# Edible half free or not?



## JOHN L (Apr 10, 2008)

Found them today in Wayne County. Are these half frees and edible or not?









Sent from my SM-G955U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


----------



## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

Many can eat them just fine but more will have reactions to them than other morels .I have eaten them but they are not so tasty IMO .Do a very small sample test .


----------



## fishfly (Sep 7, 2007)

They are half frees. Both my wife and I can’t eat them unless we want an upset stomach. We do fine with yellow/white/grey and have never had black.


----------



## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Tell me where you find them and I'll go clean them up so nobody has to worry about it...

Heck peas make me puke, but whatever. You have to be the judge but they are not toxic or poisonous.

Actually some kielbasa gives me a gut ache and once in a while I will hurl it up, so I don't eat a lot of it if it isn't from a specific butcher shop. Fine with brats and Italian sausage etc. but some kielbasa I just cannot handle.



Thirty pointer said:


> Many can eat them just fine but more will have reactions to them than other morels .I have eaten them but they are not so tasty IMO .Do a very small sample test .


Strange, another poster says the opposite. Like my issues, we are all different and no one statement can be cast for how everyone will react to anything.


----------



## JOHN L (Apr 10, 2008)

Thank you for confirmation. I will do a small sample test

Sent from my SM-G955U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


----------



## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

JOHN L said:


> Thank you for confirmation. I will do a small sample test
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Remember, I am here to help if they are of no use to you.


----------



## JOHN L (Apr 10, 2008)

Oldgrandman said:


> Remember, I am here to help if they are of no use to you.


I appreciate the offer, went back out and found another 75 or so. I am going to do a test eating But I will keep you in mind if I don't like them.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


----------



## jschlenke (Jul 8, 2013)

If that’s all you find, eat them like you would any other one. If you find any of the meatier ones (grey yellow etc) I like to chop them up and use them to fortify the sauce. They taste as good as any other, just tend to get a bit crumbly as they get bigger.


----------



## Sparky23 (Aug 15, 2007)

Thirty pointer said:


> Many can eat them just fine but more will have reactions to them than other morels .I have eaten them but they are not so tasty IMO .Do a very small sample test .


That is not even close to true. Half frees have the least amount sickenings out of the morchelle family. They are now classified as a true morel and 100% safe to eat. Black morels cause more sickenings than any other mushroom in the us. Im not sure how people get half frees so screwed up with verpa's but you good to go. 100% not as expert as some but do have certification and have read about every book out there.and fyi they are very tasty


----------



## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

Sparky23 said:


> That is not even close to true. Half frees have the least amount sickenings out of the morchelle family. They are now classified as a true morel and 100% safe to eat. Black morels cause more sickenings than any other mushroom in the us. Im not sure how people get half frees so screwed up with verpa's but you good to go. 100% not as expert as some but do have certification and have read about every book out there.and fyi they are very tasty


Go for it .


----------



## Sparky23 (Aug 15, 2007)

Lol. Look it up. I actually know the classification of mushrooms. Half free are classified as a morchella species ..morchella semi lebra 100% safe to eat unlike the one many confuse them with which is unsafe the verpa bohemica. Which is attached at the top of the cap amd has a cotton like substance in the stem. If you dont know anything more than what you have heard from people and not the truth especially about mushrooms then why answer.


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Sparky23 said:


> That is not even close to true. Half frees have the least amount sickenings out of the morchelle family. They are now classified as a true morel and 100% safe to eat. Black morels cause more sickenings than any other mushroom in the us. Im not sure how people get half frees so screwed up with verpa's but you good to go. 100% not as expert as some but do have certification and have read about every book out there.and fyi they are very tasty


I agree. More people are intolerant of black morels.


----------



## RyanHuntsEverything (May 16, 2017)

JOHN L said:


> Found them today in Wayne County. Are these half frees and edible or not?
> View attachment 311372
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Those are definitely half free morels. I have picked a full bag of them since Friday and have been eating them the past three nights in a row. They taste identical to the grey morels and are not poisonous. Just not as meaty as the other morels. I’ve eaten about 50 in the past two days and I’m still kickin.


----------



## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

Sparky23 said:


> Lol. Look it up. I actually know the classification of mushrooms. Half free are classified as a morchella species ..morchella semi lebra 100% safe to eat unlike the one many confuse them with which is unsafe the verpa bohemica. Which is attached at the top of the cap amd has a cotton like substance in the stem. If you dont know anything more than what you have heard from people and not the truth especially about mushrooms then why answer.


No need to get your panties in a wad dude .If you read the whole post it stated IMO .I was just stating he do a test sample as one should do with any mushroom they have not tried before .Geeesh .


----------



## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

JOHN L said:


> Found them today in Wayne County. Are these half frees and edible or not?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


As you can see in your picture, the caps are attached half way down from the top of the cap. Those are half-free.

In this picture below of verpas, the cap is attached only at the top. Plus, the stem is not hollow like in the half-free. In the verpas, there is usually a wispy, cottony material filling the inside of the stem. So if either of these characteristics are present, throw them away.


----------



## Honyuk96 (Nov 21, 2014)

Gotta agree w Sparky here. I picked a bunch of half frees today, as i do every year. Not as meaty as a grey but still very tasty. Nice find


----------

