The Frenchman, posing with perfect puffs (young giant puffballs, Calvatia gigantea) that we discovered on a walk in the woods.
We left most of of the surprise patch and alerted other foragers to their location - too delicious not to share.
These mushrooms are one of my favorites, with a surprisingly strong mushroom aroma and a texture like very delicate tofu, although also...not quite.
At home, I skinned one and cut it squeakily into into snowy white cubes that were added to last night's butter chicken. Very delicious.
Left alone, these puffballs can grow huge. But I love this small, neat stage, and anyway, there they were, despite only a whisper of rain in the last week.
Tiny, tiny white orbs an inch or two in diameter might be the so-called eggs of Amanita species, and potentially exceptionally toxic. So don't collect puffs unless you absolutely know how to tell the difference. Cutting those Amanita eggs in half (they have very different texture) reveals the silhouette of a mushroom inside - you most definitely do not want to eat that. Giant puffballs are pure white, and firmly spongy (unless old, in which case they turn yellow and more mushy.
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I've only ever seen two or three types of puffballs, here in California, and none of them was actually a ball! These are spectacular. It's great that you know how to use them.
ReplyDeleteWhich puffballs do you see? The little pear-shaped ones - Lycoperdon? Purple earth balls?
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