Morel Season Is Wrapping Up — Here's What to Forage Next in the Midwest
The last morels of the season are usually bittersweet. You're finding fewer of them, they're maturing fast, and the forest understory is starting to fill in with the kind of green canopy that makes the season feel definitively over. For a lot of people, that's where foraging stops until fall.
That's a mistake.
The midwest is extraordinarily productive from late April through October, and some of the best species of the year emerge right after morel season closes. The foragers who treat morels as the opening act — not the main event — come home with something from the woods well into October.
Here's what to look for, roughly in the order you'll encounter it.
Late April – May: The Transition Window
Ramps and Wild Leeks
If you haven't already, ramps are still harvestable in the upper midwest into early May, especially at higher elevations and in cool, shaded hollows. By the time morel season is winding down in southern Indiana or Missouri, ramps are just hitting their peak in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Where: Rich, moist hardwood forest — beech-maple and oak-hickory stands near water. Look for dense carpets of broad, smooth green leaves that smell unmistakably of garlic.
Harvest notes: Take only one leaf per plant or pull only a portion from any cluster. Ramp populations grow slowly and are sensitive to overharvesting. The bulbs are edible too, but leaf-only harvest is far less impactful on the colony.
What to do with them: Ramps are one of the most versatile wild plants you'll find. Sauté them whole, fold them into eggs, use them anywhere you'd use green onion or garlic. The leaves wilt quickly — use them within a few days or blanch and freeze.
Elderflowers
By mid-to-late May, elderberry shrubs across the midwest begin to bloom. The flowers — large, flat-topped clusters of tiny white blossoms — are among the most underused wild edibles in the region.
Where: Forest edges, roadsides, stream corridors, and disturbed areas. Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is a large shrub or small tree. Learn to identify it in leaf before bloom so you can find your stands early.
A critical note: Elderflowers must be identified correctly. Water hemlock and poison hemlock both produce white flower clusters and grow in similar habitats. Elderberry is a woody shrub with opposite compound leaves and distinctive pithy stems — confirm the plant before you harvest anything. The raw berries and unripe plant material are also mildly toxic; the flowers are the exception.
What to do with them: Elderflower cordial, elderflower fritters dipped in a light batter and fried, or steeped in cream for a subtle floral dessert. The bloom window is short — two to three weeks — so don't wait to act on it.
June: The Summer Transition
Mulberries
Red and white mulberries (Morus rubra and Morus alba) ripen across the midwest in June, often producing fruit in staggering abundance. A single mature mulberry tree can yield more than you can reasonably carry.
Where: Disturbed ground, forest margins, old farmsteads, and roadsides. Mulberry trees are common and often overlooked. Walk the edges of any mature woodlot in June and look for dark red-to-purple berries scattered on the ground beneath the canopy — the fallen fruit will find you before you find the tree.
Harvest notes: A sheet or tarp laid under a loaded branch and then shaken is far more efficient than picking by hand. Mulberries stain — wear clothes you don't care about.
What to do with them: Eat fresh, freeze for later, make jam or pie, or ferment them. They're also excellent dehydrated for trail use.
Chicken of the Woods
Laetiporus sulphureus and Laetiporus cincinnatus — the shelf fungi known collectively as chicken of the woods — begin appearing on hardwoods across the midwest in late June and continue through fall. A large specimen is one of the most visually dramatic fungi you'll find and one of the safest for beginners.
Where: On or at the base of dead or dying hardwoods, particularly oak, cherry, locust, and beech. The cincinnatus form fruits from buried roots at the base of oaks. The sulphureus form fruits higher on trunks and logs.
Identification: The overlapping shelf structure in bright orange and yellow is distinctive and has no dangerous lookalikes when found on hardwood in the midwest. Avoid specimens on conifers, black locust, or eucalyptus, which can cause gastrointestinal issues in some people.
Harvest notes: Young, actively growing edges are the only part worth eating — tender, moist, and meaty. Older portions near the center become tough and woody. Return to the same log in subsequent years; the mycelium often fruits again.
What to do with it: The texture genuinely resembles chicken when cooked. Sauté in butter, use in stir-fries, or bread and pan-fry. Well-cooked is non-negotiable — undercooked chicken of the woods can cause reactions in sensitive individuals.
July – August: Peak Summer
Chanterelles
If morels are the star of spring, chanterelles are the star of summer. Cantharellus cibarius and related species are among the finest edible mushrooms in the world, and the midwest produces excellent flushes through July and August in the right conditions.
Where: Mixed hardwood forest — especially oak-hickory stands — with good moisture. Chanterelles form mycorrhizal relationships with trees and return to the same spots year after year. Finding a productive patch is a long-term asset worth protecting.
Identification: Golden-yellow to egg-yolk color, wavy cap margin, and — critically — forking ridges (not true gills) that run partway down the stem. The flesh is white when cut and smells faintly fruity, often described as apricot-like. Jack-o'-lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus olearius) are the primary lookalike: they cluster at the base of trees or from buried wood, have true sharp gills (not ridges), are more orange, and glow faintly in the dark. Chanterelles are solitary to scattered and always associated with living trees.
