Foraging For Wild Foods: Puffball Mushrooms

Whilst out at a cemetery with my family I made a wonderful discovery. I had been pursuing learning the native edible plants here and had even taken. On my own I have done research and took initiative by joining groups online for foraging and identifying them safely. To my surprise I came across some mushrooms tucked against the woods! I knew these were puffballs because I have been seeing post after post about them, however, to be safe, I posted the ones I had found for confirmation.

Two large puffball mushrooms with soil deposits.

I can say someone accurately described them as smelling like mice. After that was all confirmed I was told that they are best sautéed in butter with garlic. Someone also recommended throwing them away because the taste wasn’t really that striking.

Both puffball mushrooms at another angle.

The larger one I gave away to another caretaker at Deeply Rooted who is also vegan and had never tried them. I washed them thoroughly and prepped by cutting up the mushroom into small squares, it was soft and resembled something like a marshmallow.

The puffball mushroom after it had been sliced into small pieces.

I buttered(vegan) a pan and added onion, garlic, and broccoli. Once that all had softened I added the mushrooms until they seemed done. I seasoned this with black pepper, onion powder, garlic pepper, and sage.

All the ingredients mixed together in a hot pan.

I made rice to accompany this and tasted it and like someone had suggested, the mushrooms taste wasn’t all that impressive to me though it didn’t taste as strong as it originally had smelled. I had Quill try some and they suggested salt and basil to be added to this dish. I added those seasonings into the mix like they had said and magic, it was much better than the original flavor. This isn’t my favorite mushroom but I would definitely eat it again if it was readily available.

The completed dish.