A Journal of sorts and sights
The western giant puffball
In the last month there has been more rain in Missoula then there has been in any other June in the past 100 years. Besides the unusual greenery, there are also a lot of interesting mushroom finds. Like this one. I thought it was a large, white limestone rock. Then I looked closer. It was too large to be a soccer ball. Scroll down to see more photos…
Giant Western Puffball - Calvatia booniana
I found it last evening (Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 4,000 feet in the Rattlesnake) just before dark. I picked it from the ground and it weighed about as much as a pumpkin of the same size, at least 10 pounds. Cutting it in half I expected the inside to be mature and already turning to spores, but, wow!, clean, dense and white with no insects. So, I brought it inside and took pictures before I put it into the fridge (which took some re-arrangement just to fit on a shelve).
The giant western puffball, according to all my mushroom books, is a good edible. It would be very, very difficult to confuse with anything else. The hard part is to find one that has not already turned to spores (brown or yellow means don’t eat), or that has been discovered by insects. So, in the morning I cut slices of it and sauteed with olive oil and garlic. But, the thing didn’t taste very good. It had the texture of a sponge and the taste of some kind of old moldy paper towels. Oh well. Time to go look for morrels instead.
Scroll down and check out the other photos.
