As fall approaches, mushroom hunting season is upon us again.
There is a little grass pasture near our pond where puffball mushrooms appear off and on during the year. A couple of days ago I took pictures of this weird specimen:
We have sautéed and eaten these, and they are quite decent. When they’re in fruit, I try to avoid hitting them with the mower so they have time to mature and sporulate.
Unlike most puffballs, these often have some stem. I’m not sure what species they are, but they obviously do not have any gills or pores.
Long ago I became quite interested in mushroom hunting and would regularly go foraging. Then we moved to the Caribbean where mushrooms were scarce. Now that we’ve back, it’s been nice to find mushrooms again. The boletes we’ve found here haven’t been worth eating, but we have had good luck hunting chanterelles in the woods. They are very worth eating. Sometimes one of the kids will forage a basket of them and sauté them as a meal!
I have wondered if it would make sense to bushhog some of the areas beneath the tree canopy in the woods to make more space for wild chanterelles to grow, while also making it easier to harvest them.
If you are interested in mushroom foraging but don’t know where to start, check out my recommended book list on this page.Â
2 comments
I have many memories of hunting and eating the giant western puffball as a child. Very versatile and delicious. I think it’s magical that they can grow so fast and provide so much good year after year as a thanks for not disturbing it in the soil.
For questions about species etc try inaturalist.org
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