Topic: Any mushroom experts out there ?

[Beer_Belly]

2 days ago I found a giant puffball mushroom on my travels and since I know that there isn't anything nasty/poisonous that you can mistake it with I cooked it and ate it.

It was great.

Today (in a totally different place) I discovered what I'm 99% sure are horse mushrooms the ones I collected were all 20 to 25 cm across and match the picture in my book exactly

My book states that you have to watch out for the yellow stainer (mine don't stain when scratched) but are there any other nasties that they could be mistaken for ?


beers,
      -B_B-

[Tenuse]

Not really, as long as the mushroom has not grown from a bag (volva) at the base then it is not an amanita, all horse mushrooms are agaricus (related to mushrooms you find in supermarkets which is "agaricus bisporus"). From memory the horse mushroom should have similar pinkish gills to a "normal" mushroom and a similar brown sporeprint.

The yellow stainer stains at the base of the stem so make sure you check this when you pick the shroom.

Ten x

[Beer_Belly]

Thanks for the reassurance - I've already started eating them - they were lovely.

I went back last night to see how the smaller ones I left to grow were getting on - the council has mowed the verge !!!

-B_B-

[aquilegia]

I found a (what I think is a) puff ball mushroom yesterday. It wasn't huge, about 6in in diameter, but it looked like one. Might I be confusing it with something else?

How do you cook them?

[Tenuse]

Well, they may still pop up after a spell of wet weather, they could keep going into October if the weather is favourable. And they will pop up in a similar place for years as long as the mycelium (thready underground bit) isn't damaged. Mark the spot!!

Do be careful if they are growing next to a busy road though - mushrooms are good at picking up heavy metals.

Ten x

[Tenuse]

Aquilegia, the only thing you could really confuse a puff ball with is an earth ball, these are very obvious as when you cut them open they are filled with a big black "stomach" of spores. Or possibly a stinkhorn in its beginning stages, they look like a big round white egg but when you cut it open you can see the gelatinous cap and shape of the "mushroom to be" inside.

A puff ball (there are a few different kinds ranging from common meadow puff balls which are only small, through to the Giant Puff Balls which can be mistaken for sheep!!) will be edible when it is white through and through and white on the outside as well (don't eat them if they are going brown).

Can fry them or put them in stews - they don't dry very well.

Ten x

[aquilegia]

Thanks Ten - I'll see what it looks like at the weekend.

[Beer_Belly]

I found a puffball the size of a childs head last week, I sliced it into thick slices and fried them in butter with a little garlic and some finely chopped onions. When they were cooked I sloshed in some white wine and added a bit of creme fraiche.

scrumptious
          -B_B-

Oh and Teneuse - I know about roadsides, this road is very quiet and the verge is very wide so the shrooms should be uncontaminated.