Morchella Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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in our disclaimer.
It is recommended to park close to the given parking
coordinates.
The cache can be accessed easier from the back of the parking lot
of a nearby business, but I recommend that ONLY on a Sunday when it
is closed.
Do NOT attept to access the cache from the nearby highway access
ramp.
Be respectful of this area and do not be destructive.
There is almost no trash here, so please keep it that way.
Also, be wary of deadly golf balls hurtling through the
woods.
Terrain is a 2.5 because of the numerous fallen trees and thick
underbrush that has to be navigated through from the parking
coords.
While mushroom hunting in the
area for the elusive morel mushroom, I decided to hide another
cache way in the far back corner of this wooded area.
This is where the wooded area begins to sort of bottle neck between
the golf course and the highway access ramp/road.
The cache is a good distance away from both.
Unfortunately, not one morel could be found. Maybe you will be
more lucky to find some, if you cannot find the
cache.
The Cache:
You are looking for a camo painted large spice container with a
few trade items, mostly small toys, hidden in the
woods.
Be sure to replace the cache
EXACTLY as you found it.
There are 2 TerraCaches in this area also, so you
may wish to find those as well.
Good Luck, Be Careful and most of all Have Fun
PLEASE KEEP YOUR LOG FREE OF
ANY SPOILERS SO AS NOT TO SPOIL THE THRILL OF THE HUNT FOR THE NEXT
CACHER.
-- Morchella
--
A Patch of Morchella
(Morels)
Morchella, the true morels, is a genus of edible mushrooms
closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi. These
distinctive mushrooms appear honeycomb-like in that the upper
portion is composed of a network of ridges with pits between
them.
These ascocarps are prized by gourmet cooks, particularly for
French cuisine. Commercial value aside, morels are hunted by
thousands of people every year simply for their taste and the joy
of the hunt. Morels have been called by many local names, some of
the more colorful include dryland fish, due to the fact that when
sliced lengthwise then breaded and fried,their outline resembles
the shape of a fish, or hickory chickens, as they are known in many
parts of Kentucky; and merkels or miracles, based on a story of how
a mountain family was saved from starvation by eating morels. The
most commonly used name for morels is "sponge mushroom".
A Common Morel
Genus Morchella is derived from "morchel," an old German word
for mushroom. There are about a dozen different kinds of morels but
they seem to cross, making exact identification very difficult
without a microscope. It is important to try small amounts of any
edible mushroom, and only eat ones that are clean and free of
decay.
Morels grow abundantly in the two and sometimes three years
immediately following a forest fire. However, where fire
suppression is practiced, they may grow regularly in small amounts
in the same spot year after year. Commercial pickers and buyers in
North America will follow forest fires to gather morels. The
Finnish name, huhtasieni, refers to huhta, area cleared for
agriculture by slash and burn method. These spots may be jealously
guarded by mushroom pickers, as the mushrooms are a delicacy and
sometimes a cash crop.
Usually around Mother's Day is the best time to hunt for morels in
Ohio, when the ground is still plenty moist from the rains of April
and they are shaded from the sun by other vegetation.
Although no symbiotic relationships have been proven between
morels and certain tree species, experienced morel hunters swear by
these relationships. Trees commonly associated with morels include
ash, sycamore, tulip tree, dead and dying elms, cottonwoods and old
apple trees (remnants of orchards). Yellow morels (Morchella
esculenta) are more commonly found under deciduous trees rather
than conifers, but black morels (Morchella elata) can be found in
decidous forests, oak and poplar.
Morels have not yet been successfully farmed on a large scale, and
the commercial morel industry is largely based on harvest of wild
mushrooms.
Morels are a feature of many cuisines, including Provençal. Though
morels are typically sold dried or canned, they can be purchased
fresh. When preparing fresh morels for consumption, soaking them
may ruin their delicate flavor. Due to their natural porousness,
morels may contain trace amounts of soil which cannot be washed
out. One of the best and simplest ways to enjoy morels is by gently
sauteeing them in butter, cracking pepper on top and sprinkling
with salt. Others soak the mushrooms in an egg batter and lightly
bread them with saltine crackers or flour.
5BizzyBs method is to slice them in half, then rinse them with cold
water to remove most of the soil and small bugs, then soak them for
an hour or two in salt water to kill any other tiny critters and
loosen soil not removed in the first rinsing, then rinse again in
cold water. Simply dip them in flour, then saute in butter and
enjoy.
They are great by themselves or even as a sandwich.
Many people dry out the morels for long term storage. When they
are ready to eat them, they simply soak the morels until they
reabsorb moisture. Eggs from moths or insects can hatch during
storage. Other people freeze or can their mushrooms.
The best known morels are the Yellow Morel or Common Morel
(Morchella esculenta); the White Morel (M. deliciosa); and the
Black Morel (M. elata). Other species of true morels include M.
semilibera and M. vulgaris. Discriminating between the various
species is complicated by uncertainty regarding which species are
truly biologically distinct. Mushroom hunters refer to them by
their color (e.g., gray, yellow, black) as the species are very
similar in appearance and vary considerably within species and age
of individual.
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