I wouldn't eat it. I know too little about wild mushrooms and would not take a chance.

That looks deadly poisonous. To be safe you should put it in a box and send it to me immediately.

Seriously though, it is easy to conclusively determine whether a mushroom is a morel or a false morel, and I'm 99.999% sure just from looking at it that it is a morel. To be 100% certain all you have to do is slice it in half lengthwise. It the stem is solid and it sticks up into the cap it is a false morel, if the stem is hollow and the stem just seems to widen out to become the top part then it is, without a doubt, a true morel.

I found two a few years ago:

A few days later I found several more, and made a morel mushroom risotto

Looks legit to me and Bob's info is good. Be sure to soak it in some salt water so all the little bugs will emerge, if you decide to eat it. Most people go crazy over them.

I'm kind of excited! I'll pick it tomorrow and cut into it.

No, I wouldn't eat it, and that's a decision that takes no time to reach.

I once knew a couple (the husband was a physician) who were very active members of a mushroom club, whatever they're called. They developed an expert knowledge of various types of mushrooms, the edible and the poisonous, characteristics, etc. They traveled around giving lectures and leading gathering hikes for other enthusiasts.

Notice I said I once "knew"? And that he "was" a physician? It only took one mistake, they died from eating a dish made from a poisonous mushroom that they'd misidentified. Both of them. It orphaned their two children. Was that a good decision they made?

Some risks in life can't be avoided. Some are worth taking. Others, like this one, are to me not worth taking at all. If you want to eat morel mushrooms (they are delicious) , buy some at the store.

I love morel mushrooms but I would not trust picking them myself in the wild. When we lived in Denver we had a large area where some grew but I never ate them. Apparently they were the real ones because people would come onto my property and pick them and the watercress out of the artesian spring pond.

Have you considered growing shiitake mushrooms on log by inserted pre-seeded plugs?

I'd rather have about a dozen sauteed in butter, but if I can only have one, I'll take it! We were taught by a botanist that if it looks like a morel, it's a morel. If it looks like a (insert mushroom name) it might be or it might not. A morel is the only type of wild mushroom I'd consider eating. Nice photos Bob!!!

You can get morel mushroom kits on Amazon. We once grew Shiitake and Chanterelle mushrooms. Love them cooked in butter over a steak. We had a neighbor who saw we had mushrooms growing at the base of our fruit tree and said they were edible. I wouldn't take the chance, but he asked if he could have them and we said yes. Now I think, what if he had died. Good thing he didn't. We could have got sued.

I've read and heard that morels are one of the easiest mushrooms to identify and that they are delicious, but I don't think I'd take the chance. Just about every spring we read about people in this area becoming deathly ill and even dying from eating wild mushrooms after collecting them from the woods and fields.

We almost lost one of our dogs after she ate wild mushrooms she found while we were out cutting firewood. That was a frightening and expensive experience as it happened on New Year's Day and we had to rush her to the nearest emergency vet which was 1.5 hours away. Once they knew she was going to survive, the vet's biggest concern was whether or not she'd have permanent liver damage. Fortunately, she made a full recovery.

I would not take a chance. It is is not worth my life. I feel that way about exotic wild morels, fugu fish even in restaurants. I'm also prone to throw food away if I think it has sat out too long.

I'm not saying to never take a chance on anything in life, but here, a moment's pleasure vs your life, that is not a good bet.

Nope.

You don't say where in the world you live. If you are anywhere close to north Missouri, I'll come take it off your hands. And beg to be told where you found that one so I can look for more!! Where there's one, there's usually 3!!

Your picture looks exactly like the morels we used to find here, but we haven't found a good mess of mushrooms for several years. Last week I saw a local resident selling them (uncleaned) for $40/gallon. And he quickly sold out with many others begging to buy.

Clean it, soak in salt water overnight, and pat dry. Roll in beaten egg and cornmeal or flour and fry till lightly brown. Salt and pepper. Nothing better!

If you see morel mushrooms in the store it is almost certain they were found and picked in the wild by someone. There is still no reliable, commercially viable process for cultivating morel mushrooms.

Some of the arguments here seem to me akin to saying: the venomous coral snake looks similar to the non-venomous scarlet king snake, therefore to be safe you should avoid picking up a box turtle which is also a reptile, because you don't know whether it might be venomous.

Personally, I wouldn't risk it. Even if I felt sure it was a safe mushroom, the slight hesitancy would be enough to turn me off to it.

Bob, I'm confused by your analogy. Most people can easily tell the difference between a snake and a turtle. There have been many instances of knowledgeable people who have died after misidentifying mushrooms. It's not at all the same thing.

I agree with chi.

bob, I'll presume you saw that I said I knew two mushroom hunters thought to have been experts who died from their hobby. If you haven't encountered that in your life, I understand your point of view but would suggest your position isn't well thought out. If you do know anyone who has died from mushroom hunting and you still think it's a reasonable thing to do, then I can only scratch my head.

Thanks, everyone, for your input. BTW, I'm in New England. And, it seems so far that I've just got this one. For now I think I'll just let it grow and see what else happens. It's really pretty cool looking and I'm happy that it somehow chose to grow a few feet from my house.

It's probably delicious and it's probably fine, but no I would not eat it. Not worth the risk because how good could a mushroom be? Now if you found a wild chocolate tree, that maybe would be worth some danger to taste, lol.

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/tips-tricks-find-morel-mushrooms-video/

Perhaps I should have said lizard rather than turtle. Since there are a tiny number of lizard species that are venomous.

There are several different broad families of mushrooms: Boletes which have pores on the underside of the cap, and which includes the porcini mushroom but also many that will sicken you, and a couple that can kill you. Gilled mushrooms, which include several edible mushrooms like: white button mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, portabello mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and straw mushrooms but also includes ones with names like death cap and destroying angel, which are reportedly delicious, but also deadly poisonous. While identifying a specific mushroom in either of these broad families is difficult enough that even an expert can err, and become sick, or even die, that is irrelevant. Since morel mushrooms are about as easy to differentiate from either of those two broad families of mushrooms as differentiating lizards from snakes.

Does it have legs? Yes? Then not a snake. Is it red and black with beaded skin and found in the desert southwest, or is it 10 feet long and found in southeast Asia? No then not venomous.

It really is that easy with just a tiny bit of knowledge to conclusively determine whether a given mushroom is a morel or not.

ROFL@wild chocolate tree.

It's a true morel....it's one of the easier of all mushrooms to identify. I would collect this one and search in the vicinity for more. They are associated with the tree roots of dead or dying hardwoods....elms and oaks are favored by most morel species.

But no one who isn't certain about the identity of a mushroom has any business feasting on it.

Learning to ID mushrooms is much like mastering plant identification. One looks at the overall form, then characteristics of the leaves, bark, flowers, fruit, texture, and even the aroma of a crushed leaf or bent twig.

One looks for several different clues with mushrooms, too, each part of a mental checklist that can culminate in a positive ID.

I love morels! Haven't had one in about 15 years or more.

Live for now, live in the moment. If you think eating a found mushroom is exciting, adventurous and cool....then do it.

I had a GF that thought she was saving tons of money by eating "found" morels. But....she otherwise doesn't eat them. So it's the "cool" factor she's chasing.

Around here, we find them near ash trees a lot. If you find enough of them, local restaurants will buy them.

Good grief. Somehow this thread had me looking for how many of the mushroom I might commonly come across would be edible. I know nothing about identifying mushrooms, find them interesting the many, many hours I've spent in the woods - but for the most part leave them be and only enjoy them in place, not picked. Golden Chanterelles I do confidently recognize, we do harvest and cook those but only the chanterelles.

Our list of local safe mushrooms - Who knew!

Apricot jelly mushrooms, I've seen. I may have to look for some Slimy Spike Cap, now don't those sound delic.....

I found 30 this year down in the orchard. 26 under the pear trees and 4 under the apple tree, some were of good size too. Normally find them in these areas every year, but this Spring was a great one for mushrooms. At first I was going to leave them so they could spread spores for next years crop ( I usually leave two or three), but I picked a bunch, soaked them in salt water over night, then sliced them as Bob's illustration shows and put them in the fridge. The next day I decided I wasn't going to get around to frying them up so I filled a quart size ziplock baggie full and gave them to the neighbors.

Boy were they happy! The wife is from Canada and wasn't sure how to fix them. Told her to dredge them in a little flour, then fry in butter.

ETA: the only other mushroom on morz8's list that we ate as kids is the puffball. I didn't recognize the one with the spikes, but further down the list is the "western puffball" that looks more like what we had. I remember Dad slicing them and frying them in butter. Don't remember what they tasted like.

I would be too leery to even try the others on that list.

I wouldn't eat it but I am more than a little weird when it comes to food. We have the psychedelic mushrooms that grow here....look nothing like those....but I have seen what they can do to people who do "eat" those. A guy used to go in my woods to photograph birds...or, that is what he told me. I found him so disoriented that he had gotten lost...found out later, he was after the psychedelic mushrooms. I told him I didn't care that he did that....he ate a few as he picked them, but to wait until he got off my property to do it. He moved here from Arizona....for the mushrooms. What ambition!!!

They are the best, used to find them here but have not in a few years. They are very expensive if you can find them in the stores. I just like them fried. I like puff balls too, but not as tasty as the Morels. I would not hesitate to eat it, just send all you find my way.

Sue in Central Indiana

I am not a mushroom fan, but my husband is. He loves them. And in the Spring, we spend many days out hunting them. He can tell the difference. I simply enjoy the time in the woods