Growing + Crawling

Flora nor Fauna
Late summer and early fall are the best time in Virginia for lovers of the Giant Puffball!
Giant Puffballs are mushrooms tend to be the mushroom that is most tempting to kick! If it didn’t want to be kicked, why does it look like a ball?
If you see a giant puffball in the wild, wait before you kick!  If the puffball is still white, it has not created its spores yet so kicking it will not help it reproduce (and won’t be as satisfying). If the puffball has turned brown go ahead and let that kick fly!  
A pure white giant puffball is actually a prime specimen to pick, not kick.  Giant puffballs are huge, soft and edible!  Often called the “tofu of mushrooms” because of its almost complete lack of flavor, giant puffballs can be sliced, diced, sauced, marinated, roasted, fried, and boiled for your eating satisfaction.  Not only are they good eating (once heavily seasoned) but they are also an excellent source of potassium and many antioxidants!  In fact some studies have shown that they also have antibacterial and antiviral properties.
As with any foraging, do not eat any plant or fungus that you are not 100% sure of its identity.  Giant Puffballs tend to look exactly as the name states.  They have no visible gills, caps, or stems and tend to look like golf balls or volleyballs on the ground. 
Janet Douberly tends to look exactly as the name states at Downtown Greens.

---