They were 4-5 huge puffball mushrooms, Calvatia Gigantea, growing in the flood plain area beside the stream. Each one was at least as big as a softball and the biggest (pictured below) was as big as a basketball.
Mushrooms are how I really began being interested in wild edibles, so I was pretty excited.
We cut it and brought it home. Then we researched online about the dangers of this variety. Turns out puffball mushrooms are pretty safe (though with mushrooms, you can't be too safe). They are sometimes confused with Amanitas, which can kill, but the Amanitas only resemble puffballs when they are immature and you can cut open a puffball to see if there is signs of a developing stem/gills. If there are, DO NOT EAT IT. If it is all white flesh, it's probably a puffball.
So the first thing I did was cut it open to check for the white flesh...and I hit something solid. Amanda was stressed about the whole endeavor, worried that it might be an Amanitas, so I didn't want to alarm her, but I was a bit freaked out. The knife clinked against something and stopped dead. Then the mushroom split open and...
There was a rock inside. The mushroom had grown around it.
After that, I cut away the outer layer and any sections that weren't completely white (dirt). I then cut it into thin steaks (less than an inch thick) and fried them in garlic and olive oil.
After they cooked for a few minutes on each side,
I switched them to the grill.
They looked amazing. However, the taste was less than I hoped.
If you like a slight mushroomy flavor and the texture of mushrooms (I don't really), these might be great for you. I couldn't get around the texture. Too bad too because I could have eaten several meals off of just the one I brought home.
Any thoughts or advice would be well appreciated. For now, I'm just saying that I don't like puffball mushrooms. However, I might be willing to try again with a different recipe, maybe a puffball parmesan over pasta...
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