# Giant Puffballs



## Lynan (Aug 11, 2006)

I am envious of you North Americans about now. 
It must be close to the time when you can get close to nature, and sometimes just outside your door, and go searching for giant puffballs.
( Calvatia Gigantea)

I used to eat them every year in Italy but now that I am in a city back in New Zealand, I very rarely see them.

I normally did the flour, egg, breadcrumb thing with thick slices, but have any of you other idea's?


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## ChefScotty (Aug 11, 2006)

They make a rockin crispy 'strudel' with heirloom tomatoes, home made mozarella and a balsamic basil sauce.   'Noodley' things, like lasagna with some game - some cervena venison would be perfect for you.   And of course a foie and puffball brioche sammich with the mushie cooked in that nasty duck fat stuff   

It's been AWESOME to have the time to hit all the local markets this year but since it's winter down there I'll spare you the drool.


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## letscook (Aug 11, 2006)

I haven't thought of them in years. Im from the fingerlakes in New york and we always found them when we were kids. We did the same things, Flour - egg- flour- fry them or we did the breadcrumbs.  Ill have to look this year for them. Thanks for the memory.


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## AllenOK (Aug 11, 2006)

My other half, PeppA, and her mother are big into puffballs.  I'm not sure how they fried them.  I've tried a couple slices, and wasn't impressed.

I actually found about a dozen chantarelles out in the woods last weekend.  I picked two, and brought them in to show my sous chef, as I wasn't totally sure of what they were.  I should have taken some pictures.

I did go back into the woods a few days ago, looking for some, and didn't find any.  I found some other mushrooms, and they all had bite marks on them.  Looks like the deer are getting hungry.


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## Barb L. (Sep 6, 2006)

Never heard of puffballs - can you find them in Michigan ?  I have a mushroom in my yard now - never know whats edible -it started out round and grew fast into a 4 inch flatesh circle.   Hmmm ?


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## vagriller (Sep 6, 2006)

You mean those things that belch a big puff of green smoke when you step on them? I didn't even know you could eat them!


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## BreezyCooking (Sep 6, 2006)

Just be very careful out there guys.  There are many many toxic mushrooms that resemble an edible puffball when young.

Unless you're an expert, or have access to an expert, don't ever taste-experiment funghi you've harvested yourself.  You could easily be setting yourself up for anything from a stomach upset, to kidney/liver failure, to a painful death.  And all because you decided to taste a mushroom you found growing in your yard that someone without proper knowledge or direct access to that mushroom for proper identification told you was safe to eat.


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## Barb L. (Sep 6, 2006)

No,  I would never eat anything Iam not sure of -- in fact had portabella's on the grill the other night-my 9yr. old GS asked his Mom if this was the mushroom from Grandma's yard-(I had told him it was poisonus not to touch !! )   lol Sweet boy !


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## bbaruu (Aug 25, 2012)

*Mmmmmm  Gooood!*

I just picked three, one per grocery bag.  I left the other 1 1/2 footers there for someone else.  I guess  fritters tonight and some  duxelles for later.  I truly am sorry about your luck.




Lynan said:


> I am envious of you North Americans about now.
> It must be close to the time when you can get close to nature, and sometimes just outside your door, and go searching for giant puffballs.
> ( Calvatia Gigantea)
> 
> ...


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## bbaruu (Aug 25, 2012)

Big ones (Calvatia), smaller ones (Lycoperdon), poisonous ones (Scleroderma), fatal look-alikes (immature Amanitas)  -- grab yourself the Audubon Field Guide to Mushrooms if you're curious and read it thoroughly before you act on any of that curiosity.  The book covers our shared geography nicely (Ontario -- me and Michigan -- you).  What you should really go look for is Morels in the Spring.  Huge in Michigan and here.  But get the Guide first.

advice from a verrry experienced mushroomer (and living).



Barb L. said:


> Never heard of puffballs - can you find them in Michigan ?  I have a mushroom in my yard now - never know whats edible -it started out round and grew fast into a 4 inch flatesh circle.   Hmmm ?


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## bbaruu (Aug 25, 2012)

I've found them to be pretty sloppy -- there is no texture once the rind is peeled, just the undifferentiated interior spore mass.  I'm going to try sauteeing them with Panko and parsley dip after the flour and egg dip stages -- attempt to crisp/firm them up.


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## Hoot (Aug 25, 2012)

I love me some mushrooms, but I just ain't got the nerve (nor the education) to eat the ones in the yard.


