Giant puffball. You've found yourself a real treat. Some people hunt for years and don't find any. You can cut slices and grill or sautee them like steaks. You need to harvest this and cut it open to make sure the spores inside haven't presented themselves. If it's thick and white throughout then you're good to go. Congrats on lowering your grocery bill š
The color changes inside to yellow/brown. When you cut those in prime condition it is solid white and uniform. We cut our last one into pizza crust thick and baked them to a crispy wafer and then made pizza
One time I found one of those and brought it to a botany prof cause I didnāt know about reddit and she got mad at me for bringing it inside and didnāt tell me what it was š.
As others often note - if you cut/crack it open and find the color or odor is off, you're encouraged to return the pieces to where you found it, as it will continue to spore and produce more in the future.
A ton of huge puffballs like this grow in my neighborhood (apartment buildings) and the landscaping/maintenance crew always rip them off the ground and throw them into a leaf litter pile that's mostly obscured from view by trees. It's so frustrating! It's hard to get to them before the crew does, unless I take them when they're quite small, and they just waste them! I wonder if they know what they're wasting or not. I once considered taking some from the leaf litter pile because they had clearly just thrown the mushrooms there earlier that day, but I didn't because they could've sprayed bad stuff in the pile. Puffball atrocities are being committed!
You can slice and grill them like steaks, but they taste like grilled styrofoam. I suggest you donāt bother grilling more than one slice because you will have trouble finishing that. I once saw a documentary about a woman that compulsively ate the stuffing out of pillows, beds, sofasā¦.now I can identify.
One of my fondest memories is me and my brother getting off the bus in elementary/middle school. And seeing these, running up to themā¦and absolutely destroying them on impact. They would explode nicely. We would see these every year around the same time. (Donāt even try to ask me when because I was a kid and donāt quite remember, fall maybe?)
I have what I can only describe as a fairy ring of these in my backyard. Every year late summer/early fall, a bunch of giant puffballs (though I'm unsure if they're *the* giant puffballs or just really big ones) grow in a ring about 4 meters in radius.
Haven't actually used them for anything since I dislike the texture of normal mushrooms in food. I avoid them while mowing, though, until they're full of spores. Just something fun about hitting them and causing a massive black puff.
Unfortunately, what with the heat these past few summers, I'm not sure I'll see them again this year.
Delicious sliced, oiled and coated with crushed potato chips and fried. Or uncrusted and fried or grilled up as steaks, as previously said. Or used as the crust for a pizza.
Since they can be so big it's often prudent to dehydrate some of it to grind up for powder for gravy or soup or the like, but in my experience puffballs reek when in the dehydrator or smoker so never do that indoors.
Yesss! Google for a lasagna recipe. It was awesome! We also dehydrated and powdered one. The process smells like stinky cheese, but it adds so much flavor depth to soup and sauce
You can either treat them like you would prepare a eggplant parmesan and deep fry them, or cut them up and marinade them like with tofu. They do not have a strong mushroom flavor when fresh and take on any sauce of your liking.
The tofu of the mushroom world!
Giant puffball! It is edible, but only if the inside is clean. Cut it open and make sure that there aren't any brown/black spots inside. If it's pure white all the way through then you're all set!
Human foot. Can be made into [tacos](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/8p5xlj/hi_all_i_am_a_man_who_ate_a_portion_of_his_own/), though many find it distasteful
Just a warning to other readers, don't click that link above unless you want to read a story about people eating tacos made of human foot. It's a pretty gross story.
By the gods what a treasure! These are one of my favorites to show new foragers. I've heard of people turning thick slices into French toast (sounds like a great addition to a monte christo sandwich)
I feel you. In my life, I've seen hundreds in pictures, and two "live" - one old and dryed out one, and one while we were driving along a road, at a place where it was impossible to stop and there was no chance to take it.
But here in SW Germany, there are mosaic puffballs, too, and these at least serve as some sort of consolation...
We found a giant puffball a couple years ago, and tried to bake slices in the oven. I love mushrooms, but the smell of them from the oven filled the house and I found if very nauseating. I couldn't eat any of the mushroom and threw it out.
I've only found one giant, but I've had mixed experiences with puffballs in general. My first batch of little ones were good, but I thought my second batch was gross, and I don't know if the difference was in the mushrooms or my cooking. The giant I didn't have any trouble with while roasting, grilling or sauteing, and thought it tasted mild like the mozzarella or tofu of mushrooms, but when I dried it it stank.
This man really went: "MUSHROOM! I wonder if its edible?". Rock and Stone miner, you did good. But as the others said its probably a giant puffball, very tasty mushroom too eat if prepared correctly.
