Michael "Dog3" wrote:

> Lin > news:38c97$49b878c0$453e8ce6$23164
> @EVERESTKC.NET: in rec.food.cooking
>
> > This is what we had growing on our property. My great aunt and uncle
> > (he's the one on the photo) would drive in twice a year from New Mexico
> > to harvest these. This photo is from the early 80's ....
> >
> > http://i44.tinypic.com/23tiih4.jpg
> >
> > Mom still lives on the same wooded acreage, but she hasn't stumbled
> upon
> > mushrooms in this number. We speculate that the hauls were good before
> > because of the Limousin cattle mom and dad bred that wandered along the
> > creek and "fertilized" things as they grazed.
> >
> > I'm sort of curious as to what those would fetch dollar-wise in today's
> > market.
> >
> > They sure went well with the fried okra and the Striper Bass (or
> > catfish!) at our fish fries.
>
> Ohhh... how lucky you are. Last I heard morels were running about
> $100/lb. Might be more now. That price was a couple of years back and
> IIRC there were shipping charges involved. On the local level I'm not
> sure. I *think* maybe $50-$75 a pound?! Like I said, that was a couple
> of years ago. I'd never sell 'em. I'd eat them all :-)


Where I grew up in rural downstate Illannoy morels could be so plentiful
that they were considered "free" food - same thing with blackberries growing
along the road in ditches or in old forgotten cemeteries. No one would
think to sell them, excess was to be given away with the rest of one's
garden stuff. It seemed some of the bigger hauls were taken by poorer
people, and so some of the more well - off peeps somewhat disdained them,
considering them "poor food". Same thing with catfish...

Back 50 or so years ago some of the poorer folk around were hillbillies who
had moved up from the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee, they knew all about
how to find edible plants and other food for free, they had no choice at
times...they had a "nose" for finding morels, certainly. They'd get huge
burlap bags of 'em...

Wish I could get morels, huge juicy blackberries, and great catfish (and
sturgeon and carp) for "free" now...

I remember 40 - odd years ago when button mushrooms were considered the
extreme height of sophistication, being able to buy them in our rural area
was something new. One time one of the foofier members (they drove a
Chrysler Imperial and were the first to get a dishwasher) of my parents'
card club served stuffed button mushrooms, crepes suzettes, and Grasshoppers
for their card club repast, peeps talked about that for months, lol...this
was c. 1968 or so.


--
Best
Greg