Southwest part of Mo.

serious question.. why risk eating false morels? .. ive heard lots of stories of people eating them for years with no problems, then suddenly die from eating them.

have you ever researched false morels? .. pretty much every site (Including MDC site) says "do not eat.. they are toxic and have resulted in fatalities" =/

deaths have been recorded... lots of deaths:

http://books.google.com/books?id=AFlfpnaGu4AC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=false+morel+related+deaths&source=bl&ots=RN6jSGgVgp&sig=pCw2U8uh1eLEZUxOoPAjJgSOxWo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RhVUU_zVIMGsyASW5oKAAw&ved=0CFEQ6AEwBTgU#v=onepage&q=false%20morel%20related%20deaths&f=false

if someone wants to eat false morels and knows what they're getting themselves into .. thats all good. i just dont think its a good idea even suggesting that they're not that dangerous here on the forums. someone will read that, believe it, eat it, and might seriously harm themselves or others. they have killed hundreds if not thousands of people. the fumes alone from boiling them are dangerous if inhaled.

just google "false morel recorded deaths" .. many credible sources (MDC site, medical sites, and university studies) saying eating them has resulted in death

recently saw an article claiming 2-4% of all mushroom deaths were associated with the false morel

im gonna take their word for it

Greggster yeah false morels are actually really easy to identify and looks nothing like a real morel. so if you know what a real morel looks like you're not going to mistake anything else for them... just to be safe though, when you get ready to eat your find of real morels, just cut them in half after you rinse them. if they're not hallow all the way through the inside it's not a morel! good luck!

ok that's fair, but lets be honest here.. Gyromitra caroliniana and Gyromitra esculenta look almost identical to the untrained eye.

piro you might want to look at some pictures from various sites of esculenta ... unless all these "mushroom experts" are all wrong that is definitely a picture of esculenta.

make sure you know what you're eatin guys! lol ... as for me, im stickin to morels only