Giant Puffball?

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
8
48
cheshire
Hi while at work today I found what I think is a Giant puffball, need help with ID thanks

29052007001.jpg
 

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
8
48
cheshire
Thanks i'm happy i spotted it as i have never seen one before. to be honest at first i thought it was a piece of expanding foam from a distance.:lmao:
 

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
8
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cheshire
the pic is taken on my phone so i think thats why it looks so bright white.:lmao:
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Thanks i'm happy i spotted it as i have never seen one before. to be honest at first i thought it was a piece of expanding foam from a distance.:lmao:

Easy mistake that. I have mistook a lump of no-big-gaps for puffball from a distance, and the odd bin bag.:banghead:

Are you going to eat it?

Yes it is fungus it is big it is round and it grows on the ground
 

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
8
48
cheshire
Excuse my ignorance, is that a type of mushroom? :confused:

Good camera phone btw :)

Until today I had never seen one of these before, It is a type of mushroom and quite tasty from what i hear. Think i will go back tommorow and get me a slice.:)
 

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
8
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cheshire
Easy mistake that. I have mistook a lump of no-big-gaps for puffball from a distance, and the odd bin bag.:banghead:

Are you going to eat it?

Yes it is fungus it is big it is round and it grows on the ground

Yeh i think i will go tommorow and try it.
 

BorderReiver

Full Member
Mar 31, 2004
2,693
16
Norfolk U.K.
All the GPBs I've eaten have been like solid white footballs,no holes.

I'm not sure that one will be fit to eat.:confused:

Or do they come in varieties with holes?
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
All the GPBs I've eaten have been like solid white footballs,no holes.

I'm not sure that one will be fit to eat.:confused:

Or do they come in varieties with holes?

It is just where slugs have been at it, there is often woodlice etc living in it too. But there is normal enough of a fungus to share with the local wildlife.

Spit out any bits that taste slighty bitterIt is not harmful but can make some people slight queasy if they eat it a bit expired.
 

janiepopps

Nomad
Jan 30, 2006
450
9
51
Heavenly Cornwall
Think you'll find it will be brown and powdery inside. Autumn is the time of year when they are fit for eating.
Kick it round a bit to spread the spores and then come back in 6 months!

j
 

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
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Yeh I think something had been munching on it, Looks like i have been beaten to it:(
 

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
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cheshire
Think you'll find it will be brown and powdery inside. Autumn is the time of year when they are fit for eating.
Kick it round a bit to spread the spores and then come back in 6 months!

j

It looked very mushroomy inside, confused now dont know what to do now eat it or beat it?:lmao: :lmao:
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Giant puffball is a seasonal temperamental fungus. It can appear at time between june and september. Letting this one run to spore wont make more fungi in september. I will look up the vector of spore germination for this fungi, but air dispersal of spores is not normally the most efficient vector of reproduction especially in such large fungi.

The fungus in the picture has not gone to spore and appears perfectly edible. It has just been nibbled at bit. A slice off the top normally doesn't have any wildlife in it.
 

SOAR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 21, 2007
2,031
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cheshire
Just been reading about the fungus an it sugests the victorian method of "cut and come again" just slicing some of it, although there are uses for the whole puffball.
 

AndyW

Nomad
Nov 12, 2006
400
0
51
Essex
I'm seeing more and more Fungi when out and about. Never yet managed to find a GPB in good condition though :(

Enjoy!
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
:lmao:
I'm seeing more and more Fungi when out and about. Never yet managed to find a GPB in good condition though :(

Enjoy!

:yikes: Three letter acronyms, Next it would be 'I was out with my WAG and tripped on a BWB so I ID'ed It and it was a GPB so I tried to slice it with my SAK I couldn't so I put in the back of the APC' My feeble little brain cant cope.:lmao:

As for puffballs I have got away with just eating the white bits and been fine but that doesn't mean some else would be doing the same. My kids ate some as well, but they know what what taste to spit out cos I have shown them.
 
It looked very mushroomy inside, confused now dont know what to do now eat it or beat it?:lmao: :lmao:

Giant puffballs tend to look like mushroom flesh before they develop further and spore. I have only eaten them before they have spored when the flesh is all white inside. I've sliced them up with a bread knife and gently fried them with onions and chilli's as the flesh is pretty tasteless on it's own. Personally I'd only eat them if there is nothing else on the go as they are not that great to eat.
 

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