Puffballs are 100% edible, providing you eat them when there is absolutely no brown whatsoever when you cut them open. In the last day and a half, I have harvested perhaps five pounds of these beauties, and after sauteing in butter, have popped them into the freezer for later use. Talk about delicious! Oh, my! And so "meaty!" That's a quarter in the photo above (and I am using an old photo since I cannot download images until after my computer man visits me tomorrow)...
I've never figured out the paramenters for finding them. I simply stumble upon them out in the grazed pastures. When I find one, I am usually in a mini-patch of them. I simply take long walks with the dog, basket in hand, and gather as many as I can find. Today's harvest brought three that were each 4 inches in diameter.
Take a brush, prior to peeling and get as much dirt off the rootend as possible before cutting and discarding it. (If you don't take this step, the dirt gets into the "meat" and it's challenging to remove it. Next, having brushed it thoroughly, cut as low as you can toward the root end, making sure there is no color other than PURE white--to remove the root. If you do encounter color, keep cutting off the root end until you see no color. If you find the puffball to be fairly moist, and a yellow-ish center, discard it. If there is lots of brown and the color continues to the top, throw the puffball away, but in a spot where the spores will propogate. Don't throw it in the trash! You're wasting those spores if you do.
Once you've cut off the root end sufficiently, peel the puffball with a potato peeler. Then, slice it into small pieces, melt butter in skillet, saute, and add to any dish which calls for mushrooms, or freeze it for another day.
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There are so few foods on earth that I would hesitate to try...and I think puffballs are among those few. I just can't get over the years of kicking the snuff out of them.
ReplyDeleteSo I'll pass on these. Thanks anyway.
Elora -- Never heard of Puffballs? Glad you explained them and how to use them. Are they poisonous if you eat them with the brown -- or are they just bad to the taste at that point? Computers, computers they like to play mind games with us. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you a bit, NCMW! You know, now that I think about it...what better way to spread those spores far and wide for the rest of us! Kicking has got to be a prime propogating method!
ReplyDeleteBarbara...we're talking poison, here...from what I've always believed. I'll Google puffballs today and see what I come up with that's verifiable. It's easy to tell, though...keep your puffballs all bright white. Never any brown.
Ate a few of my saute'd ones yesterday. I'm still here! :-))
Elora
Here is some additional information for those of you wanting to give this a try or simply learn a bit more. First, you can Google "edible puffballs" and you will have a compendium of websites where information is located. If you click on Images, you'll find plenty. Believe me, this is a delicacy and the puffballs are easy to see. Picture walking in a tufty grazed pasture of green grass and spotting a baseball-sized ball at your feet. It could also have a rather brownish "crazed" appearance and you'll probably see several in one spot... the "crazing" appearance is as you might see on a vase on which the surface glazing has become "cracked-looking." The surface of the puffball could be tannish, light beige, mottled brown. Size-wise, they'll be anywhere from nickel size to basketball size. They're hard to miss, believe me. Oh, and you have to get there before the cows do! They, and the deer, love them! Must be in a pasture that has been seriously grazed. They don't seem to grow in all grass.
ReplyDeleteSorry! That last sentence should read:
ReplyDeleteThey don't seem to grow in TALL grass.
I'm going to get up my courage and try some. I adore mushroom but am hesitant about wild ones -- though I know puff balls are edible.
ReplyDeleteVicki,
ReplyDeleteI know that the Meadow Mushrooms are also edible...the white ones with the pink gills, but I've never tried them; like you, I haven't had the courage to do so. But puffballs are safe. Once you have a bite, you'll be hooked. They are quite luscious.
Elora
Many years ago while walking the Penine Way in the Yorkshire Dales, we came across a field of enormous puffballs of which we collected a large bag full and ate them for our supper at the Youth Hostel. Delicius after a full day's walking.
ReplyDelete