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PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
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 Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:30 am Post subject: subtropical Australian morels |
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Hi edible native fungi gourmets. I just thought that I’d share some rather exciting news with you regarding a find of an edible gourmet fungus, a morel (Morchella sp.) in northern NSW that I found earlier this year.
From what I understand from talking to mycologists: in Australia, morels have NOT been previously found in the wet subtropical regions of Eastern Australia. Morchella are typically found south of Sydney, and somewhat more inland, usually in poorer skeletal soils.
Dr Tom May, mycologist with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, says this subtropical Morchella find is intermediate in features between the Morchella conica/elata group and Morchella esculenta. Tom is tentatively classifying it as M. elata, until further taxonomic work can be done, which could include DNA analysis.
By the way, M. esculenta is considered to be very rare in Australia with only a few finds previously in Victoria.
For pictures of Morchella conica http://fungimap.rbg.vic.gov.au/fsp/sp033.html , and Morchella esculenta http://fungimap.rbg.vic.gov.au/fsp/sp082.html .
The habitat for this subtropical morel consists mainly of a flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis) forest, with a rainforest under-story of native ginger and palm-lily. The morel colony covered an area of 4 x 4 m’s, and also extended into a rough clearing. The morel were produced from late April to June (coinciding with our wet season), which is different than the usual spring bearing characteristics of Morchella in temperate southern Australia.
After checking all the fungi reference books, I was cautiously optimistic that this macro-fungi was indeed a Morchella, so I had a small tasting. I par-boiled it to be on the safe side, and then fried it in butter. The flavour was delicate. But now, having the morel ID confirmed I might skip the par boiling and go straight to the frying next time.
Morels are better known in North America and Europe where they are highly regarded for their gourmet qualities.
Just a word of warning: be very careful to identify fungi correctly so as to avoid poisoning.
I want to thank Graham Patterson, from Fungimap, as well Dr Tom May, in assisting me with identifying this Morchella.
Fungimap link: http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/fungimap_/welcome/
Hopefully I'll be able to figure out a photo share site so you can view the pics I took of this delectable subtropical morel.
Cheers, Peter Hardwick. |
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Rimbaud
Ratbag
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 706
Location: BACK! Home in Sydney
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| Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 9:57 am Post subject: Re: subtropical Australian morels |
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| PeterHardwick wrote: |
Morels are better known in North America and Europe where they are highly regarded for their gourmet qualities.
Cheers, Peter Hardwick. |
This is absolutely excellent Peter!!!!!!!!
i am just as much a morel fan as a truffle fan!!!!! my father in law in Indiana snipped my first yellow morel from his back yard, on a wet spring morning... we fried it up and it tasted awesome... i could have eaten them all day!!!
can't wait for the photos  if you like, you could post them on the bushfood forum Gallery too (www.bushfood.net/gallery)
great stuff, excellent research Peter! yum. |
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PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
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| Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 11:26 am Post subject: |
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Hi Rimbaud,
Indeed, this morel has been an exciting find!
I have mycology friends who are keen to have a taste. But I hasten to add that I've only found one known site in this region to date, and conservation of the morel is still paramount, given that it may be rare here.
It would be great to know if anybody else has found morels in subtropical Australia.
Hopefully, you should be able to view these delectables on:
http://www.dropshots.com/PeterHardwick
Cheers, Pete. |
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hagakure
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 23 Oct 2006
Posts: 17
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| Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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how fussy are these morels?
could they be cultivated? are any other types cultivated or are all morels on the market harvested from the wild?
after typing that i decided to do a google and found this page
http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/morel_cultivation.html
it appears you can cultivate some types. would be a very interesting experiment to cultivate this variety. |
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PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
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| Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:16 am Post subject: |
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| hagakure wrote: |
how fussy are these morels?
could they be cultivated? are any other types cultivated or are all morels on the market harvested from the wild?
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Thankyou for the link on cultivating morels hagakure.
From what I understand, morels are somewhat more difficult to cultivate than other mushrooms. Success with cultivating morels has only been achieved in the last decade or so.
A mycophile friend said that he had tissue cultured Morchella conica using a small portion of the cap in a sterile agar-agar medium, with good success and subsequent mycelium growth.
He also suggested trying to 'divide' it by harvesting the base of the stem and placing that into a suitable medium, including lime and organic matter, on a suitable small area which had been freshly burnt-off.
The clue seems to be in how morels fruit after a fire. A suggestion is that the spores do better at developing into new colonies in relatively sterile ash beds because there is little competition initially.
I'm looking forward to trying when I find it in fruit again.
Last edited by PeterHardwick on Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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Just an up-date:
On discussing the potential ID of this morel with some US mycophiles from the Colorado Mycological Society forum, who have ample experience with morels, an opinion is that this subtropical Aussie morel looks very similar to their Yellow Morel, Morchella esculenta.
So I did a search, and came-up with this photo of a North American M. esculenta, that looks very like my find, right down to the rusty coloured ridging on the 'honey-comb':
http://www.rivernen.ca/fungi_9.htm
And the other news is that a mycologist in Qld has said that he's seen similar morels on two occaisions in rainforest in SE Qld. Their suggestion is that it may in fact be more common, but is not frequently found because there's not much mycology field work being done in subtropical Australia.
So there's an opportunity to find more of these tasty morel morsels.
Cheers, Pete. |
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Scary
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 20
Location: Katoomba, NSW
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| Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:21 am Post subject: I found morel like fungi growing in my garden? |
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Hi Peter, I have a morel like fungi appearing in my garden, sme structure, appearence, although it isn't as conical as my books indicate, slighlty more "squished"there are at leats three of them which my partner found a week ago, so the may be just at the end of thier life cycle. one inpartilary has become quite spread. could i email you some photos for a bit of a look for me?
cheers, steve |
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worowa
Bludger
Joined: 16 May 2007
Posts: 7
Location: Bellingen
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| Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 7:13 am Post subject: |
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Hi Peter,
Congratulations!
