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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Puffballs

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  • From: "Doc Lisenby" <longdistshtr@shtc.net>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Puffballs
  • Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 10:19:36 -0400

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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