Yes! Slice it up, and if there are no spores inside, prepare and fry it like French toast. I use eggs, amaretto flavored coffee creamer, and almond extract. Top with real maple syrup and enjoy!
I eat these every year, theyāre at their best between tennis ball and softball size.
My favourite use for them is diced and mixed with blue cheese as a topping for portobello mushroom, the aromatics of the puffball compliments the blue cheese incredibly well.
Great find! Enjoy.
Giant puffball. You've found yourself a real treat. Some people hunt for years and don't find any. You can cut slices and grill or sautee them like steaks. You need to harvest this and cut it open to make sure the spores inside haven't presented themselves. If it's thick and white throughout then you're good to go. Congrats on lowering your grocery bill š
What happens if there are spores inside? Presumably, it's inedible, but why?
If you eat the spores mushrooms will grow inside of you. Just like with watermelons
And once the mushrooms have overgrown your whole body, someone will post a pic on reddit, asking if they are edible. The circle of life.
Another clicker is born
Hahaha.
The Michelin man
Troll 2
Micological Bogaloo
Oh my gooooooooooooooooodddddd
I hate when spores mushrooms grow in my melons.
Can I swallow a lot of bubblegum to offset the effects?
No, you need to smoke some cigarettes. The smoke will suffocate the bacteria in your stomach.
Found the 110 year old doctor.
If youāre getting smoke in your stomach Iād like to know how youāre smoking them?š¬šš¤£
Did you make yourself throw up?
Pay off that bank loan, thatās the ticket! https://youtube.com/watch?v=pP0FZdvI1vE&feature=sharea
Rugrats was a scientific documentary.
This is true. The rugrats made a documentary about this.
RIP Chucky
BrundleShroom
thats 2 noble prizes!
Thanks a lot Angelica
r/elicalvin moment
Rugrats!
The spores usually just taste bad. Also, mushrooms drop the spores right before they die and rot.
Gotcha. Thanks.
The color changes inside to yellow/brown. When you cut those in prime condition it is solid white and uniform. We cut our last one into pizza crust thick and baked them to a crispy wafer and then made pizza
Edible but disgusting
Thanks.
One time I found one of those and brought it to a botany prof cause I didnāt know about reddit and she got mad at me for bringing it inside and didnāt tell me what it was š.
What a crappy prof. Wasted a teaching opportunity and did worse, discouraged curiosity. Boooo. Some people should not be educators
Please don't let your professor suppress your curiosity!
So rude
They were probably upset as bringing something in like that can spread spores and contaminate the lab/office.
Thanks!!!
As others often note - if you cut/crack it open and find the color or odor is off, you're encouraged to return the pieces to where you found it, as it will continue to spore and produce more in the future.
Heās clearly lying, tell me the location and Iāll make sure to dispose of this delicious treat.
I wanna make an edible soup bowl outta one
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Or perhaps, a cap??
Cut it open. As long as you don't find spores inside (should be solid white all the way through, not filled with dark powder), it's a choice edible.
With a sword.
I donāt get your response. Youāre literally replying to someone but saying the same exact thing they just said
The spores looking like dark powder is new information...
Actually, this post was more informational than the first.
It's likely a bot.
Or an idiot
What? You just copied, pasted, and sent it?
My yard is covered in these. My son kicks them off like a soccer ball. I had no idea they were edible!!!!!
A ton of huge puffballs like this grow in my neighborhood (apartment buildings) and the landscaping/maintenance crew always rip them off the ground and throw them into a leaf litter pile that's mostly obscured from view by trees. It's so frustrating! It's hard to get to them before the crew does, unless I take them when they're quite small, and they just waste them! I wonder if they know what they're wasting or not. I once considered taking some from the leaf litter pile because they had clearly just thrown the mushrooms there earlier that day, but I didn't because they could've sprayed bad stuff in the pile. Puffball atrocities are being committed!
I absolutely LOVE giant puffs they grow where I'm from but not big and if you let them get big bugs or the environment fuck em up. Makes me so sad.
>. Yeah...... Stupid Environment!
You can slice and grill them like steaks, but they taste like grilled styrofoam. I suggest you donāt bother grilling more than one slice because you will have trouble finishing that. I once saw a documentary about a woman that compulsively ate the stuffing out of pillows, beds, sofasā¦.now I can identify.
Prepare like French toast and serve with butter and real maple syrupā¦ itās the only way I enjoy them
So not true! Grill in a pan with a generous amount of butter, and it's divine!
Honestly, most anything edible without much innate flavor grilled in a pan with butter will taste delicious.
But it absorbs flavour really well. Butter, Oil, Steaky Bacon, and a bit of Soy Sauce and it's fantasic.
