Last weekend, we went mushroom hunting for the first time, near Nashville, Ind. We'd love to tell you that this is our bounty, but the truth is, we came up empty handed. The only mushrooms we found were inedible, and looked nothing like the conical, honeycomb-like morels we were hunting. We had a good time, nevertheless, and returned to Chicago to get our morels the old fashioned way – for $48 a pound at the farmer's market.
Wisconsin's River Valley Ranch at the Green City Market didn't disappoint, and we walked away with a good handful of morels for $10.
We plan to prepare them very simply – with butter and maybe a little flour – so we can savor all the great mushroom flavor.
The market was also teeming with green goodness, and our bag was nearly overflowing with asparagus, sorrel, sunflower sprouts, French breakfast radishes, green garlic, chive blossoms and fiddlehead ferns. Our favorite season in Chicago has officially begun.
-- Joanna
Related:San Francisco Market: Far West Fungi
Survey: Do You Wash Mushrooms Before Cooking Them?
Farmer's Market Report: Chicago Markets Opening
(Image: Joanna Miller)
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Elizabeth Apron fro...
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Lorna Doone cookies with Earl grey or Red Rose tea!
Hate to say it- but you're a bit late for morel forays. There will still be some in the sweet spots, but no nearly as prolific now as at the height of their season. Next year, try earlier in the spring- you want to go out when the tulip poplar and elm trees are JUST BARELY leafing out, when the ramps are in their peak, and the garlic mustard has just started blooming.
OMG! I went to Indiana with my mother last week and she took me "mushroom hunting." I thought she was crazy until we found some of these morels, and let me say they are SO DELICIOUS! I live in Florida, so I probably won't be able to try them again. BUT I LOVE THEM!
My husband found a whole bowl of them last weekend. We had them with salmon and asparagus in a cream sauce and it was really good. And we didn't have to pay a dime for them. :)