Experienced mushroom pickers, going to the "quiet hunt" in April-May, know perfectly well that they can be pleased with morels - amazing spring first-borns with a characteristic appearance. Mushroom morel has a tightly fitting to the leg of the hat with a bizarre relief pattern. Being saprophyte, it performs an important role in nature - it destroys the dead remains of living organisms and turns them into inorganic and simple organic compounds.
Types of morels
Each of the three types of these remarkable creations of nature are inherent in both common features (have the wrinkled surface of the cap, hollow inside, are considered conditionally edible, grow in the temperate zone), and characteristic features.
Edible Edible (there are names "ordinary" and "real") - not only the most common representative of the genus. It is larger than some of its relatives, grows in height from 6 to 15-20 cm. With the relatively large size of the leg and the cap, the morel of the edible morbid does not possess any noticeable weight, since its fruit body is hollow inside. Tightly attached to the stem of the egg-shaped or ovate-rounded cap has a different coloration: ochristo-yellow, gray, brown. On its uneven surface there are irregularly shaped cells remotely resembling bees' honeycombs.
Smurchok high grows in deciduous and coniferous forests, more often in glades and fringes. It can be found in gardens, orchards and even mountains, but it rarely gets into the basket of mushroom pickers. The explanation is simple: in nature, this type of morel is not common. Mushrooms (photo), reaching 25-30 cm in height, have olive brown cells.
The conical conic looks very similar to its fellow with the name "high". The same elongated-conical shape of the cap, tightly attached to the leg, the same folds or ribs on the upper part forming the cells. Mushroom morel is conical distinguished by smaller sizes of the fruit body and coloration (yellow-brown, black-brown, grayish-black). It is rare, prefers to grow near ash trees, alder and aspen, as well as in places where the top layer of soil is disturbed (on roadsides, slopes of ravines).
How to cook mushrooms
For consumption in food only young, not having time to accumulate poisonous substances are suitable. Most often on the table of connoisseurs appear morels, fried in oil, which is not surprising, because they, cooked in this way, look very appetizing, taste good and exude a not too pronounced, delicate aroma. Mushroom morel requires preliminary preparation for the immediate process of frying. First of all, the collected mushrooms need to be cleaned of debris and thoroughly rinsed so that there is no sand left in the cells that can spoil the whole dish. Mushrooms, sliced, dipped in hot water, cook for 5-10 minutes, folded into a colander and put on a small fire pan. For frying 500 g of morels, you will need to melt the butter in a pan (about 2 tablespoons). Then add the mushrooms, seasoned with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice. The appearance of a crusty brown indicates the completion of the cooking process.