mem@sii.UUCP (Mark Mallett) (01/09/84)
b I used to live in Gravesville, New York. No, really. Some years ago when my family was out there visiting, Mr. went out early in the morning and plucked a puffball about the size of a canteloupe, sliced it into 1" thick pieces, and fried the pieces. Wow! what an excellent breakfast steak. A puffball, you know, are those fungus balls (hmmm) that sprout up in the fields in the morning and turn to dry shells in the sun so that when they are stepped on, they go PUFF! and splatter their spores everywhere. Mind you, I have no idea what varieties of puffballs exist. I can't recommend that anyone pick fungus and eat it randomly. But I'd say that if you have occasion to have someone who knows what they are doing serve one to you, do it! This is the same man, by the way, who put cabbage in the macaroni and cheese that he made for us kids while the other big folks were away. Me, a cabbage hater, loved it. Mark Mallett decvax!sii!mem
mcq@druxt.UUCP (McQueerRL) (01/10/84)
I once took an edible wild foods course, and I guess I should pass on what was said about puffballs: Puffball mushrooms (before they reach the spore-filled stage, YECHH!) are edible. HOWEVER: WARNING!!!!! When harvesting puffballs ALWAYS cut them in half and examine them carefully to see that they are absolutely homogenous throughout. The danger lies in accidently picking the button stage of some other kind of mushroom. A button stage Amanita looks very much like a small puffball, for instance, but if cut in half has an obvious gill structure beginning to form. I absolve myself of all responsibility for other people's fungus collecting. Do so at your own risk. I thought you might like the information, though. Bob McQueer ihnp4!druxt!mcq
michelle@orca.UUCP (01/10/84)
Beware when searching for the wild puffball that you do not accidentally trap a fetal amenitas. To distinguish between the two slice the ball in two and observe whether or not it has the form of a developing mushroom in it. If it is solid inside it is the puffball. michelle
metcalf@inmet.UUCP (01/12/84)
#R:sii:-37600:inmet:3500024:000:348 inmet!metcalf Jan 11 13:59:00 1984 All white puffballs are good to eat (i.e. non-poisonous, but often bland) AS LONG AS the interior is white and homogeneous. If the interior has begun to turn yellow (or purple or black) DON'T EAT IT. Also, if when you cut the 'puffball' open you find a mushroom shaped outline inside DON'T EAT IT. It's probably an undeveloped amanita. -wcm
metcalf@inmet.UUCP (01/30/84)
All white puffballs are good to eat (i.e. non-poisonous, but often bland) AS LONG AS the interior is white and homogeneous. If the interior has begun to turn yellow (or purple or black) DON'T EAT IT. Also, if when you cut the 'puffball' open you find a mushroom shaped outline inside DON'T EAT IT. It's probably an undeveloped amanita. -wcm
sebb@pyuxss.UUCP (S Badian) (02/01/84)
The puffball should also be firm, not too spongy. If it's spongy the puffball is probably too old to eat. Are there any mycologists out there? Those wild mushrooms just don't taste anything like the nasty white devils you buy at the supermarket. Sharon Badian
mike@csugnat.UUCP (Mike Vevea) (02/03/84)
You also need to be careful about puffballs which have been colonized by another fungus...a plant pathologist I know picked and ate "the one you CAN'T possibly miss identify" (his words). He was right, but the one growing on it almost killed him!