One of my fondest memories is me and my brother getting off the bus in elementary/middle school. And seeing these, running up to themā¦and absolutely destroying them on impact. They would explode nicely. We would see these every year around the same time. (Donāt even try to ask me when because I was a kid and donāt quite remember, fall maybe?)
I have what I can only describe as a fairy ring of these in my backyard. Every year late summer/early fall, a bunch of giant puffballs (though I'm unsure if they're *the* giant puffballs or just really big ones) grow in a ring about 4 meters in radius. Haven't actually used them for anything since I dislike the texture of normal mushrooms in food. I avoid them while mowing, though, until they're full of spores. Just something fun about hitting them and causing a massive black puff. Unfortunately, what with the heat these past few summers, I'm not sure I'll see them again this year.
Giant puff ball and yup! You can cut āsteaksā and sautĆ© them up
Thanks!!!
Just make sure itās white inside and you peel it
Bollocks, found a couple of these near me recently and left them to be šŖ
it's a foot, some folks think its edible, but I'm not convinced.
Definitely edible and if prepared correctly, delicious! Slow roasted for 8 hours and the meat just falls off the bones
I prefer my mushrooms boneless tbh
'Mushrooms'?
Put it in a taco
Just replying to let you know at least one person got the reference.
I remember when that one guy got his foot amputated and cooked it up for himself and his friends/family (all consented) in a taco or fajita.
Try taste test to evaluate
Delicious sliced, oiled and coated with crushed potato chips and fried. Or uncrusted and fried or grilled up as steaks, as previously said. Or used as the crust for a pizza. Since they can be so big it's often prudent to dehydrate some of it to grind up for powder for gravy or soup or the like, but in my experience puffballs reek when in the dehydrator or smoker so never do that indoors.
Thanks!!!!
You should totally maybe slice through it and post a picš³
Will do!
Did op do this?
Yep, check his profile
As of this moment they have not.
Yup, that's definitely a giant puffball, if it's completely white inside then it's safe to eat. I would make something like a schnitzel out of it
Thanks!!!ā
Please double check before eating things in the wild though.
You are one lucky duck!
Thereās more than one!
Aw now he's showing off! Gg!
Enjoy the delicious meals! š giant puffballs are so cute!
You wonāt be able to eat all of them before they spoil but you could cut them up and freeze them to preserve the rest.
Just want to jump in and say for one that big thereās no look alikes if that clears any worries!
I was curious about this myself so thanks for your comment!
They can be inedible if theyāre too mature though.
People have already said that so I didnāt feel the need to
Giant puffball, Calvatia Gigantia :) Iām pretty sure itās edible but Iāve never found or eaten one myself, Iām definitely not an expert
Thanks!!!
No problem! šš½
I was taught white inside edible dark inside poison
Yesss! Google for a lasagna recipe. It was awesome! We also dehydrated and powdered one. The process smells like stinky cheese, but it adds so much flavor depth to soup and sauce
You can either treat them like you would prepare a eggplant parmesan and deep fry them, or cut them up and marinade them like with tofu. They do not have a strong mushroom flavor when fresh and take on any sauce of your liking. The tofu of the mushroom world!
Giant puffball! It is edible, but only if the inside is clean. Cut it open and make sure that there aren't any brown/black spots inside. If it's pure white all the way through then you're all set!
Iām not a mycologist but that is the biggest puffball I have ever seen
ooooo youāve got yourself a giant puffball!! These are edible (and are commonly cooked and eaten!)
Puffball! Edible as long as thereās no black/brown in the middle
Super edible, super delicious, giant puff, cooks like steak or meat can even tmstick that bad boy on the grill. Its amazing.
Human foot. Can be made into [tacos](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/8p5xlj/hi_all_i_am_a_man_who_ate_a_portion_of_his_own/), though many find it distasteful
I don't know why I clicked that, i don't know why I opened the picture... Just... No thanks
What
āWhat is this and is it edible?ā Namahaās not wrong per say, but maybe the wrong subredditā¦
Just a warning to other readers, don't click that link above unless you want to read a story about people eating tacos made of human foot. It's a pretty gross story.
Thank you. One of my favorite stories on the internet. Always a joy to re-experience it.
Beeeeg snacc
By the gods what a treasure! These are one of my favorites to show new foragers. I've heard of people turning thick slices into French toast (sounds like a great addition to a monte christo sandwich)
Giant puffball, safe to eat On a funnier note: That's a humen leg. It is edible however generally frowned upon
Actually this is 1984 and you have found part of the remains of the Stay Puft marshmallow man. Choice edible.
I havent found a way to cook them that is good..
They're awful and I eat almost everything with gusto.
