puffball mushroom

thetourist

my 18 month old daughter picked up a mushroom in our bark mulch and bit a chunk off and and spat it out today and so i ( having read somewhere that there's 30k types of poisionus mushrooms ) did a bit of research about it to calm my fears - i didnt really think it was poisionus but i just thought i'd check - after 15 minutes of reading i came to the conclusion that it was is a type of puffball - many of which are apparantly good to cook with - so i'd like to try them out - is there anyone who can tell me how to identify these for definite - or even tell me how people who like to cook with mushrooms figure this out without getting a degree in mushroom identification - or do they have to or what ?

thanks in advance

Alun

I've dabbled in it myself .. I went on a mushroom hunt at Avondale House in Wicklow organised by Bill O'Dea of www.mushroomstuff.com. Heartily recommended, and great fun and all that, but it only really served to convince me that I don't know nearly enough to determine 100% whether something was toxic or not. Apparently of all the types of fungi, only a small number are actually toxic, a roughly equal number are good to eat, but the vast majority are neither toxic nor (unfortunately) good to eat.

As a general rule for beginners I was told it's best to concentrate on positively identifying some of the more common edible fungi first, and to discard everything else, rather than trying to determine whether every single fungi you discover is Ok or not. If it's not on your list, don't pick it.

A good book I was recommended is the River Cottage one, see here ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747589321/ref=ox_ya_oh_product It concentrates on the more common edible varieties, rather than trying to be an encyclopedia like this other one that i bought too http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330442376/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

Young puffballs are quite good to eat, I tasted one on that weekend, but you have to catch them young before they develop spores and turn hollow.

Hope that helps!

Minder

I've heard that the mushroom hunters are a helpful lot - so if you can find a big club with an online forum - post a picture and some helpful mycologist will offer some advice.

rubadub

This following site is great, but be warned it is also discussing hallucinogenic ones, they do have sections on edible/gourmet ones and (non-psychoactive) medicinals too. They have some very knowledgeable people and a section on identifying them, you would be best off taking several pictures, they require shots from different areas.

This is the section on ID'ing

http://www.shroomery.org/forums/postlist.php/Board/3

It is probably the most frequented mushroom site online.

thetourist

that should get me on the right track - thanks