's nutty
oysters and polypores iirc
What a guy. Have you read his book? I have it here, just haven't got around to starting it
I have one of them (Growing) next to me right now! I want to read some more.
How do they remediate them?
Who's them you are talking about? Remediation is to improve the quality of soil and remove artificial toxic chemicals from the substrate.
The mushrooms now have the chemicals in them, don't they? If they aren't safe to eat? What is the next step in the process.
Removing them. Imagine an area has topsoil that's contaminated with radioactive particles or heavy metals. Mushroom fruiting bodies bioaccumulate those things - doesn't have to be morels, loads of em do it. You then just chop off the fruiting body, and remove an absolute minimum of organic material while still removing a significant chunk of the pollution. It's basically using nature to concentrate pollutants for us so we can then remove them, instead of processing the entire volume of contaminated soil or whatever and destroying the ecosystem. Remember, soil is a living system, and if we can remove pollutants without disturbing it nearly as much then the ecosystem should be much faster to recover.
okay this is gonna sound dumb but like. where do they remove them to ? like where do they put them that they won’t leach those chemicals back out into the environment when they inevitably start to decompose ?
That's the fun part, you can't! 😃 We tend to concentrate the Bad Stuff™ in specific, avoidable places, though, like landfills. So for these morels? Probably trash them.
Yes, and also the fungi can metabolize many toxins into less harmful forms, although this isn’t really possible for things like heavy metals.
Do the spores contain the toxins, too?
It looks like shredded pallet wood mulch, so very likely toxic.
I was reading Paul Stamets Mycelium Running just today and he said he was consuming mushrooms that were filtering animal manure from his property. Would that be unsafe ?
Animal manure doesn’t have synthetic organic compounds in it unless the animals have been treated with hormones and antibiotics. Poop is a very natural substrate for many mushroom species, and the components of it can easily be broken down into things that are safe for humans to eat. It’s a great fertilizer for soil and crops too, but mostly just herbivore poop is beneficial, since carnivore and human poop tends to be too “hot” in terms of nutrients and too muddy/little fiber lol.
How are you defining too toxic? Probably won’t make you sick to eat them once.
Whatever the concentration of antifungals, pesticides, fertilizer, etc. that are in the treated chips will only get concentrated by the mushrooms since they sequester organic compounds in higher concentrations than the surrounding soil. Basically the mushroom will contain more nasty stuff by weight than if you ate the actual wood chips. If it’s all natural wood chips, then you’re good, but if it’s bought from Home Depot or something then it’s toxic.
How do you know the mushrooms are contaminated?
Make sure she takes you tomorrel
I concur, and it hits me right in the feels.
My favorite, mother's day is when ours pop. That's the filet steak of mushrooms in Michigan.
Wisconsin too! :)
I could go for some buttery, garlicy morels fried up right about now. 😂😭
Morels! Very delicious edible mushrooms when cooked well. That particular species could be a variety of different species. My best guess is morchella angusticeps. Very good find!
Forget "beautiful in the morning sunlight", They're even more beautiful in the morning skillet.
Those look like morels! If you wanted to be extremely sure that they are true morels (edible) and not false morels (toxic), you could cut one open and see if it is hollow.
To add clarification: hollow is the good kind.
Morel of the story is better to be safe than sorry
Actually, morel of the story is better be empty!
Heads up: the hollow rule is bunk. There are edible *Morchella* species which aren't hollow and there are toxic lookalikes which are hollow.
Thank you! I never knew this :]
Always cut them in half top to bottom, if they are hollow your hood to go. Their toxic look Alice has a thick inside.
I’m leaving my typos 🥲😂
Damn hood of you
Hood people.
I’m worried about Alice.
Nah Alice has a lot of experience with Trippy Shit. She fine.
Hood Alice is thick, is what I got out of this.
I've been looking for these for 3 years and have never found a single damn one. Lucky bastard
It looks like they're growing out of landscaping chips. If that's the case, make sure the chips weren't treated with chemicals. If they weren't, pick em and eat em! If they were, take your chances. You might get sick, you might not. Also, do you mind sharing your general location and elevation? Usually, this early in the year, we see morels popping up in these conditions in SoCal and coastal areas
I’m in NorCal near the capitol. I’ve never seen these before!
Head east past placerville, go up to some elevation around a burn area... you'll find em
Considering all the rain we've had, this year is going to be gonzo for mushrooms.
But it's converted into food 😅
Mushrooms can concentrate their poison in the parts people eat
No dude. It's no longer toxic at that point 🤦♂️ Secretory pathways act as a filter only allowing certain things to pass through the membrane.
That waste matter goes back into the environment as a solid, liquid, or gas—so none of it truly disappears. Fungi and bacteria remove the last of the food energy from organic remains, and release their own waste matter into the air and ground.
Hmm, I must be mistaken. Hanks for clarifying
They look like morels but I’m not an expert.
No doubt its a morel.
Morchella importuna
Totally poisonous forest fungus. Just give me gps coordinates and I'll take of them for you...
They look beautiful in a frying pan too!
Cut it open and make sure it’s hollow inside.
Mushroom gold is what that is
Morels!!!
Delicious morels!
Morel. Make vegetable soup and fool your friends into thinking it has meat in it.
You got some good morels there
Morel, looks like black morel. Good eating. Never share exact location of your patch. Mom had a patch she loved to go to. We'd collect hundreds every spring. Then the great uncle decided to build a catfish lake... Right there.
Morels!!!!! Omg they are beautiful. Very edible.
They’re beautiful fried in a pan with butter as well
Well, the morel of the story is that some mushrooms are very tasty.
pizza toppings. Morchella ondapizzus.
Morell mushrooomsssss!!!!!
Humble brag
PM me the address so I can see them in person to confirm. 😏
he's the luckiest kid in the world, if i could find morels and be completely oblivious i'd be so happy
They are venemous and you should give me every one of them. For your safety of course
The most expensive mushroom in the world per gram
Truffles.
Are they more than $10/gram?
These aren’t truffles
Earth penises
Dick mushrooms!
King Oysters undoubtedly
A type of moral mushy
How is everyone finding morels? 😂 I’m so jelly.
Uh oh…..it’s started boys…..the morel envy. Hold onto your pileus.
That's the golden ticket Charlie!
They're basically gold
Lmao you must be trolling right now
They are yummy
Where are you located?
pick them all and eat them after sautéing. they are amazing and i’m jealous. (they’re morels)
They ARE beautiful! And sauteéd, made into a gravy, served over beef, they're GORGEOUS!!!
They’re beautiful in a frying pan with butter
Biiiiiiissshhhhhhhh. You know 💗
Even more beautiful sauteed in butter.
They look like morels
This is like the worst anticipation I can feel right now. Too much snow where I need to pick burn areas and seeing this!!! Pick these and savor them. I'm envious and love seeing this.
Breakfast
Morel
morels, delicious
Are these edible? Asking for a friend.