Monday, March 28, 2011

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah - Fresh Morels in My Fridge


God blessed the Georgian woods (or at least parts of them from what I hear) and God bless camoshroomer for hunting them out and being kind enough to share a little bit of his glorious bounty with me. Very few hunters I know share their bounty like Camo does. A top-notch and very responsible hunter and that doesn't just apply to mushrooms. But enough accolades, Camo knows what a great guy he is.

Which is what had me hanging out at the thriving Columbia airport Sunday night after 9:00 pm waiting for Camo who had caught the last flight out of Memphis in his attempt to make it home (he almost didn't make it out of Hotlanta).

He arrived with one medium sized carry-on wheeled suit-case and an equally large duffle bag. Morel hunters who travel by air take note.
Being a true mushroom hunter, he didn't have any clothes, toiletries or anything like that. Both bags were full of more bags, each and every one full of morels . That other stuff can be got next year or mailed back. We all know what is the most precious cargo this time of year.

On the drive back home I couldn't help but to keep leaning over to grab the bag and open it up and take in a deep breath of that intoxicating aroma. There are very few things better than that first smell. To me that is the first smell of spring.

When I got home I quickly trimmed the largest three I could find and prepped them for the pan.

The aroma of them cooking in the butter for the first time is another first great smell of spring.

But smell them all you want, the real joy is in the eating. This was the first batch. I'll let you guess how many more I made.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Now you have me Drooling!

benmcclanahan said...

I would like to know your preferred way to cook them.

ahistory said...

My favorite way is to just roll them in a little seasoned flour and fry them in a butter and a little veggie oil.
I don't like to wash or soak mine but I will give them a very quick run under the faucet and a shake to get them wet enough so that the flour will stick.
For the ones pictured, I seasoned the flour with pepper, a pinch of garlic salt, and a couple shakes of grated Parmesan cheese.

Anonymous said...

I think everyone would like to be friends CamoShroomer right now. :D If those people at the airport only knew what was in those bags... I'm sure the TSA would have had to take some sort of sample. Awesome morels! Hope for some here soon.

Anonymous said...

If the morels don't get through ... the terrorists WIN !!!

-- Feral Boy

Mycologista said...

Wonderfully mouth-watering images.