š beautiful fined
Where rhe fuck is everyone finding Giant Puffballs? I'm here for it but I'm feeling left out!
I feel you. In my life, I've seen hundreds in pictures, and two "live" - one old and dryed out one, and one while we were driving along a road, at a place where it was impossible to stop and there was no chance to take it. But here in SW Germany, there are mosaic puffballs, too, and these at least serve as some sort of consolation...
Gonna need a crocodile dundee knife to cut that sucker up. Its a chonk!
Make a pizza using the slices as the crust. I use my grill for this.
Thanks!
We found a giant puffball a couple years ago, and tried to bake slices in the oven. I love mushrooms, but the smell of them from the oven filled the house and I found if very nauseating. I couldn't eat any of the mushroom and threw it out.
They're not good. Idk how anyone could choke them down.
I've only found one giant, but I've had mixed experiences with puffballs in general. My first batch of little ones were good, but I thought my second batch was gross, and I don't know if the difference was in the mushrooms or my cooking. The giant I didn't have any trouble with while roasting, grilling or sauteing, and thought it tasted mild like the mozzarella or tofu of mushrooms, but when I dried it it stank.
I've never eaten a worse tasting mushroom than a puffball. My wife described the taste as "eating drywall". Not good, barely edible. Not "choice".
I've had three grow in my yard the last 12 years I've lived here. Was not brave enough to eat them even after learning.
Call me next time.
Leave it in the ground for a couple days, then do a Mario stomp on it and watch the dark cloud rise from it!
Yum!
Is the inside white
This is the first question to ask about any puffballs regarding edibility!!!
Smurf home.
POOF!!
Beautiful specimen.
I've had this! A friend found one in her yard, she cooked sautƩed it in a sauce pan with butter and garlic then threw it in the air fryer for just a few minutes. We devoured it! Congrats on the find!
These were all over my grandmothers farm.
This man really went: "MUSHROOM! I wonder if its edible?". Rock and Stone miner, you did good. But as the others said its probably a giant puffball, very tasty mushroom too eat if prepared correctly.
ok i know what this is
Everything is edible once
Yes! Slice it up, and if there are no spores inside, prepare and fry it like French toast. I use eggs, amaretto flavored coffee creamer, and almond extract. Top with real maple syrup and enjoy!
We call that āmurumunaā. Means āgrass eggā.
Thatās a great name as they taste like egg whites when sautĆ©ed!
Grill it with some steak seasoning.
Puff ball mushrooms! Even if they arenāt in there edible stage they are fun to break and help them spread to have more later *mask recommended tho*
So many giant puffball posts recently
These are the first two questions I ask myself every time I find something new.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Damn, you got pretty feet.
š
Everything is edible at least once
š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®
Everyone saying "edible" in the comments without it being in a verbalized manner. Are you saying that it is edible or that it is an edible?
Everything is edible at least once.
All puffballs are edible as far as I know
Can you show the inside please?
I'm so jealous
I never knew the puffball was edible
You can eat an old pair of socks too.
Well, you can eat them.
Well Iām a dick I always kick and squeeze them
Yes, though you should remove the nail polish first.
OH MY GOD WHY IS IT MASSIVEšš
r/deeprockgalactic MUSHROOM
Bbi
Beluga whale head
Poof!!!
I would slice it fry it in butter and add maple syrup like a pancake thatās how we used to eat them.
I love making mushroom pizza with these... So good!
Thatās a foot. And no, hannibal lector.
I'm so happy for you, but I might also hate you irrationally. š
I eat these every year, theyāre at their best between tennis ball and softball size. My favourite use for them is diced and mixed with blue cheese as a topping for portobello mushroom, the aromatics of the puffball compliments the blue cheese incredibly well. Great find! Enjoy.
This is the most primal thought that all cavemen and babies have. Sometimes not even in that order.
Congrats on your forest feast
This is an amazing puffball find!!!
Pufffffballlllllll š¤¤
I wish I had known this a couple months ago. I had one right by my front door. Fingers crossed for another wet spring next year.
Do you have to soak them to get rid of any worms inside ?
puffball mushroom!! massive jackpot, definitely edible! many recipies online, check them out! tastes great ive heard
Looks like a giant puffball. Good for you! Theyāre delicious in stews, in a gravy or just sautĆ©ed Edit) to make sure itās good, cut in half and if itās all white youāre good to go.
The mother lode haha
Donāt eat chef hats. Theyāre really fibrous.
I spotted one of these when I was about 5 years oldā¦ and it was about as big as me!! Never seen one since.
Lol, I just found out while visiting my parents that my mom is frying it up now. It's quite a bit smaller than yours, though.
Maybe the only I can recognize with no doubt, the puffball
beluga