Fried puffball mushrooms

A discovery I’ve been delighted to make here in NW PA is the giant puffballl mushroom.   As seen here, it can be made into a fried plate of delightful edible mushrooms that really enhance a meal.

Found wild it is a round cap, a stemless mushroom that appears one day as a regular sized mushroom, and is several times larger the next.

The mushroom is delicious and can be used like any other edible mushroom.   It has a solid, somewhat smooth, exterior and completely white interior, with no stem.

All true puffballs are considered edible when immature, but can cause digestive upset if the spores have begun to form, as indicated by the color of the flesh being not pure white (first yellow, then brown). Immature gilled species still contained within their universal veil can be look alikes for puffballs. To distinguish puffballs from poisonous fungi, they must be cut open; edible puffballs will have a solid white interior.

I’ve been learning from friends here to peel off the outer tough layer and cut up the inner fungi to make a nice dish of mushrooms.  My favorite way is fried or grilled, coated with butter or oil.

It’s great fun to walk about the many acres here, and come across the puffballs to pick and take back with me.

Puffball mushroom growing in the yard.

Admittedly, these need some moisture to grow so I’ve never found them in Texas but they are abundant, with new ones appearing daily here.

 

Full grown puffball with peeled small one beside red bell pepper