Cleaning Mushrooms

A friend told me that you are never supposed to wash morels-- that water removes most of the flavor. But when I was talking to a vendor at the farmers market yesterday she said you always have to wash mushrooms, especially morels, because they are found in some of the dirties places.

Can anyone clear this up for me.

For awhile all the cooking shows were telling people not to wash their mushrooms because they would absorb too much water and lose a lot of flavor. Then Alton Brown (of Food Network) devoted a "Good Eats" episode to mushrooms and showed scientifically that they do absorb water, but it's like a gram's worth - and besides, they are mostly water anyway (think about a dehydrated mushroom verses a plump, fresh one), so it doesn't make much difference in the flavor.

Interestingly, I've noticed a complete shift from every other cooking show (I watch a lot) telling you not to wash your mushrooms before that episode, to absolutely no cooking shows making a peep on the subject afterwards...

I haven't tried morels yet but any other type of mushroom makes me vomit profusely upon contact with my mouth.  I'm not exactly sure why.  Might be texture related or something haha.

They sound great but what's the texture like?