2022 Michigan Morel Season is Here!

Mushrooms on Pine View Golf Course by Corey Seeman

My Michigan morel mushroom groups are starting to light up with mushroom finds so it’s a good time to remind folks that May is morel month in Michigan!

The actual fruiting period can be anywhere from late April until mid-June depending on where you are in the Mitten & what species you are hunting. Contrary to common belief, morels are not confined to the northern part of the state – some of the best picking (such as the photo today) can be found in southern Michigan.

MOREL HUNTING TIPS

• Make your first several mushroom hunts, whether for morels or other edible mushroom species, with someone who knows mushrooms.
• Buy or download a mushroom guide. A good guidebook is “The Mushroom Hunter’s Field Guide” by Alexander H. Smith, recognized as America’s foremost authority on mushroom identification, and Nancy Smith Weber. There also is a very good mushroom identification booklet available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.
• Be prepared to cover a lot of ground and to experience disappointments when searching for morels. Some spots yield mushrooms year after year, while others skip several seasons between crops.
• Don’t expect to find morels easily if you are new to the pastime. Because they blend into their background of last fall’s leaves and dead grass, they are hard to see even if you are looking right at them. Your “eye” for morels will sharpen with practice, and you will need to retrain it every spring.
• Most important of all – know what you are eating! You will need to know the difference between a “true” morel and the “false morels,” such as beefsteak mushrooms, which are poisonous. (See morel identification information.)
• For more information on morel mushroom hunting in Michigan, visit Pure Michigan or Midwest American Mycological Information.
• And finally, the Morel tag on Michigan in Pictures is chock full of great advice. Happy hunting!!

Corey took this on May 4th in Ypsilanti last year. Head over to his Flickr for his latest!

2021 Michigan Morel Season is here!

White Morel by Rick Wolanin

This week I’ve started to see people posting their finds in the various morel hunting groups I’m in, so it’s time to declare the 2021 season officially underway! Michigan in Pictures has a ton of information about Michigan morels, including hunting tips & how to avoid the mildly toxic false morel.

Rick took this photo back in May of 2014 near Boyne City (home to a bangin’ morel festival) and you can see more in his Morel Mushrooms taken within 5 miles of Boyne City gallery on Flickr.

The 2020 Michigan Morel Season is Underway!

Yellow Morel (Morchella esculenta) by J Sommer

The online mushroom groups I’m in are already filling up with photos of happy people & their hauls of a popular Michigan springtime delicacy – morel mushrooms! The Michigan Department of Natural Resources  offers a Morel Mushroom Hunting page that features information about morels & morel identification, hunting tips, recipes, and also a map of the large burn sites in forested areas are ideal for morel mushroom hunting, especially in burned areas where jack, white or red pine once grew. Grassy and other non forest areas are not as likely to produce morels:

May is morel month in Michigan, but the actual fruiting period is from late April until mid-June, depending on where you are and what species you are hunting. Contrary to common belief, morels are not confined to the northern part of the state – some of the best picking is in southern Michigan.

MOREL HUNTING TIPS

• Make your first several mushroom hunts, whether for morels or other edible mushroom species, with someone who knows mushrooms.
• Buy or download a mushroom guide. A good guidebook is “The Mushroom Hunter’s Field Guide” by Alexander H. Smith, recognized as America’s foremost authority on mushroom identification, and Nancy Smith Weber. There also is a very good mushroom identification booklet available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.
• Be prepared to cover a lot of ground and to experience disappointments when searching for morels. Some spots yield mushrooms year after year, while others skip several seasons between crops.
• Don’t expect to find morels easily if you are new to the pastime. Because they blend into their background of last fall’s leaves and dead grass, they are hard to see even if you are looking right at them. Your “eye” for morels will sharpen with practice, and you will need to retrain it every spring.
• Most important of all – know what you are eating! You will need to know the difference between a “true” morel and the “false morels,” such as beefsteak mushrooms, which are poisonous. (See morel identification information.)
• For more information on morel mushroom hunting in Michigan, visit Pure Michigan or Midwest American Mycological Information.

J Sommer took this photo back in May of 2017 near Saginaw. See this photo and more in their Fungi gallery on Flickr.

There is a bunch more information about morels at the morel tag on Michigan in Pictures.

