Foragers who will soon be hunting for those tasty morel mushrooms hiding under cottonwood trees or alongside lady slipper orchids in Wyoming could be in for a pleasant surprise this year, if prices in Ohio are any indication.
A consumer there posted a photo of morel mushrooms from a grocery store priced at $75 a pound. That’s a lot more than their more usual $50 to $65 per pound prices, according to a Wyoming mushroom hunter in the Riverton area.
“The last few years, the high point’s been at $50,” Daniel Stewart told Cowboy State Daily. “To see it now, upward of $75, that’s just kind of remarkable, honestly.”
But it didn’t surprise Stewart to see prices explode like that, particularly right now.
Morel season is just starting to take off in Southern states, and the season is opening against a backdrop he describes as a “shroom boom.” Americans are clamoring for all things mushroom, with scientific studies recently highlighting their many health benefits.
The highest prices for morels often come at the beginning of the season when people are just like “grizzly bears coming out of hibernation” and want their morel mushrooms right now, Stewart said.
“They just taste so good,” Stewart said when asked why people are willing to pay such high prices for something that essentially grows from decaying matter. “And the season is so short and unpredictable year to year.”
READ MORE: