The next day we headed out again and met a professional mushrooms picker and he told us that the buyers were looking for the lighter coloured ones as they are in their prime. He wasn’t very successful he said and we looked at each other and thought “because we had already been through here”.
One more beautiful than the next!
We take them back to the Chilko River Lodge and Hausi gifts us with a drying frame that was left behind by professional mushroom pickers after the big fire in the Chilcotin.
We dry most of them but the ones that are damaged or too old I get to eat right away. Pasta with morels, scrambled eggs with morels, salad with fried morels, steak with morels. I am in heaven!
3 nights in the honeymoon cabin felt like sleeping in a cave. No noise whatsoever which makes for a deep and relaxing sleep. Luxury in the wild even includes a small propane fridge and a shower.
When it’s time to leave we manage to get the frame into the car for them to finish drying. We head back north to Tumbler Ridge where we keep them on the balcony for a few more days.
We headed back further North and had another mushroom picking day just west of Chetwynd. It was hard to get access to the burned sites which is the biggest problem really.
There are so many wildfires in British Columbia every year but many areas are so remote you’d have to hike in for days or fly. Maybe next year!
We ended up with 900g of dried morel mushrooms which does not sound much at all but would equal at least 10kg of fresh morels. I had all packed up in small ziplock bags. Brought them home in my carry on luggage – morels for years to come!
Flying home to Victoria I have my carry on full of dried morels in little bags!
Please be aware that this blog entry is not meant as a field guide and all mushrooms that are consumed must be identified in person by a mushroom expert!
Traumhaft ❤️
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