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## Addie (Aug 25, 2012)

So I take it that Puff Balls are mushrooms.


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## Zhizara (Aug 25, 2012)

Who knows?  OP was in 2006!


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## bbaruu (Aug 26, 2012)

Addie said:


> So I take it that Puff Balls are mushrooms.



Yup.  BTW  The successive dips of Flour (flavoured with poultry seasoning and salt), then beaten egg thinned with milk, then Panko crumbs makes a fine fritter out of 1/2" sliced Giant Puffball.  Very tasty.


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## CWS4322 (Aug 26, 2012)

Addie--when a child, those dried mushrooms you would step on and would spray a "dust" of spores, those were puffballs. I am on my way over to a friend's house to snag a Giant Puffball...steak, butter sauteed puffball, green pepper, tomatoes...I'm in heaven!


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## Kylie1969 (Aug 27, 2012)

Addie said:


> So I take it that Puff Balls are mushrooms.



Addie, I did not know that either


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## sparrowgrass (Aug 27, 2012)

Puffballs remind me of tofu--not much flavor, need lots of help to be tasty. More of a filler than anything else. Giant puffballs are pretty unmistakeable, and a good mushroom for beginners. They are large, round white mushrooms--range in size from a baseball to a Volkswagen   (well, maybe a basketball)--and are solid white inside.  If they have started to turn dark in the middle, they are past eating, and if you find a small one, be sure that it is homogenous inside--with no sign of stem or gills.  The inside of the puffball looks like marshmallow.  Round mushrooms with gills or stem inside could be poisonous.

When they mature, they turn dark and dry up, and that is when you can squeeze them and make the spores puff out.  Long ago, it was rumored that if you collected enough of those spores, you could become invisible!  (The secret there is the 'enough' part.)  Seems like I remember that they are quite flammable, and were used in fireworks.  Maybe you disappear in a puff of smoke?


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## CWS4322 (Aug 27, 2012)

sparrowgrass said:


> Puffballs remind me of tofu--not much flavor, need lots of help to be tasty. More of a filler than anything else. Giant puffballs are pretty unmistakeable, and a good mushroom for beginners. They are large, round white mushrooms--range in size from a baseball to a Volkswagen   (well, maybe a basketball)--and are solid white inside.  If they have started to turn dark in the middle, they are past eating, and if you find a small one, be sure that it is homogenous inside--with no sign of stem or gills.  The inside of the puffball looks like marshmallow.  Round mushrooms with gills or stem inside could be poisonous.
> 
> When they mature, they turn dark and dry up, and that is when you can squeeze them and make the spores puff out.  Long ago, it was rumored that if you collected enough of those spores, you could become invisible!  (The secret there is the 'enough' part.)  Seems like I remember that they are quite flammable, and were used in fireworks.  Maybe you disappear in a puff of smoke?


When they are past their prime, they are no longer white and creamy inside. Unfortunately, although the size of a basketball and firm on the outside, it was not creamy white on the inside. Left it where it was. Maybe next fall. Sigh.


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## CharlieD (Aug 27, 2012)

I remeber them as a kid, but do not see them here. Maybe have to venture into woods or something.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Aug 27, 2012)

True puffballs have no stem, and can range in size from a glass marble size to several feet in diameter.  The are one solid mass of mushroom with no gilles or pores.  Both the Destroying  angel, and the Death-cap when it first sprouts from the ground can resemble a puffball.  When picked though, there is a discernible stem starting from the cap  There is more information about this family of mushrooms here: Amanitas: From Deadly to Delicious | The Mushroom Forager.

I agree that puffballs have very little flavor, like a yellow-sulpher mushroom (looks like a bright yellow shelf growing from the side of a tree.  Both require other flavors make them taste good as they are bland.  But both have a good mushroom texture and work well in things like stir-fries, as long as there is meat present.

I have picked puffballs, but don't so much any more.  There are better tasting mushrooms to be had.  I just picked about 2 pounds worth of field mushrooms (white to cream, to light brown cap, with pink gills that go from pink, to milk chocolate, to dark chocolate in color as they age.  They are considered choice and delicious.  I agree with that.  I'll also start looking for shaggy miens when the weather starts to cool a bit.  Theyr' part of the inky-cap mushrooms and are also wonderful tasting, when picked and cooked at the right stage.

Go to the library, and look about online for wild-edible mushrooms for your geographical area.  There is a wealth of info out there, with pictures.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind fo the North


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