AnnaD
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Giant Puffball FindWhile out for a walk with my sister and Hazel yesterday, I found a lovely, young giant puffball. It wasn't huge, but still a decent size and was quite firm with pure white flesh. There were also loads of brambles, rosehips, water mint and sloes, but my sister has no patience for foraging 
The mushroom has now been sliced into smallish squares and put in the dehydrator. I'm not sure how they'll turn out since I lost the instructions, but with a bit of luck they will be fine.
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wipka84
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Oooh we've been having quite a bit of rain here. I found my first patch of giant puffballs ever. Unfortunately some kids/vagrants/simple adult had got to them first and destroyed each and every one of them.
Wonder if a second flourish has happened.
They look great btw.
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AnnaD
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It's sad when a good mushroom is destroyed for the fun of it. At least you'll know where to find them next year, and hopefully get there first.
I'm surprised no one else had taken my one, as it was right next to a road used a lot by walkers.
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gil
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That's great, Anna - was it anywhere near the really huge one we found at the Scottish DS meet ?
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AnnaD
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| gil wrote: | | That's great, Anna - was it anywhere near the really huge one we found at the Scottish DS meet ? |
No, it was in Flotterstone, on the way to Glencorse reservoir. I haven't seen any more here, but I'm continuing to keep a look out for them.
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AnnaD
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Apparently drying puffball smells like feet 
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cab
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| AnnaD wrote: | | Apparently drying puffball smells like feet |
Not if they're really young and fresh. The 'feet' smell tends to be that they're right on the edge before becoming over ripe, and drying them smells (and is bloody hard) at that stage.
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AnnaD
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Will they still be okay to use?
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cab
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| AnnaD wrote: | | Will they still be okay to use? |
Foot-smelling as they dry giant puffballs? I honestly don't know, there isn't (to my knowledge) any good information on that. 'Fresh' ones that are going past their best can disagree very strongly with some people.
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SmattyB
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I've just collected a few small ones from a pretty reliable field. You have to be quick though cos the cows seem to take great pleasure in smashing them before I can get to them.
wipka84 - Thinking of the best in everyone, could it have been cows that smashed the ones in your field?
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bingo
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Nice, looks like things have fired up again after the dry spell.
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ros
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 dry spell
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AnnaD
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| ros wrote: | | dry spell |
Indeed!
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mochyn
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Oooh smatty: I do like your axolotl!
Never found any puffballs here, though.
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PeteS
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Yes, nice find. Chanterelles are coming up in numbers here. I got 1kg at the end of last week and 0.5kg while out with the dog this morning. I also noticed a few baby Ceps.
Talking of dry spells - by the middle of next week we could all be having an Indian Summer!
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woody guthrie
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Found this monster a couple of days ago, needed a bit of pruning and cleaning but managed to end up a loaf of puffball slices.
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AnnaD
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That is a good size of puffball! What are you going to do with it?
While watching some old River Cottage, they were baking a giant puffball and commented that it smelled like wet dog. So I suppose the foot smell must be fine.
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woody guthrie
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I have just been dipping in egg and frying a couple of slices for lunch as I am a bit stumped as to what else to do. It doesn't really have a lot of taste but it is very satisfying throwing a large slice into a pan.
I am not allowed to feed anything I have found to the children and my wife doesn't eat mushrooms so it's just down to me to eat it. Do you think it would work well in some sort of mushroom lasagne type of dish, layered with sauce?
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AnnaD
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I've dried mine so I can add it to stews and things like that. There really isn't a huge amount of things you can do with it as far as I know. How about soup? Or you could maybe mix it with other types of mushroom for a stroganoff.
There's always the Hugh method of stuffing it with stew and sticking it in the oven to bake.
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