Puffballs grow to varying sizes, from just a few inches across to this massive one in the photograph. There tend to be little bugs that live in the outer skin so I cut the skin away with a sharp knife about half an inch deep. Some times they are pristine and you don't need to remove the skin. What do they taste like? Well take a typical white mushroom and intensify that by 1,000. If you break it open and smell it, that is exactly how it tastes. Some people actually feel the puff ball in their stomachs. It's not unpleasant it's just unusual, like my body is saying "Hey what's that?" "This is very fresh!"
In the past I have cooked them just like I would any other mushroom, sometimes with worchester sauce and butter with salt and poured them over a steak, or in a pasta sauce. The one thing to know about Puff balls is that they don't do well the next day. So if you are preparing it, it's best to eat it the day that you cook it. The pungency just gets to be too much for me. I never thought to eat them raw, but sauteed with onions and butter, you can't go wrong.
Puffballs
Puffballs grow to varying sizes, from just a few inches across to this massive one in the photograph. There tend to be little bugs that live in the outer skin so I cut the skin away with a sharp knife about half an inch deep. Some times they are pristine and you don't need to remove the skin. What do they taste like? Well take a typical white mushroom and intensify that by 1,000. If you break it open and smell it, that is exactly how it tastes. Some people actually feel the puff ball in their stomachs. It's not unpleasant it's just unusual, like my body is saying "Hey what's that?" "This is very fresh!"
In the past I have cooked them just like I would any other mushroom, sometimes with worchester sauce and butter with salt and poured them over a steak, or in a pasta sauce. The one thing to know about Puff balls is that they don't do well the next day. So if you are preparing it, it's best to eat it the day that you cook it. The pungency just gets to be too much for me. I never thought to eat them raw, but sauteed with onions and butter, you can't go wrong.