How To Get All The Dirt Out Of Morel Mushrooms

Morel mushrooms may be delicious, but their unique shape sure makes the little buggers hard to clean. You can't just wipe them off like you might a button mushroom, since they have all those spongy wrinkles that trap dirt. The morel, which is Minnesota's official state mushroom (and was a popular food-themed pet name in 2022, go figure), is also pretty pricey as far as mushrooms go. If you're paying around $50 pound, you sure don't want to make any mushroom-ruining mistakes at the preparation stage. 

To find out the best way to clean morels, we turned to 'shroom sage Rob Rubba. He's a chef at a Michelin-starred Washington, D.C. Restaurant called Oyster Oyster. But as the menu makes clear, the double name is meant to refer not only to mollusks, but mushrooms. As Rubba explained, "Each mushroom has a best [cleaning] practice, be it a brush, peel, or a rinse."

To clean morels, Rubba advised "soaking [them] in warm water" (you may want to add a pinch of salt). After about five minutes, drain the mushrooms, then cover them with more water and drain them again. Repeat the process until the water runs clear to make sure that all the dirt, bugs, and dried leaves have floated out of the morel caps.

If you're grossed out by the thought of dirt and even tiny little bugs (ick!) inside your nice clean fridge, you might want to wash your morels as soon as you bring them home, but that would be a big no-no. Washing causes any kind of mushroom to absorb water, and this excess moisture will make them start rotting if they're not used right away. Instead, you should store your morels — soil and all — in a brown paper bag as this allows for airflow and can also absorb any moisture they may release. 

If you're really bothered by the dirt, though, what you can do is put the mushrooms into a paper bag or colander, then shake them very gently to knock off as much muck as possible. After doing so, take the mushrooms out one by one and place them in a clean paper bag for storage.

Once you're ready to cook with your morels, that's when you clean them. After you've soaked and rinsed them as Rob Rubba recommended, you'll then need to dry them. Do this by putting them on a layer of paper towels (or clean cloth towels, if you'd prefer to go the sustainable route) and use additional towels to pat them very lightly all over. If the towels become wet, replace them with fresh ones, since the goal is to get all of the water out of the morels before you begin cooking.