About
Morel is a forest mushroom with a distinctive honeycomb cap, gathered in spring.
Fresh harvest season
An orientation window for local open-field harvest in the regions already documented in the atlas — not retail, import, or storage availability.
Atlas regions summary: May 1 – June 15
Regions with data: Moscow OblastRepublic of Karelia
By region
| Region | Season | Peak | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moscow Oblast | May 1 – May 31 | May 11 – May 31 | Approximate |
| Republic of Karelia | May 1 – June 15 | — | Approximate |
In the kitchen
Morels are fried and stewed and added to soups and sauces.
Seasonality by region
Republic of Karelia(RU-KR)
Season: May – June; Beginning; Active; Ending BeginningActiveEnding
- Season
- May 1 – June 15
- Confidence
- Approximate
Evidence
Morel (Morchella conica), not Gyromitra and not Verpa. Shubin 1976: May and the first half of June, frequent but not abundant, in pine woods. MK Karelia 25 May 2026: edible morels already appearing. Start 1 May; end 15 June from Shubin’s first half of June. Moscow’s 31 May end is not copied. Gyromitra from the same chapter is not this product. No explicit peak: available sources do not justify a narrower window without false precision.
Sources
Mushrooms of the northern forests (Shubin, 1976): conical morel
Shubin V.I. — Griby severnykh lesov, 3rd ed., Petrozavodsk: Karelia
Morel chapter. Conical morel (Morchella conica): May and the first half of June, frequent but not abundant, in pine woods. Ordinary Gyromitra and Verpa bohemica are not this product. Do not reuse the 1976 layer-calendar slug: those notes are summer–autumn species. Calendar is for Petrozavodsk latitude, not Leningrad Oblast.
Morels are out (MK Karelia, 25 May 2026)
MK Karelia
25 May 2026: after a warm spring, edible morels are already appearing; Gyromitra is called inedible. A single-year appearance snapshot, not an end date. Notes are morels only; do not reuse the MK Karelia strawberry or raspberry slugs.
Moscow Oblast(RU-MOS)
Season: May – May; Beginning; Peak BeginningPeak
- Season
- May 1 – May 31
- Peak
- May 11 – May 31
- Confidence
- Approximate
Evidence
Morel (Morchella), not Gyromitra. Smirnyakov 1992: first in the 1st decade of May, mass 2nd–3rd decades of May. Gorlenko 1986: April–June; ordinary morel named for April–May. Start 1 May (April is not used against Smirnyakov’s empty April); end 31 May, Gorlenko’s June as a cool-year tail. Leningrad and Voronezh are not copied.
Sources
Mushroom-picker calendar for the central oblasts of European Russia (Smirnyakov, Koshcheev, 1992)
Smirnyakov Yu.I., Koshcheev A.K., Koshcheev A.A. — Sputnik gribnika
Appendix: decade calendar (May–October). Legend: 0 first fruiting bodies, “-” mass growth, х abundant fruiting, = warm autumn only. Does not name Moscow Oblast separately; “central oblasts” is the belt that includes it. A handbook, not a multi-year plot study.
Phenological calendar: morels, saffron milk cap, true milk cap (Gorlenko, Garibova, Sidorova, 1986)
Gorlenko M.V., Garibova L.V., Sidorova I.I. — Vsyo o gribakh
Monthly presence table for the middle belt. Morels IV–VI (false morels / Gyromitra are a separate row). Spruce and pine saffron milk caps VIII–X. True milk cap VIII–IX (black milk cap is a separate VII–X row). Prose: morels from mid-April or early May, in cool weather until mid-June; saffron milk caps and milk caps from the second half of August to the end of September. No intra-month dates and no named oblast.
