[NAFEX] Puffballs
Doc Lisenby
longdistshtr at shtc.net
Tue Sep 19 10:19:36 EDT 2006
The term "Puffballs" is like the term "Men" (or "Women"). It doesn't mean
much unless you qualify which "puffball" you mean. There are at least
twenty mushrooms which are called "puffballs". The Lycoperdales family
includes several geni which are delicious but some aren't very good and some
will make some people ill. Some poisonous mushroom "buttons" look similar
to edible puffballs. There are "false" and "stemmed" puffballs also.
It is advisable that you eat the ones which you can identify positively as
being good to eat by having eaten them previously or someone has eaten them
and recommended them. None of the ones I have eaten smell bad while being
cooked. Heaven forbid that you mistake a mushroom of the Amanita family for
a "puffball" even tho' that is practically impossible. I don't experiment
with unknown puffballs and have probably missed some delicious ones by doing
so. It is a good idea to allow someone to show you which ones are good.
Some of them are quite a treat for the palate. Others depend on an
individual's taste to qualify whether they are good or not. My personal
choice is Calvatia gigantea with Calvatia sculpta and subsculpta as close
seconds.
Doc Lisenby
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