I haven't had morels for years! My mother always just sliced them, dipped them in egg, then through four, salt and pepper and fried them. It's been 25 years or so since I had them, and I still remember how good they were. I'd pay $$$ to get my hands on a place where I could find morels.
Alys

We freeze ours and only use them sauted w/ steak. We've done the batter fried too but prefer them sauted but lots around here do them battered instead. Good luck!

Stacey =)

We like to cut them in half length-wise, wash, coat them in flour, and then fry in a frying pan. If they are very large, you may have to slice them into smaller pieces. It takes quite a lot of vegetable oil or butter, as the flour absorbs a lot of it. We like to fry until partly crisp,which takes awhile. Then remove and put on a plate covered with paper towels to absorb excess fat. The fried mushrooms can also be cut up and added to scrambled eggs. Other people we know just saute them in butter without the flour.

As for drying, you can dry them on a rack in the sun, or where they can get a lot of air circulation. If the weather is rainy, with high humidity, they will not dry well. In that case, you could bring them inside and use a fan to take away the moisture.

One time my husband found a HUGE morel at least a foot high under some cottonwood trees, but most of the morels we find are in a mixed forest (Grand Fir, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Larch).

I have dried morels just by leaving them on a paper-towel covered plate in my kitchen. The ones I find here in Minnesota are small, so I dry them whole. Big ones might need to be sliced or split.

Alys, check out this link. Maybe you can buy Morels! I have not yet done so, but I plan to order a growing kit, then follow directions to establish an outdoor patch.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fungi Perfect

I fist wash my morels in a little salt water (for the bugs) and then string them up using a needle and thread...string though the cap so the open stem faces down for drainage.

My fav recipe is:

Sautee halved morels with ramps; in olive oil until just starting to color. Season to taste (salt, pepper, herbs, etc) Add heavy cream and parmesean cheese just till it starts to thicken; serve over your favorite pasta.

My other favorite way is in a morel, asparagus, ramp omlette.

Alys, the morel mushroom festival is in Muscodae, WI the weekend after mother's day every year. This year the price was $15/lb.

Or you could have gotten them from the Madison Farmers market for $40/lb!!!

You may be able to buy them from these guys here.

Passion: I have bought Shiitaki, and oyster kits from those guys and they worked great, however my dad's morel kit failed to product anything.

I wish you luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: wild harvest

Passion- did it work?

Here's another place that sells both fresh & dried morels - along with some other fabulous mushrooms. Also wild Ramps & Fiddleheads.

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthly Delights

You can dry them easily in a food dehydrater. Soak them in saltwater in the fridge for 2 hours first.
You can also buy them on e-bay

This works perfectly for me. Get those little brown lunch bags, and just leave them in a cool, dry spot in your house - I put mine in a large wood breadbox, with the bread. Check and make sure they're actually drying, and not spoiling. I got this idea from archaeology - as an archaeology student, we were taught always to put organic materials like bones in brown paper bags after cleaning so that they won't crack as they dry out. The paper absorbs the extra moisture, but allows air in. It really works for morels, because they have so little moisture to begin with. Mine come out perfect. I haven't tried it on any other foods.