Todays adventure; more mushroom hunting at the TVA trail. I like to get off the paved walking path onto the adjacent hiking trails to find mushrooms. I made the rounds of the usual dead trees that have oyster mushrooms growing on them, most had dried up but one still had a few usable mushrooms that I could pick.
There are a lot of these hiking trails on the Gov reservation where I walk, they were made by the CCC boys in the 30s, always good for mushroom hunting.
My best find was a giant puffball mushroom, and I mean a giant. I had never eaten one of these before. I was a mile and half from the truck and already had one bag of oyster mushrooms so I broke off half of the puffball to carry back to the truck with me. Old men with bad shoulders can't carry stuff over long distances.
As with any new mushroom, the first order of business was to watch several of the videos about it on YouTube that cover picking, cooking and long-term storage.
Finding that it is considered pretty good to eat, I got out my skillet, some butter, garlic and onions and fried some up to taste. It tastes like what you cook with it with a hint of earthy mild mushroom taste.
Because this mushroom is so delicate I decided dehydration was the best way to preserve it, I did the same with the oysters.
