The morel season, which starts every year in the first weeks of April in Akseki, opened early this year due to the spring rains. If the rains continue, the harvest is expected to last until the end of May. Morel, which grows in humid and high-altitude regions, especially where cedar and spruce trees are located, stands out as being more valuable than other mushroom species.
“Everyone from 7 to 70 is in the mountains”
With the start of the season, people from Akseki head to the mountains early in the morning. The morel shift, in which everyone, including children, young and old, participates, literally brings life in the district to a halt. While pickers travel from mountain to mountain all day long looking for mushrooms, it is stated that a person can find an average of 1 to 5 kilograms of product per day.
“I have been collecting for 40 years”
52-year-old Fatma Kara stated that she has been collecting morels for about 40 years and described the excitement of the season with the following words:
“When the time comes for this mushroom, we go to the mountains with my wife and children early in the morning. We wander around. Sometimes we find 1 kilo, sometimes 5-6 kilos. When it first came out, its weight was 4 thousand liras, now it has dropped to 1,500 liras.”
“Akseki’s morel is more delicious”
Stating that morels grown between 1,000 and 1,800 altitudes of the Taurus Mountains are more meaty and delicious, Kara said that there is a serious difference in taste between the mushrooms grown in the coastal areas.