Conditions: Chanterelles flush in response to warm summer rain. The formula is similar to morels but shifted toward warmth — a soaking rain followed by several days of humid heat will produce a flush 5–10 days later.
What to do with them: Butter is the answer. Chanterelles have enough flavor to carry a dish on their own. Sauté in unsalted butter with a little shallot and finish with salt and cream. Resist the urge to over-complicate them.
Black Trumpets
Craterellus cornucopioides — black trumpets, also called horn of plenty — are a hidden gem of the midwest summer. They're not as well-known as chanterelles but are arguably more flavorful: deeply savory, smoky, and complex. They also dry exceptionally well, concentrating that flavor further.
Where: In or near hardwood forest, often near chanterelles. They blend almost perfectly into the dark leaf litter on the forest floor, which is why most people walk past them. Once you've found your first cluster and trained your eye, you'll start seeing them everywhere in the right habitat.
Identification: Hollow, thin-walled, funnel-shaped fruiting bodies in dark gray to near-black. No gills — the outer surface is smooth to finely wrinkled. They're distinctive enough that there's very little to confuse them with.
What to do with them: Sauté in butter, dry and grind into a powder for a wild mushroom seasoning, or use in pasta and risotto. Their flavor intensifies dramatically when dried.
Wild Berries: Blackberries and Raspberries
By mid-July, wild black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) are ripe in thickets across the midwest, followed shortly by blackberries (Rubus allegheniensis). Both are highly productive, easily identified, and available in quantity.
Where: Disturbed areas, forest edges, old fields, power line cuts, and roadsides. The dense, thorny canes are hard to miss. Wear long sleeves.
Harvest notes: Pick in the morning before the heat of the day. A full-sun berry patch in July at 2:00 PM is uncomfortable. The same patch at 8:00 AM is pleasant. Ripe berries fall into your hand with almost no resistance — if you're pulling, they're not ready.
September – October: The Fall Payoff
Hen of the Woods (Maitake)
Grifola frondosa — hen of the woods, or maitake — is a fall heavyweight. Large specimens can reach 20–30 pounds, and they grow reliably at the base of oaks year after year. Finding your first productive hen spot feels a lot like finding your first reliable morel spot.
Where: At the base of mature oaks, often appearing after late September rains. Check the same trees every fall — maitake is perennial. Old-growth oak stands, shelterbelts, and mature second-growth hardwood are your best bets.
Identification: The overlapping fronds in gray-brown to tan, all emerging from a central base, are distinctive. It has a mild, earthy, woodsy aroma. Berkley's polypore is a potential confuse but has much larger, paler fronds. Berkeley's is also edible.
What to do with it: Maitake is excellent roasted at high heat, where the frond edges crisp up beautifully. It also takes well to soy-based marinades and is a standout in ramen or miso soup.
Pawpaws
The midwest's best-kept secret fruit. Asimina triloba produces a large, tropical-flavored fruit in September that tastes like a cross between banana, mango, and vanilla custard. It's the largest native fruit in North America, and it grows along stream corridors from Kansas and Nebraska east through the Appalachians.
Where: Rich, moist bottomland forest, typically in the understory beneath taller hardwoods near waterways. Pawpaws grow in clonal patches — find one, and there are usually more nearby.
Harvest notes: Ripe pawpaws fall from the tree on their own or release with a gentle shake. They ripen unevenly within a patch — check the same stand every few days in September. They don't keep long at room temperature; refrigerate immediately or process into pulp and freeze.
What to do with them: Eat fresh out of hand, blend into smoothies, use as a banana substitute in baked goods, or make ice cream. The seeds and skin are not edible.
Black Walnuts and Hickory Nuts
By October, black walnuts and hickory nuts are dropping across the midwest, and both reward the effort of collection.
Black walnuts (Juglans nigra) are intensely flavored — more assertive and complex than commercial walnuts — and they're abundant in the right areas. The green outer hull stains everything it contacts, so wear gloves and old clothes when processing. Hull them on a hard surface, let them cure for a few weeks, then crack them.
Hickory nuts vary by species — shagbark and shellbark hickories produce the most flavorful nuts and are worth the collection effort. Pecans, technically a hickory, grow wild in the river bottoms of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Kansas.
Building the Full-Season Habit
The foragers who get the most out of the midwest woods aren't chasing individual species — they're developing familiarity with a calendar that runs from April through November. Morel season is the entry point for a lot of people, and it's a good one: the species is dramatic, the community around it is active, and the success is tangible and motivating.
But it's the beginning, not the end.
The same woods that gave you morels in April will give you chanterelles in July and hen of the woods in October. The same bottomlands will have ramps in May, elderflowers in June, and pawpaws in September. The more seasons you spend paying attention to what's happening and when, the more productive each subsequent year becomes.
Log your finds. Note what was growing alongside each species, what the weather had been doing, which trees you found them under. That data compounds. After a few seasons, you stop starting from scratch each time a new species comes into season — you already know where to look.
The season doesn't end with morels. It just changes what you're looking for.