I was walking on a path through the local Forest Preserve today, and I saw something a ways off the path in the woods. Big and white, it looked like a grocery bag full of something, left by those who often leave beer bottles and cans lying about here. It wasn’t there the last time I walked by, 2 days ago.
I argued with myself about retrieving it and disposing of it properly. I lost, sighed, and walked into the woods to get it.
A minute later I reach it, and I realize it is not a grocery bag. It’s round, appears to be half-buried, and about 10-11 inches in diameter. A discarded albino pumpkin? I touch it gently with my shoe, and it yields slightly. I notice it’s roughly a hemisphere that doesn’t quite touch the ground.
IT’S THE BIGGEST FREAKING MUSHROOM/TOADSTOOL I’VE EVER SEEN! These may not be rare around here and there must be larger ones in the world somewhere, but I haven’t seen them.
The cap is too close to the ground to see the stalk, but from the way the cap moved it must be there.
I look around and see another similar fungus, a bit larger than a grapefruit. I see 3 more slightly larger ones that are mostly brown, but white is appearing at the caps’ edges.
Cool, puffball mushrooms. They have them in Wisconsin, too - I saw some while camping last month. A nearby farmer’s market typically has a vendor who sells them by the ounce.
I live in Indiana, and very fall we go to my great aunt’s house and pick them from her backyard. We’ve been known to stop and ask people if we can have them, if we see them growing in their yard. Most people don’t even know that you can eat them!
Cut them into thick slices and fry 'em up. VERY tasty! I like to use them in spaghetti sauce, too. They work really well for sauces.
They have to be pure white and not dried out in the least. They’re no good if they dry up at all. Just pick the pure white ones, and you’re good to go!
Yes. You really DO need to know your mushrooms before eating them. There are several deadly mushrooms that look similar to edible mushrooms. It’s best to go out with someone who knows his/her mushrooms, and learn from them. I suppose there are books out there that would help, but nothing beats seeing the edible from the non-edible in person! That way, you can be sure of knowing the subtle differences.
It does sound like a giant puffball; these are pretty nearly impossible to mistake for anything else; they are (in theory*)spherical with a fairly superficial stalk and are solid all the way through - no gills. Specimens have been recorded so large that they were mistaken for sheep.
*In practice, they may be irregular due to damage while growing, but still good to eat).
Ditto what nonacetone said though - there are NO RULES OF THUMB about what is edible and what is poisonous - deadly poisonous fungi may look, taste and smell appetising, and they may be observed to have been eaten by animals with no apparent ill effect, but they’ll kill you, usually in quite an unpleasant manner. Positive identification of species (based on observation of multiple criteria, including characteristics of the fruiting body, habitat and season) is the ONLY reliable way to be sure you’re eating something safe.
Mushroom hunting is a national pasttime here - and boy do they have some bigguns…
The largest I’ve seen was a Green Fly agaric (the traditional red cap with white spots is a fly agaric, this is similar, but neon green). It was larger than a bowling ball. Very deadly (although the red ones can be dried and eaten for hallucinagenic effects).
There are also ‘bedlas’ that grow on thin stalks, but the heads are the size of dinner plates. Breaded and deep fried, nothin better!
