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Giant puff balls


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Out walking with the dog a couple of days ago, round a local lake, there was a large white something visible in the bottom of a hedge. On closer inspection it turned out to be a big - 50cm across - giant puff ball. Knowing that it was edible, I picked it up and took it home. Partly to be absolutely certain, I decided to check what it is called in French, and to go next door but one to the pharmacy get it positively identified. 

It was with much joy and laughter that I found out that a giant puff ball is, in French, une vesse de loup géante. It got me wondering just what une vesse was, and it is a silent but deadly....Un pet inaudible mais malodorant.

One learns everyday.

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11 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

Out walking with the dog a couple of days ago, round a local lake, there was a large white something visible in the bottom of a hedge. On closer inspection it turned out to be a big - 50cm across - giant puff ball. Knowing that it was edible, I picked it up and took it home. Partly to be absolutely certain, I decided to check what it is called in French, and to go next door but one to the pharmacy get it positively identified. 

It was with much joy and laughter that I found out that a giant puff ball is, in French, une vesse de loup géante. It got me wondering just what une vesse was, and it is a silent but deadly....Un pet inaudible mais malodorant.

One learns everyday.

A friend suffered a slightly adverse reaction to puffball, only slightly,  he just had to stop every few miles on the drive home and throw up and spent the remaining night at home with his head down the bog.

He still goes green when talking about it :)

It is rare though, hope you enjoy it

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5 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

A friend suffered a slightly adverse reaction to puffball, only slightly,  he just had to stop every few miles on the drive home and throw up and spent the remaining night at home with his head down the bog.

He still goes green when talking about it :)

It is rare though, hope you enjoy it

We both have had a helping in two separate meals, without adverse side effects. It has gone past its best now, and been returned to a hedge.

It does seem to be a good autumn for fungi, last year was much too hot and dry but this year is just damp enough, and warm. 25c today.

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9 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

A friend suffered a slightly adverse reaction to puffball, only slightly,  he just had to stop every few miles on the drive home and throw up and spent the remaining night at home with his head down the bog.

He still goes green when talking about it :)

It is rare though, hope you enjoy it

I've picked and eaten it. To be honest, it doesn't really have any flavour and if you don't cook it right it's just like eating slimy egg white. Like a lot of bland foods, it's what you cook it with which matters. Also they need to be picked early before they start to go off. 

Be careful out there though, there a a few killers like Destroying Angel and Death Caps. 

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23 minutes ago, rowland al said:

I've picked and eaten it. To be honest, it doesn't really have any flavour and if you don't cook it right it's just like eating slimy egg white. Like a lot of bland foods, it's what you cook it with which matters. Also they need to be picked early before they start to go off.

Be careful out there though, there a a few killers like Destroying Angel and Death Caps.

It seems odd that there are fungi out there that can kill but only the one that sends you off on a trip is illegal.

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12 hours ago, Sir Nibble said:

It seems odd that there are fungi out there that can kill but only the one that sends you off on a trip is illegal.

It's illegal to kill someone else with a poisoness fungi though. I'm not sure if it is illegal to eat them if you pick them yourself.

There's more than one fungi which will send you off on a trip apparently. I read that Laplanders used to feed a few Fly Agarics (the red ones with white spots) to reindeer, then drink the urine. The problem is that one Fly Agaric may contain several times more of the chemical than another. So by feeding a few to reindeer it kind of normalises the strength. 

Not sure if I'd want to be Father Christmas afterwards though.

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13 hours ago, Sir Nibble said:

It seems odd that there are fungi out there that can kill but only the one that sends you off on a trip is illegal.

It's illegal to kill someone else with a poisoness fungi though. I'm not sure if it is illegal to eat them if you pick them yourself.

There's more than one fungi which will send you off on a trip apparently. I read that Laplanders used to feed a few Fly Agarics (the red ones with white spots) to reindeer, then drink the urine. The problem is that one Fly Agaric may contain several times more of the chemical than another. So by feeding a few to reindeer it kind of normalises the strength. 

Not sure if I'd want to be Father Christmas afterwards though.

Edited to add, this interesting article has just come up on the BBC site- 

Magic mushrooms can 'reset' depressed brain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41608984

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I eat one I found on the Norfolk Broads this year, I have also had hedgehog mushrooms and some chanterelle 

 

Somtimes a young mushroom of another type can be mistaken as a puffball, as they are spherical when young, not a giant one though

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On ‎13‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 16:50, Sir Nibble said:

It seems odd that there are fungi out there that can kill but only the one that sends you off on a trip is illegal.

Attempted suicide is no longer an offence but assisting suicide or assisting any attempt at suicide is so best not feed them to someone with suicidal tendancies.

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I found puffballs to be very tasty, they grew in the park where I lived nearby,the trouble was getting them before local kids used them as footballs, anyway lovely sliced, dipped in breadcrumbs and fried and a local posh deli used to pay a tenner a pop for them and sold them at twice that price

Free lunch and free whisky! :)

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