Morels: where they grow now and when
A honeycomb on a stem. It comes up where nobody expects it and is gone in two weeks.
The morel (Morchella esculenta / M. elata) comes out from March to May, at its best in April, in woods of black poplar, white poplar, narrow-leaved ash, field elm, holm oak, downy oak and beech, and also among Aleppo pine, maritime pine, Scots pine and black pine, from low ground up to the middle mountains. It is also known as yellow morel, common morel.
See where it is ready this week
No area is ready for morels this week: the forest is still asleep.
The morel is the mushroom of early spring: poplar groves and riverbanks, clearings in pine woods, disturbed ground and woods burnt the year before. It changes place every spring, and that is why finding it is as much an art as a stroke of luck.
It responds to March and April rains on soil that is starting to warm up. Its window is short: when the heat arrives, it is over until next year. Always cooked, never raw.
What it needs to come out
First, a good rain, the kind that soaks the ground. Then patience: it usually appears one or two weeks later, as long as the soil holds on to that moisture and stays cool. If a frost, too much water or a drying wind comes in between, the flush is aborted and never shows.
Where to look
It comes out in woods of black poplar, white poplar, narrow-leaved ash, field elm, holm oak, downy oak and beech, and also among Aleppo pine, maritime pine, Scots pine and black pine, from low ground up to the middle mountains, without being fussy about the soil.
Morels by province (in Spanish)
- Morels in Barcelona · 316 zones with habitat
- Morels in Burgos · 444 zones with habitat
- Morels in Girona · 220 zones with habitat
- Morels in Huesca · 461 zones with habitat
- Morels in La Rioja · 172 zones with habitat
- Morels in León · 530 zones with habitat
- Morels in Lleida · 345 zones with habitat
- Morels in Lugo · 431 zones with habitat
- Morels in Navarra · 295 zones with habitat
- Morels in Ourense · 26 zones with habitat
- Morels in Segovia · 227 zones with habitat
- Morels in Soria · 354 zones with habitat
- Morels in Teruel · 478 zones with habitat
How the forest is doing this week
- Asleep 4299 zones
Forecast of 11 September, updated every day.
Mushrooms that share its woods
- Porcini: The most sought after. Discreet, demanding and fleeting: you have to be there in its week.
- Charbonnier: The mushroom of the cold. When nothing is left in the pine wood, it keeps coming up.
- Saffron milk cap: The king of the pine woods. Orange, stubborn and generous when its moment comes.
- Yellowfoot: Small, golden and by the handful in damp pine woods once the cold has arrived.