Get your baskets out, Iowans. Here's your guide to morel mushroom hunting and safety tips

Paris Barraza, Des Moines Register
·3 min read

Start keeping your eyes on the ground, edible mushroom hunters.

Morel mushrooms, the fungi with a honeycomb-like pattern on the cap, are springtime treats that many Iowans seek out and consume.

Here’s what to know if you plan to hunt for morels.

When can I find morel mushrooms?

You can find these mushrooms anytime from March through May, but what you’re really looking for are the following conditions to occur for morels to surface, said Jess Lancial, naturalist with the West Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department:

  • Consistent, overnight ground temperatures being over 50 degrees

  • Daytime temperatures averaging around 60 degrees

“You also need good rainfall as well,” she said, adding that mushrooms need moisture and warmth in order to be able to grow.

More: Is the ground temperature in Iowa warm enough to garden yet? How to check:

Where can I find morel mushrooms?

Start by heading to a forested area, Lancial said. Elm trees, dying elms and ash trees are a good place to look thanks to the relationship morels have with certain trees' roots. You can also try searching at old apple orchards.

How should I store a morel mushroom?

Morel mushrooms pop up through the leaves near a tree trunk at the Cottonwood Recreation Area in Des Moines on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.
Morel mushrooms pop up through the leaves near a tree trunk at the Cottonwood Recreation Area in Des Moines on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.

Choose a mesh bag or basket as opposed to a plastic bag when you go out to collect them, as plastic bags seal in heat and moisture — and that’s a great place to create bacteria growth on the mushrooms, Lancial said.

If you’re not going to eat them in a couple of days, you can flash freeze the mushrooms or dehydrate them and store them in a glass jar or paper bag inside your fridge or cabinet, she suggested.

Are there any health benefits to consuming morel mushrooms?

Steve Roberts and his father, Ron, inspect roughly three pounds of morels on May 1, 2020. Roberts prepares them by halving them, rinsing them, and frying them with eggs and milk, sometimes with onion ring batter. Ron soaks them in saltwater beforehand.
Steve Roberts and his father, Ron, inspect roughly three pounds of morels on May 1, 2020. Roberts prepares them by halving them, rinsing them, and frying them with eggs and milk, sometimes with onion ring batter. Ron soaks them in saltwater beforehand.

All mushrooms have a lot of health benefits. But the key to getting the nutrients they offer, such as potassium, selenium and vitamin D, is cooking them, Lancial explained.

Morels have a higher vitamin D content than other edible mushrooms, Lancial said, in addition to being high in antioxidants. Antioxidants can help protect against a naturally-forming chemical in our bodies that in high concentrations, can harm cells, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Safety tips to practice when foraging and consuming morels

Morel season usually starts in April, continuing through mild warm temperatures in spring and early summer. Morels are typically found near dead elm trees.
Morel season usually starts in April, continuing through mild warm temperatures in spring and early summer. Morels are typically found near dead elm trees.

First, morels are not safe to eat raw, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, so be sure to cook thoroughly. If it’s your first time consuming a morel, only try a little bit at a time. After all, people have different intolerances, Lancial explained.

But before you even get to eating, first practice these habits when it comes to hunting for morels, according to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach:

  • Avoid hunting in areas where animals have died

  • Avoid harvesting morels near places where fecal droppings are present

  • Avoid sites where potential chemical contaminants may be present or were washed off

Always be sure you are accurately identifying what you’re about to consume, Lancial said. Morel mushrooms are hollow inside when you cut into them, which is a “good way” to distinguish which are morels and which are look-alikes, Lancial said.

Paris Barraza is a trending and general assignment reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at pbarraza@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How to find morel mushrooms in Iowa, hunting and safety tips