Giant puffball

[OceanMomma]

Dh found me a giant puffball in a paddock yesterday. I love the flavour of them & have always just cut them into steaks & fried them with some garlic & herbs. I was wondering if anyone else likes them or has any recipes to share?

[desertpenguin]

i wondered if you were referring to a mushroom so i googled it and holy moly! wikipedia says that it tastes somewhat like tofu when it is cooked. so, i guess most tofu recipes would work well? can i come over and taste it?

[flapjack]

There's a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for a stuffed puffball around somewhere- herbs, garlic and breadcrumbs bound with milk, I think, then baked? It looked amazing...

[sunnygir1]

I made an awesome stuffed zucchini with puffball. I cubed the puffball, diced onion, summer squash, minced garlic, sauteed all that stuff and mixed it with steamed brown rice. I sometimes put sausage in a recipe like this, but it is great without it. Scrape out the guts of the zucchini, fill it really full of the stuffing, and bake it until the zucchini is cooked. If your zucchini is big you might want to blanch it first so it doesn't take so long to cook. You can add cheese to the mix or on top if you like.

[thedomesticdiva]

Haha

Some women get flowers - we TFers get excited by forraged foods !! haha

Yum - I could seriously eat a monster-sized mushroom...:

[slymamato3]

Let us know what you decide to do, anxiously awaiting more suggestions:

[OceanMomma]

I am still cutting it up into slices & frying in butter with garlic & herbs. I did make a puffball pizza with it last night using a slice of puffball for each base which was pretty yummy. I am gonna try the stuffed squash recipe sunnygir1 posted soon as I have zuchini in the garden. I also found a recipe for potato soup with puffball.

When I said a giant puffball, I was understating. It was one huge one & 4 small ones. We've nearly eaten one of the small ones, I've given 3 of the other small ones to friends so all I have left now to eat thru is the huge one. Anyone is welcome to come over to help me eat it but you'll need to help me with my cob wall while you are here

[Taedareth]

Wow, you guys must be mushroom experts. I'd be concerned about eating wild mushrooms.

[OceanMomma]

There isn't anything else you can mistake a giant puffball for. They are easy to identify.

[BunnySlippers]

Is now the time to harvest puff-balls?
When do you know they are good for picking?
I know of a HUGE patch. I fell into them adn they puffed all over. I imagine the patch is still there...I would like to try this.

I would also-now that I am thinking about it..would like to try and transplant some to my moms place, the puffballs I know of are on neighbours property in the back 40.

[OceanMomma]

We're on the wrong side of the world for me to know the exact harvest time where you are. I would say when they look ready : You don't want them too huge as they start to go to spore. They need to sound hollow when you tap them. If you want to transplant them, I guess the best thing to try would be get a really overripe one that has become all soft & blowing spores around. They like pastureland so you would need some of that to leave the puffball on to spread its spores around. I have always seen them in paddocks with either sheep or horses in too.