After it rained we set out to forage. After it rains is a great time to go look for mushrooms. We found a ton of puffball mushrooms on a few downed waterlogged trees. The fallen trees had all stages of puffballs growing on top of it. We found some Apioperdon pyriforme, commonly known as the pear-shaped puffball. These fungi are saprophytic, which means that they live or belong to environments that are rich in organic matter and relatively free from oxygen.
Identifying Edible Puffballs:
The pear-shaped puffballs grow on decaying wood, logs, and stumps. Other kinds, like the giant puffball, are never found on wood and are commonly found in meadows and fields. Common puffballs are commonly found on roadsides. I would not eat anything within 30 feet of a road. Think of the road runoff that that fungus has been drinking, what chemicals may have been sprayed there, and the mushrooms may have absorbed some of the smog from cars. Cut them in half to check for signs of gills, spores, or yellowing. It is also useful to know the puffball fakes, amanita eggs, and common earth balls. Amanita eggs will have the shape of the
gills inside when cut in half, like pictured below. Common earth balls look sort of like a warty potato and has a gross smell to them.
The puffballs are past their prime when they turn yellow or green inside.
Don’t pick anything you wouldn’t eat! When in doubt, don’t put it in your mouth. We picked about 10% of the puffballs that were there, leaving some for wildlife and other foragers.
They were covered in dirt. You don’t want to wash them because the mushrooms will absorb the water and make them more difficult to cook. .I got a damp washcloth and rubbed the mushrooms down on it to get all the dirt off without using water straight on the fruiting body.
Cooking the puffballs
After washing them and cutting them in half: cover a pan in olive oil, just enough for the oil to ripple on the pan. When the oil is ready, add the mushrooms. Once the oil and water has cooked away in the pan it’s time for seasoning. Season to taste, we used parmesan cheese, black pepper, basil, garlic powder, and onion powder. We made these on the stove but I bet they would be great in an air fryer.
Once they were as crispy as we wanted we removed them from the pan. Add some shredded cheese so they melt on the still-warm mushrooms and there you have a tasty snack! We ate them straight out of the pan, and we also added them to eggs and hash browns. They were amazing! They remind me of cooked cubed potatoes with more of a marshmallow texture.
