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GGreatOne234
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Registered: 12/23/99
Posts: 8,946
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Story of the morel
#1604928 - 06/03/03 02:12 PM (20 years, 9 months ago) |
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Sunday, May 25th, 2003 METRO/STATE STAR TRIBUNE (Minneapolis, MN)
"Story of the morel
When Pat Kinney went to take a look at a decaying window well on his northeast Minneapolis home Monday, he was stunned to find a morel mushroom "the size of a human brain."
Kinney has nunted morels before with friends, driving for hours and poking through secret woods to score perhaps a small sack of mushrooms ranging from the size of his thumb to, if he was lucky, the size of a pop can.
This, he said, was like catching a lunker muskie in the back-yard wading pool.
Indeed, several mushroom aficionados were likewise amazed at Kinney's find.
"Holy [ballons]!" said Kelly Larson, a member of the Minnesota Mycological Society, after seeing a picture of Kinney and his morel. Kinney said that at the Great Minnesota Morel Festival at the Red WIng last week, all 178 participants found morels, but none even close in size to Kinney's. Robert Fulgency, society president, called it "amazing," adding that he's never seen one with a cap as large.
Though the morel is Minnesota's state mushroom, no one keeps size records. "This ought to be a start," Larson said.
Kinney did what he called "the honorable thing" with his trophy morel. He had it stuffed --with crabmeat. Then he and several friends roasted it and sliced it up.
This appears to be a good year for morels. Fulgency said, with this weekend and next offering peak picking in the metro area and across central Minnesota."
I will have the photo up soon.
Keep shroomin, GGreatOne234
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GGreatOne234
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motaman
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That is one huge morel. Here is a link to that article. http://www.startribune.com/stories/1689/3900166.html
-------------------- http://heffter.org
Edited by motaman (06/03/03 02:39 PM)
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Learyfan
It's the psychedelic movement!
Registered: 04/20/01
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"Story of the morel"
That's cute.
-------------------- -------------------------------- Mp3 of the month: Sons Of Adam - Feathered Fish
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oneducktwoducks
Registered: 12/13/02
Posts: 2,321
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That's cool. If it had grown on nearly any other home, the homeowner would be like, "WTF is that?" and beat it away with a broomstick.
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MicronMagick
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Registered: 10/16/01
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I'm within walking distance of where that happened.
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motaman
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http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030610/NEWS17/106100101
Champion fungi finder has one for the books
(THE BLADE/LISA DUTTON)
?We?ll call it the world?s largest until we find out differently,? says Henry Brackman, with a 13-inch-tall morel he found.
By ERICA BLAKE BLADE STAFF WRITER
NORTH ADAMS, Mich. - In early May, Henry Brackman walked away from the annual mushroom festival in nearby Osseo with the first-place trophy for having the largest morel.
Two weeks later, he found another one that stood about six inches taller than the trophy.
Mr. Brackman, 64, has been hunting through the floors of Hillsdale County?s forests for nearly 20 years in search of fungi?s most prominent prize - the morel mushroom. He goes to the local mushroom festival with his finds - this year about 700 or 800 - and has earned quite a bundle of money.
But his latest find is not for sale, and it?s not for eating for that matter. The morel he found as the season was coming to a close measured 13 inches tall - quite unusual for a mushroom that is usually picked at about 3 or 4 inches.
"We?ll call it the world?s largest until we find out differently," he joked.
Mr. Brackman hunts for yellow morels, more commonly found than the black morel in his neck of the woods. Both are sought after by mushroom lovers and can earn hunters upwards of $30 a pound at the local festivals and markets.
It?s a hobby for most, but one that has become addictive. Industry officials estimate about 10 million morel mushroom hunters in North America, although the hunters tend to be secretive.
Mushroom hunters can be found during mushroom season - usually a few weeks between late April and mid-May - trudging through the forests, looking under brush and decaying trees.
The rule of thumb is that they start to grow after three successive nights in the spring when the temperatures don?t drop below 60 degrees and stay in bloom until three successive days of 85 degrees or higher, said Tom Nauman, chief executive officer of Morel Mania, Inc., a mushroom-hunter outfitter in Magnolia, Ill.
According to Web sites dedicated to mushroom hunting, the yellow morel is the most prized of all edible mushrooms, ranging from tiny to nearly a foot high. They are hollow with white stems.
Mr. Nauman cautioned new hunters to make sure they avoid false morels, which are toxic, by checking three morel characteristics - sponge-like cap, hollow cap and stem, and the cap connects to the stem at its base. "No other mushrooms meet all three criteria," he said.
A plentiful crop of any mushroom also requires lots of moisture. This spring was especially wet - perfect for creating a large crop of morels, Mr. Brackman said.
In fact, he found so many, Mr. Brackman decided to sell most of them off this year.
-------------------- http://heffter.org
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GGreatOne234
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Re: Story of the morel [Re: motaman]
#1677236 - 07/01/03 02:56 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Cool stories!
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