Iowa Lobster

On Monday I had my first sighting of 2009. No, not the Eastern Oriole or the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, or the Brown Thrasher, or even the absolutely amazing Bard Barred Owl mother and owlet, all of which we did see this week. But the real "ex-sighting" news... I found my first Morel mushroom of the year (also known as the Iowa Lobster).

photo of a past harvest

For the uninitiated, this is a huge deal. I LOVE Morels! The hunt, the find, the taste, bring it on, I love it all! So far I've only found one, but its just the start of the season so in the next couple of weeks there should be many more. So why the nomiker Iowa Lobster? Well they are a seasonal and somewhat regional delicacy that sell for a seeminly ridiculous amount of money. But like the Maine-variety of lobster, try them just once, prepared well and you will spend the other 50 weeks of the year just waiting for next year's Morel season.

My mom recently found a wonderful article about Morels and I thought others might enjoy it as much as I did...read, learn, revel and start looking, the season is on!

Stalking Morels by Cristina Santiestevan
(article copy removed due to copyright issues)
You can find a full copy of this great article at http://www.redbugmedia.com/
Just click on 'Stalking Morels' in the right column.

As seen in Flavor Magazine, april/may 2009 • flavormags.com