A Wisconsin delicacy is in the spotlight this weekend. France has its truffles, Wisconsin has its morel mushrooms, celebrated annually at the Morel Mushroom Festival in Muscoda, where Dorothy Hackel is a volunteer. “We fry mushrooms for you to sample, in case you don't know what they taste like,” says Hackel. “You either like them or you don't.” And if you decide you like them, the morels are on sale at the festival for twenty dollars a pound.
Area mushroom pickers have been busy in the woods around Muscoda: Hackel says they've collected about 1200 pounds for this year's festival . If you want to try your hand at finding your own mushrooms, Madison dietician Tammy Famusa says make sure of what you've got. There are plenty of pictures available on the web to help you verify that you've got the genuine morel mushroom. Muscoda, incidentally, is billed as the “Morel Capital of Wisconsin.”