When I studied at Lismore, occassionaly I would notice lots of morel-like fungi in the woodchips used for landscaping. There where lots of fungi, but the morel like ones where very intriguing.
My interest in fungi hadn't yet extended to morels, so I never identified them. |
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Mycke
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Rural WA
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| Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 2:42 am Post subject: |
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I missed this thread until now.
Morels are quite common in SW WA. I have found extensive outcroppings of them growing on pine bark mulch. These exended for hundreds of meters and contained thousands of individuals.
I made a few notes about them in my blog
http://morrie2.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/morchella-the-morel-a-worldwide-favourite/
As far as more northerly climes, I have no experience of finding them there. |
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flo
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 30 Apr 2010
Posts: 28
Location: SA
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| Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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I have just found out that Morchella conica is listed as having been found historically, south of Adelaide, SA. |
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flo
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 30 Apr 2010
Posts: 28
Location: SA
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| Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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Nice Avatar by the way, Mycke. ! |
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Mycke
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Rural WA
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| Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 1:16 am Post subject: |
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Why thankyou, Ms. flo
The SA electronic database seems to show M. esculenta and elata. I am not too familiar with how to use the database though.
But morchella is a variable kind of thing anyway, I think. Even among the ones I found, there was considerable morphological variation. |
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koa windsong
Bludger
Joined: 20 Jul 2010
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 2:27 pm Post subject: Re: subtropical Australian morels |
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so peter here you are telling people that par boiling a unidentified mushroom makes it safe to eat?not on mate some mushrooms have delayed toxic effects'golden rule withfungi leave it alone unless you have positive id.way more people have died from eating mushrooms than any pother plant
By the way, M. esculenta is considered to be very rare in Australia with only a few finds previously in Victoria.
For pictures of Morchella conica http://fungimap.rbg.vic.gov.au/fsp/sp033.html , and Morchella esculenta http://fungimap.rbg.vic.gov.au/fsp/sp082.html .
The habitat for this subtropical morel consists mainly of a flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis) forest, with a rainforest under-story of native ginger and palm-lily. The morel colony covered an area of 4 x 4 m’s, and also extended into a rough clearing. The morel were produced from late April to June (coinciding with our wet season), which is different than the usual spring bearing characteristics of Morchella in temperate southern Australia.
After checking all the fungi reference books, I was cautiously optimistic that this macro-fungi was indeed a Morchella, so I had a small tasting. I par-boiled it to be on the safe side, and then fried it in butter. The flavour was delicate. But now, having the morel ID confirmed I might skip the par boiling and go straight to the frying next time.
Morels are better known in North America and Europe where they are highly regarded for their gourmet qualities.
Just a word of warning: be very careful to identify fungi correctly so as to avoid poisoning.
I want to thank Graham Patterson, from Fungimap, as well Dr Tom May, in assisting me with identifying this Morchella.
Fungimap link: http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/fungimap_/welcome/
Hopefully I'll be able to figure out a photo share site so you can view the pics I took of this delectable subtropical morel.
Cheers, Peter Hardwick.[/quote] |
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koa windsong
Bludger
Joined: 20 Jul 2010
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 2:32 pm Post subject: Re: subtropical Australian morels |
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| koa windsong wrote: |
so peter here you are telling people that par boiling a unidentified mushroom makes it safe to eat?not on mate some mushrooms have delayed toxic effects'golden rule withfungi leave it alone unless you have positive id.way more people have died from eating mushrooms than any pother plant and you encourage people to take a small bite one bite of some mushroomsw can be fatal
By the way, M. esculenta is considered to be very rare in Australia with only a few finds previously in Victoria.
For pictures of Morchella conica http://fungimap.rbg.vic.gov.au/fsp/sp033.html , and Morchella esculenta http://fungimap.rbg.vic.gov.au/fsp/sp082.html .
The habitat for this subtropical morel consists mainly of a flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis) forest, with a rainforest under-story of native ginger and palm-lily. The morel colony covered an area of 4 x 4 m’s, and also extended into a rough clearing. The morel were produced from late April to June (coinciding with our wet season), which is different than the usual spring bearing characteristics of Morchella in temperate southern Australia.
After checking all the fungi reference books, I was cautiously optimistic that this macro-fungi was indeed a Morchella, so I had a small tasting. I par-boiled it to be on the safe side, and then fried it in butter. The flavour was delicate. But now, having the morel ID confirmed I might skip the par boiling and go straight to the frying next time.
Morels are better known in North America and Europe where they are highly regarded for their gourmet qualities.
Just a word of warning: be very careful to identify fungi correctly so as to avoid poisoning.
I want to thank Graham Patterson, from Fungimap, as well Dr Tom May, in assisting me with identifying this Morchella.
Fungimap link: http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/fungimap_/welcome/
Hopefully I'll be able to figure out a photo share site so you can view the pics I took of this delectable subtropical morel.
Cheers, Peter Hardwick. |
[/quote] |
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PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
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| Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:56 pm Post subject: Re: subtropical Australian morels |
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| koa windsong wrote: |
| so peter here you are telling people that par boiling a unidentified mushroom |
No Koa. I identified it first. Read what I wrote:
| PeterHardwick wrote: |
| After checking all the fungi reference books, I was cautiously optimistic that this macro-fungi was indeed a Morchella, so I had a small tasting. I par-boiled it to be on the safe side, and then fried it in butter. |
I correctly identified it as Morchella before eating it. I also pointed out that I had professional mycologists assisting with identification.
Koa, your apology would be appreciated. |
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