Wicked long day: morning ablutions, 8 plus hours of driving, 3 plus hours of woods scrambling, 2 plus hours of instruction / discussion, and a few meals. This time the wily chanterelle did not escape!

Developing a new mind-set to focus on edibles. If it is not fairly large, tasty, and abundant, the harvest return is not worth its cost. Patient awareness of the micro- and macro-environment to consider candidate associations that might lead to growth and abundance patterns and likely harvest time indicators. Thoughtful focus on color, shape, and size of the first of a target species before harvest to program careful review of the near and further environment to detect more individuals. Harvest practices that respectfullly steward resources and seek to enhance future abundance. Investment of dirt time and record-keeping to allow deeper understanding of a few places and species. Much to think about!

At least dozens of mushroom species seen Saturday. Slippery jacks in the hundreds, a few puffballs, Amanitas including pantherina, my new friend garlic Marasmius copelandi, and - finally! - both golden and white chanterelles! [Cantherellus cibarius and subalbidus.] A demonstration on cleaning, slicing, dry sauteing, and eating chanterelles with garlic - yummy!

I had the pleasure many years ago of going out with a close friend of mine and his wife to hunt for morelle mushrooms. They were experts. This was a real eye-opening experience for me. I learned so much this way in an extremely short amount of time: when to look, optimum locations, types of trees to look near, and exactly where to look. I found dozens' of 'em within 30 mins to an hour, whereas in the previous 40 years of my life in similar environments, I hadn't seen a single one.

Morels in Central CA are a Spring thing. Disturbed earth, especially where there has been fire withing a few years, seem the prime location clues.

Once you see a morel growing in its natural state it is difficult to imagine mis-identification.

How did they taste?

My friends seemed to greatly prefer just lightly saute-ing the morelles in butter, and they were very good indeed. We went out for several days in a row within a block or two of their home in the woods, and each time came back with a couple hat fulls. They also had quite a bit of rhubarb, and we cooked that with quite a bit of sugar and used it as topping on top of vanilla ice cream. Awesome.