Was out in the beautiful sunshine and spied the puff ball crop! Interesting fungi and tasty fried with a little EVO, wine and garlic! Put them on a white cracker with a sprinkle of Parnesan cheese. Wash it down with a little Apline Cellars Marlot! Life is good!







BTW, don't eat the ones that turn color when you cut into them!

[slowpez]

Not enough merlot in the world to get me to eat one of those.

[eaglem]

Nice shots of an interesting species of fungi.

[WillH]

Not enough merlot in the world to get me to eat one of those.

Ah Susan! There's more willd fungi I won't eat but the ones my Grandparents taught me about while I was growing up here are no problem! They are wonderful compared to store bought. They smell so fresh, clean and mushroomie!




eaglem. They are fun but ya gotta be quick because every critter likes them too. Raccoons and deer especially.........

[slowpez]

Ah Susan! There's more willd fungi I won't eat but the ones my Grandparents taught me about while I was growing up here are no problem! They are wonderful compared to store bought. They smell so fresh, clean and mushroomie!

They sure look better sliced and ready to fry. OK I'm in, what time's dinner?

[Bob Harris]

They look great on the shelf at the store, but I just don't know enough about them to pick and eat but you sure got some great pics of them. I'll just take the Merlot.

[SpecialK]

I once had some mushrooms picked from cow patties. Tasted like...cow patties.

[WillH]

SpecialK, Etal,

I wouldn't be surprised! Most store bought mushrooms are raised in a mixture of animal manure. Probably should wash anything growing in cow manure thourghly before eating, otherwise it'll taste like the host nurturant. People seek "range fed" chickens, turkeys and beef because it's healthier than feed lot food. Any idea what chickens and turkeys eat on the open range?

Organic farmers use animal manure to fertilizer their crops rather than chemicals! Most people think those vegetables taste better than produce raised on artificially made chemical fertilizers. Germans use 100% of their pig farm manure to fertilize their crops.

The mushrooms growing directly in cow manure will either kill you or make you see funny lights! Interesting choice on your part!

[tessfully]

yummy! I used to get these in the fields around my farm where we rode horses. They do like to grow close to manure! And just delicious fried in butter and garlic! Sometimes they are as big as a soccer ball, and apparently there are no deadly look-alikes. Thanks for sharing Will!

[magkelly]

That's a catch 22 washing mushrooms. On one hand you're really not supposed to do that. Mushrooms are supposed to be wiped clean not rinsed for best flavor and texture. On the other hand they are grown in cow shiz and I'm not inclined to eat anything that's been raised in that sans a good spray off. Mushrooms can get unappealingly slimy when they've been washed though. I don't actually eat them unless they are fresh and usually it's in spaghetti sauce or in mushroom gravy. I don't really dig the texture of them that much. I like the flavor they impart to things though. They have to be fresh though. I think canned or frozen mushrooms are just an abomination.

[WillH]

yummy! I used to get these in the fields around my farm where we rode horses. They do like to grow close to manure! And just delicious fried in butter and garlic! Sometimes they are as big as a soccer ball, and apparently there are no deadly look-alikes. Thanks for sharing Will!

These are the same thing, just not pure white! They don't get much bigger than a soft ball! The only puff balls that are harmful turn yellow or reddish when are cut into. it's always good idea to cut into a puff ball to make sure no gills are developing - if there are gills developing it's not a puff ball! Puff balls obviously won't have gills.

Magkelly, I always wash of the dirt and debris off the fungi! None of the fungi I gather grows DIRECTLY in cow manure. How that impression developed I have no idea. Perhaps it was an assumption because of the SpecialK's post. Dunno! Just because I own, live and work on a cattle ranch doesn't mean we're awash in cow manure. Most of the cow manure decomposes quite rapidly.

These photos show the actual areas where the puff balls were found. As you can see there is no cow manure in the area. Truffles are actually similar to puff ball only grown underground.

[charliezap]

Long as there is wine involved I'm game for the shroms.--charliezap

[WillH]

Long as there is wine involved I'm game for the shroms.--charliezap

Too late! While we cooked up the Puffies in Merlot and made a thin crust pizza, someone snuck in a drank that whole bottle of vino! . Someone also smoked one of my Fuente Hemingway Classics before the evening was kaput! The worst part is the last slice of tart apple pie disappeared as well.......?