In the spring in nature you can already find the first mushrooms. In deciduous forests with a predominance of aspen after spring rains there are morel hats (caps, morels tender). They quickly disappear, and it is not always possible to catch them. Morel hat belongs to the family Morelka and resembles morels, and its hat has a bell-shaped form, similar to a hat, worn on the long leg of the fungus. Hence the name of this mushroom - morel cap.
Botanical description
The wrinkled cap has dimensions ranging from 1 to 5 cm tall and 1-4 cm wide. Its color depends on the age of the fungus. In young specimens, it has dark brown tones, and as it grows brightens and becomes ocher or yellow. The cap to the mushroom stem grows only at the top, from the bottom it has a smooth and bright surface with whitish streaks arranged in a circle. 
The length of the leg, usually curved, reaches 15 cm, but generally ranges from 6 to 11 cm. Its cylindrical shape is often slightly flattened. Leg thickness is 1.5–3 cm. In older specimens, it is hollow and outside of an ocher color, and in young ones it has a flesh similar to cotton and lighter yellowish shades.
Learn more about spring fungus mushrooms and their differences from the lines.On the surface of the legs, you can observe the edge or small scaly, small powdery raid, located belts. This raid is easily erased. Thin pulp tasteless, breaks easily and smells of damp. At the foot it is light, and the cap is darker.
In askah there are two elongated spores of elongated spores, with dimensions of 54-80 by 15-18 microns, of yellowish color. There are three types of mushrooms from the family of morels - morel, coniferous morel, morel cap. To the genus of the Smorchkov family of hats, besides the morel hats, there is a conical cap and a diverse cap. All of them belong to conditionally edible mushrooms. 
Did you know? The most ancient mushroom is a mushroom found in a piece of amber. Scientists believe that this long-lived about 100 million years.
Where grows and when to collect
Morel cap grows in a temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere. It can be found in deciduous or mixed forests with high humidity in April-May. She likes to grow in the lowlands, near streams and does not tolerate the lack of moisture.
In good conditions, the number of mores hats, growing one family, reaches 80 pieces. Always grows near aspen, birch and lime, as it forms mycorrhiza with them. Most often found in old aspen. Prefers acidic clay and sandy soils. 
Edibility and taste
Cap refers to conditionally edible mushrooms. Before cooking it should be boiled for 10-15 minutes. in a lot of water, which then pours out. After such heat treatment, it acquires a very delicate taste, becomes soft. Further, it can already be cooked in a variety of ways: pickle, pickle, fry, stew, and more. In the old days they preferred to stew in cream. So their taste became even more tender.
Morel hat can also be eaten dried. The toxins contained in it, disintegrate after drying for a month. There is no raw smock hat.
Did you know? In ancient Russia, the morel tincture was recommended for the treatment of vision. She was treated for myopia, hyperopia and cataracts.
The nutritional value
100 g of this product contains 16 kcal. Nutritional value is as follows:
- water - 92 g;
- proteins - 2.9 g;
- dietary fiber - 0.7 g;
- fats - 0.4 g;
- carbohydrates - 0.2 g
Vitamins: B1, B2, C, PP.Minerals: potassium, calcium, sodium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc.
There are aromatic substances in the smokes, as well as polysaccharides, which have a positive effect on vision and the digestive tract.
Is it possible to confuse and what are the similar types
This fungus is easily distinguished from other members of the Morel family because of its cap-cap, which is attached only to the upper part of the leg. In similar lines, which are toxic mushrooms, a velvety folded cap is connected to the leg. In addition, this mushroom grows near coniferous trees, usually near pine and has a denser flesh.
Important! Because of the similarity of morels and lines, sanitary services consider them also conditionally edible mushrooms and recommend boiling for 15-30 minutes before using as food. But this does not eliminate the lines to the full from the toxin of hiromitrin, although it removes most of them. But drying for six months or at high temperatures removes this poison from the pulp of the fungus completely.Video: how to collect fungus mushroom cap
Mushrooms can be not only tasty, but even curative. Learn about the properties of white mushrooms, mushrooms, champignons, boletus, toadstools, shiitake, reishi, cheeses, tinder, chaga.
What of them can cook
After preliminary heat treatment, the shirting cap can be cooked in any way: pickle, salt, fry, simmer. This mushroom is good both in stuffings, and with potatoes, and as an independent dish.
If the raw mushroom is well dried, then in a month you can cook soup from it. Dried mushrooms can be crushed and sprinkled with soups, omelets, gravy. Many mushroom pickers recommend exactly drying of the morel family for winter consumption.
For cooking hats, you can use the same recipes as morels.
Please note - false boletuses, pigs, inedible mushrooms, pale grebes, satanic mushrooms, false boletus mushrooms - should be avoided.
How to cook
Before boiling, hats brought from the forest should be soaked in salt water to get rid of debris and dirt. Then rinse well. The following ingredients should be used for boiling:
- shag hats - 1 kg;
- salt - 3 tsp:
- bay leaf - 6 pieces;
- black pepper - 30 grains.
Learn the general rules for marinating, drying, freezing, salting mushrooms.
Now you can cook morel hats, baked in sour cream. For this, in addition to the boiled kilogram of mushrooms, you will need the following ingredients:- cheese (hard) - 100 g;
- Butter - 3-4 table. spoons;
- sour cream - 500 g;
- flour - 2 table. spoons;
- eggs - 2 pcs .;
- ground pepper - to taste.
Video: how to make a morel hat
How to pickle
You can try to salted morel hats in a hot way as well as morels.
Ingredients:
- shag hats - 1 kg;
- salt - 50 g;
- spices - cloves, peppercorns, dried dill, a few black currant leaves.
Important! Morel hat is a spring mushroom and, having decided on salting, it should be borne in mind that summer is ahead. Not everyone in the cellar has a cool enough temperature when the hot season is set.
How to pickle
Marinating is a more preferred option for harvesting spring mushrooms than salting.
Ingredients:
- shag hats - 1 kg;
- salt - 1 tsp;
- Vinegar 6% - 3 table. spoons;
- sugar - 1 table. spoon;
- citric acid - 1/3 tsp;
- bay leaf - 6 pieces;
- black pepper - 20 peas;
- cloves - to taste;
- Cinnamon - to taste.
Morel hat - quite tasty mushroom that can be cooked in different ways. It can be safely assembled, since it is noticeably different from the toxic lines. The mushroom will perfectly complement your spring menu, but you need to adhere to the correct cooking technology.Where to look for and what to look for when collecting a hats: reviews
But having burned on the first super-abundant collection (when I didn’t suspect about the possibility of mass wormyness of a timbus hat), I carefully check the presence of light moves under the cap!
The volume of collection became immediately smaller at times.
ps forgot to write one of the main conditions. deep litter is needed, the number decreases sharply if there is little litter.
pps with these are typical signs for the middle band! and yes, you can immediately fry, there are no disorders from such an action anywhere, and it tastes better. although the taste and color ... the wife also prefers to boil first.
