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Iowa Morel Certification Workshop

2045 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  SCmorelhunter, 
S
Anyone ever been to one of the morel certification courses at Iowa State? Apparantly to sell morels legally within the state of Iowa you must possess a certificate from the state.

All three 2014 morel certification workshops will be in Room 106, Seed Science Building, located at the northwest corner of Wallace Road and Osborn Drive, on the Iowa State University campus in Ames on the following dates:

•Saturday, March 29; 1–4 p.m.
•Saturday, April 5; 1–4 p.m.
•Saturday, April 12; 1–4 p.m.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/2014-morel-mushroom-certification-workshops-planned-march-and-april
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morel meister
I took the class last year.
The instructor did a really good job of letting all the longtime hunters (99% of the class) know first thing that he knows we all know what morels are/look like and he wasn't really teaching us something we didn't know but the class was the "hoop" we all had to jump thru to legally buy/sell Morels in Iowa.
He covered stuff about mushrooms that "a really new hunter might mistake for a morel" and other mushroom related stuff.
All in all it was fun and I think everyone there learned "something" they didn't know before, the only thing he really harped on was for everyone to stop calling GYROMITRA ESCULENTA by it's nickname Beefsteak Morel because it's really poisonous and calling it a Morel leads people to think it's safe to eat.

I recommend taking the class if you can.
Let your friends know your certified and get free drinks/lunches for showing up at restaurants looking at the mushrooms and proclaiming "yep, those are all morels, you can buy them :) " .
Kinda silly but it does make the purchase/sale legal.
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Great information Morel Meister! I do have a follow up question. Is that class the only requirement in the state to legally sell? I mean is it only part of the requirement. Do I need to buy a license from county or state. Or is the class and certificate all I need?

Yea if that's all I need to be "legal" I probably will take the class. Honestly though I don't really see a lot of people getting busted by the iowa AG dept. I definitely see the positives I've heading to the class though
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morel meister
As far as I know it's the only requirement as far as the Morels are concerned...Guessing if you sell at farmers markets or in large amounts you may need a tax number or permit of some sort ? (I'm not a lawyer and have never sold them as a business venture so not sure what dollar amount constitutes it being considered a business).

A lot of the people in the class with me were employees of various restaurants since in order to serve Morels "someone" seeing/handling them has to be certified and ok them.
The following link answers quite a few things too.

http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/news/crop/mushroom-re-certification-going-unnoticed/article_c12ad3f8-a2e3-11e2-be5a-0019bb2963f4.html

I've never talked to anyone who has been busted for selling to restaurants or neighbors without being certified, doesn't mean it hasn't happened to someone somewhere in Iowa...seems silly to take a chance tho since the class is only about 3 hours and most restaurant kitchens would rather be "above board" by buying from someone who can show them a Certified Morel Inspector card. (It's almost as cool as having a Justice League of America card in your wallet too :) lol ! ).

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O
I think the whole program is a joke. If it was really just to protect people from getting sick then why must you get re-certified every three years according to http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/news/crop/mushroom-re-certification-going-unnoticed/article_c12ad3f8-a2e3-11e2-be5a-0019bb2963f4.html

I guess they think after 3 years your going to forget what a morel is. At $50.00 dollars a class, plus over $100.00 in fuel even to get to Ames Iowa, I think fair would be a one time class for a life time certification. I guess they can't sleep at night thinking someone is selling morels without them getting their pockets lined first.

With all the tons of information on the web do we really need a class to show us what a morel is. I hope everyone boycotts this class. Just do research on the internet if you are unsure, there's tons of info and pictures on morels.
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O
As a side note: If you are unsure google false morels to learn what they look like. I would say 95% or more is a visual inspection to know what mushroom you have. If you are still unsure you can always up load a picture on this site and have some of the mushroom experts that are on here often identity it for you.

Also never eat anything if you don't know what it is.
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M
I live in Ames have they had any workshops here yet?
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S
They're all there. Your lucky you don't have to drive anywhere.
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