Morel Time: 2018 Edition

Twin Morels worth a zoom, photo by Mark Smith

Mark took this photo back in May of 2015, but I’m hearing from friends in Leelanau that morels are starting to pop. We’ve had some great rain over the last few days all around Michigan and the temps are about right for morel magic!

View Mark’s photo background bigilicious and see more in Mark’s slideshow.

There’s more morels action in the Michigan in Pictures Morel tag and some great tips in this Morel Madness feature on my Leelanau.com website.

More spring wallpaper for your computer too!

2016 Michigan Morel Season Underway!

backyard morels, photo by Jason Rydquist

I’ve been getting word from various parts of the state that morel mushrooms are being found! They’re one of my favorite Michigan foods, and over on Absolute Michigan today I’ve put together Five Things you need to know about Michigan Morels. It includes a new online tool that could be of use to morel hunters so check it out!

View Jason’s photo bigger and see more in his slideshow.

Lots more morels on Michigan in Pictures.

Finally Friday: Michigan Morel Edition

Finally, photo by Julie

Reports of morels are coming in from all across the state. They’ll be celebrating our delicious woodland friends this weekend (May 8-10) at the Mesick Mushroom Festival and next weekend (May 14-17) at the National Morel Mushroom Festival in Boyne City.

If you’re looking for Michigan morel photos and features, click that link for a ton from Michigan in Pictures. Happy hunting!!

Julie says these plus a few others will make a great topping for a ribeye! View the photo bigger and see more in her Spring/Summer slideshow.

Michigan Morel Alert: Morels in Honor Edition

Morels at the Honor Motel, photo by Honor Motel

In spring, a young Michigander’s fancies turn to … morels! Here’s a shot from Honor in the northwest Lower Peninsula showing a handful of black morels found on Tax Day. It’s earlier than I would have expected but hopefully it signals a good, long season for these woodland treasures.

Lots more Michigan morel photos and information on Michigan in Pictures!

View the photo bigger on Facebook and follow the Honor Motel for more.

PS: If you’re finding morels anywhere, post a comment here or two our Facebook.

Michigan’s 2014 Morel Season has arrived!

The White Morels are just starting. Taken in the City Limits of Boyne City, Michigan, along with some others I might add., photo by Rick Wolanin

I’ve started to get reports of morels trickling in from here in Traverse City and other locations in the state. While we’re a ways from full-on morel madness, it’s a good time to start getting excited about the return of this once-a-year woodland delicacy.

Over 7 years, Michigan in Pictures has accumulated a lot of morel features – here are some favorites along with a couple from other sites:

• Over on Absolute Michigan I wrote Five Things You Need to Know about Michigan Morels that has some good info.
• Cherie wrote a great feature on morel collecting on Leelanau.com that includes a recipe.
• When you’re hunting morels, you need to know the difference between true morels and false morels, which are mildly poisonous.
• Here’s a great old photo of mushroomers with BIG baskets from the early days of the Boyne City National Morel Mushroom Festival which returns for its 54th year May 15-18, 2014.
• There’s also the 55th annual Mesick Mushroom Festival next weekend (May 9-11)
• TIME had a feature a few years back that I linked to (also with one of Rick’s photos) in Michigan Mushroom Nation about how mushrooms are becoming as American as apple pie.
• When the Absolute Michigan pool reached its 150,000th photo, I marked the occasion here with one big morel.

Rick lives in Boyne City, one of Michigan’s morel epicenters. View his photo bigger and check out more of his great morel photos!

These are a few of my favorite things

May 30, 2013, photo by rickrjw

As you can see from Rick’s photo taken yesterday, 2013 has blessed Northern Michigan with a strong morel season that is still going strong while lilacs are out! Doesn’t get much better than this!

Check this out on black and see more in Rick’s giant Boyne City, Michigan slideshow.

Of course there are morels & lilacs aplenty on Michigan in Pictures!

Happiness is a Bowlful of Morels!

A day’s find, photo by HLHigham

Morels are popping up all over, and though you might not find 98 like Heather did, even a handful of these delectable  mushrooms will make it all worth it. If you’re in the Boyne City area this weekend, they hold their annual National Morel Mushroom Festival. You might also be interested in Five Things You Need to Know about Michigan Morel Mushrooms on Absolute Michigan.

Heather got this tasty haul near Rapid City and she might write about it on her blog, Rapid City Recess. Check it out background bigtacular and see more in her slideshow!

Lots more morel goodness on Michigan in Pictures!