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While some people consider April the beginning of baseball season, others think of it as the kickoff for morels, which—if the conditions in the Sierra have been just right (the right amount of snowfall, the right number of forest fires)—can be available up until the Giants’ last home game. Connie Green, owner of Wine Forest Mushrooms and longtime forager for the city’s best chefs, says things are looking good so far, but, as with any kind of wild harvesting—well, you never really know. More difficult to pin down than say, chanterelles, which tend to grow in the same place, morels pop up in a new spot every year. Green tosses them in garlic butter and puts them in a grilling basket directly over the fire, but some chefs have taken their preparation to new extremes: For one of Green’s annual morel-stuffing parties (where everyone “drinks heavily and plays with pastry bags”), a sous chef from the French Laundry stuffed his morels with foie gras, dipped them in corn-dog batter, added tiny popsicle sticks for handles and stuck them in the fryer. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be out of place at the ballpark.
While some people consider April the beginning of baseball season, others think of it as the kickoff for morels, which—if the conditions in the Sierra have been just right (the right amount of snowfall, the right number of forest fires)—can be available up until the Giants’ last home game. Connie Green, owner of Wine Forest Mushrooms and longtime forager for the city’s best chefs, says things are looking good so far, but, as with any kind of wild harvesting—well, you never really know. More difficult to pin down than say, chanterelles, which tend to grow in the same place, morels pop up in a new spot every year. Green tosses them in garlic butter and puts them in a grilling basket directly over the fire, but some chefs have taken their preparation to new extremes: For one of Green’s annual morel-stuffing parties (where everyone “drinks heavily and plays with pastry bags”), a sous chef from the French Laundry stuffed his morels with foie gras, dipped them in corn-dog batter, added tiny popsicle sticks for handles and stuck them in the fryer. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be out of place at the ballpark.
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