In the woods in the Fall if there is enough moisture I'll find Hen-of-the-Woods. Biggest one I've found was 2'x3' and I had to cut it into 3 pieces to get it out of the woods.
I always see puff ball mushrooms in the woods but never tried one. I do collect morels but don't find them any better than store-bought mushrooms, so I give them away.
I always see puff ball mushrooms in the woods but never tried one. I do collect morels but don't find them any better than store-bought mushrooms, so I give them away.
I tried one puffball, but maybe it was the way I cooked it, but I didn't care for it. I heard that if you see any brown inside it's too old. Maybe the guys that cook and like them will chime in on what to look for, and how to cook them. (Maybe I sliced mine too thick?)
On puffball mushrooms, you MUST slice the cap from top to bottom and inspect the inside of the shroom. It should be pure white just like a marsh mellow, and should ABSOLUTELY NOT have any part of the stem growing inside the cap, if you see any part of the stem going up into the marsh mellow ( cap) do not eat it, (if I remember correctly, it’s called a death angel) it will make you very sick and could very well kill you. Not trying to scare ya, they are pretty easy to identify, just be sure and slice them before you cook them, I have found death angels mixed in with them before. Just remember, pure white marsh mellow inside and NO stem (stalk) extending inside the cap. I love eating them also, I bread and deep fry em
Almost forgot, if you are finding puffballs, be sure and look for boletes, they grow in the same areas as puffballs. You have most likely seen them growing in pastures and just inside the tree line. They look just like a large hamburger bun from the top, the bottom of the cap has no gills and is porous. I have seen them all different colors, red, blue, yellow, etc. To me they taste like eggs. I always pinch them to make sure they don’t turn blue (where they are pinched) them I pinch off a little piece and taste it, if it’s bitter, (and believe me, you will know if it’s bitter) you can’t eat it, it’s not poisonous just too bitter to eat. They grow in patches and I have never found a whole patch that didn’t have a few if not all that were really bitter. There is an old saying “if it crushes blue, it’s not for you” This is another mushroom that’s really common and easy to identify, and like most edible mushrooms, very good for you….. just be sure of the identity of any mushroom before you eat em
Azteca was talking about finding shaggy mane mushrooms, the other year I was hunting morels and found a shaggy mane mushroom growing in the end of a hollow tree but that had been cut down a year or so earlier, I had never seen anything like it, I thought it was a white rabbit stuck in a tree at first. I researched it on the world wide web and they described it as a shaggy mane or a lions mane mushroom, I sliced it and ate it, it was pretty good, not anywhere near like a morel but pretty tasty, like I always say, any mushroom is better then no mushroom. Interesting thread here, I have never found an edible puffball, have ate quite a few shelf mushrooms when I find them fresh enough, A local farmers market peddler has Oyster mushrooms for sale a good bit in the early summer, he grows them, I love them too, but they still arent as good as the morels.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
The surroundings of our pond are often conductive to mushroom, humidity, woodland.
Soon with the arrival of spring and summer it's the arrival of Morels, Chamterelles and others even a mushroom that taste Orange.
But caution is required.
You have to pick the mushroom that you are absolutely sure.
During a picking never mix the species, one bag for each species.
Cautionis required.
The identification of several species is impossible from a photograph, for several species only the observation of spores and other element is the only way to distinguish one species from another.
In Québec there are 400 to 500 mushroom poisoning each year.
The best way to introduce yourself to Mushroom is to be part of a Mycology circle.
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