Let me clarify my original question to the list: noticing that the
puffball fruitbodies seem to acquire a stronger flavor as they ripen,
and that the still-wet spore mass of a very ripe puffball is intensely
(perhaps unpleasantly) aromatic, I was wondering if anyone out there had
used the spores themselves as a seasoning, as (I thought) I'd read about
in an old issue of Fungi-zette (I think - Herman?).

So really I had two questions:

1) Is there any reason to be concerned about toxicity when eating the
spore mass of an edible puffball?

Here I assumed that everyone knows that fine powders can be an
inhalation hazard, and that inhaling a lot of fungal spores in
particular might be dangerous because they could possibly germinate in
your lungs...but I probably should've said that.

and 2) Has anyone tried it?

Decided to be the Guinea pig. As I was cleaning my bag o' balls the
other day, I found a couple of /C. subsculpta/ that were too far gone;
one yellow-brown and still moist, one chocolate-brown and starting to
get dusty. I carefully peeled the outer skin off and dropped the chunks
of spore-goo onto a fine mesh screen, which I put on the top tray of my
dehydrator, on top of a few trays of puffball slices, and set it on low.
The dryer emitted a strong aroma similar to an over-ripe porcino. Didn't
make too much of a dusty mess until I tried to dump the dried spores
onto newspaper and then pour em into a jar - probably should've worn a
dust mask, but made do with holding my breath.

Dipping a moistened finger into the jar and tasting the spore powder, it
was disappointingly bland. The (slightly over-ripe but still white)
dried puffball powder is much tastier.Will throw some spores into a stew
next and report back...

georgeriner@... wrote:
>
>
> Seems to me that there are 2 very different substances in this thread:
> 1) puffball spores
> 2) dried puffball (parenchyma) powder
>
> taking a puffball that has not begun sporulating and drying its tissue and
> then grinding it to a powder is not the same thing as waiting for a
> puffball to turn into a mass of dry powdery spores and collecting them up
> in mass.
>
> Let's not confuse one with the other. And to Debbie's point - neither
> substance should snorted up your nose.
>
> Powdered dried mushrooms are a oft-used technique for getting nice
> mushroom flavor in an easy-to-preserve form.
>
> :george
>
> > thanks for the link herman.
> >
> > deliberately snorting puffball spores like some kinda fungal cocaine
> is a
> > really bad idea. powdering puffballs for soup addition, or drying
> any kind
> > of mature, spore producing mushooms, really, should be done with a
> bit of
> > ventilation.
> >
> > altho growing mycelia in your lungs (horrible!) like in the case of
> those
> > poor, thrill-seeking boys is blessedly rare, sensitivities to heavy
> spore
> > exposure (lab mycologists working in small spaces with lots of
> dessicata,
> > or even amateur mycologists spending days in enclosed areas during
> Fungus
> > Fairs and the like) can be pretty widespread, and can range from nasal
> > congestion to allergies, trigger asthma or even (in the case of one man
> > working with commercial quantities of sporulating oyster mushrooms in an
> > enclosed area) produce death!
> >
> > mostly tho, for the odd, non-commercial, reasonably cautious use, not so
> > much of a problem.
> >
> > Ever Vigilant Rita
> >
> > --- On Sun, 7/5/09, Herman Brown <herman@...
> <mailto:herman%40fungi-zette.com>> wrote:
> >
> >
> > From: Herman Brown <herman@...
> <mailto:herman%40fungi-zette.com>>
> > Subject: Re: [BAMS] Re: Puffball Recipes
> > To: BayAreaMushrooms@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:BayAreaMushrooms%40yahoogroups.com>
> > Date: Sunday, July 5, 2009, 4:47 PM
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > More info:
> > http://www.cdc. gov/mmwr/ preview/mmwrhtml /00032029. htm
> > Herman
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Bill & Vernetta
> > To: BayAreaMushrooms@ yahoogroups. com
> > Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 8:21 AM
> > Subject: Re: [BAMS] Re: Puffball Recipes
> >
> > I just got around to reading some of the old threads here, this one
> > about using dried Puffball powder in cooking, I do occasionally use
> > dried Sulfur Shelf (Laetoporus) powder and Bolete powders, but puffball
> > powder has some dangers although rare as far as is known, it's called
> > "Lycoperdonsis" , not typically fatal but could be in a person with
> > weakened a respiratory system, whether other dried mushrooms have enough
> > spores to cause fungal illnesses after infiltrating the body is largely
> > unknown but caution should be taken when using mushroom powders indoors.
> >
> > Bill Mc
> >
> > Mary Taylor wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi, Dave -
> >>
> >> The technique you describe - dried puffballs ground into powder,
> used to
> >> make a coating for fried fish - also works well for any kind of meat or
> >> fowl. And it's not limited to puffballs; just about any dried shrooms
> >> will
> >> work, the more flavorful the better. We've used boletes and matsutakes,
> >> as
> >> well as northwest spring coral, with excellent results.
> >>
> >> For many years, I've been a part of an annual Wild Game Banquet, held
> >> in the
> >> Spring of each year. It's a benefit for charity, and we serve over 200
> >> hungry outdoorsmen. I'm the supplier of the mushrooms for this event,
> >> and
> >> help with the prep in the kitchen. We have a passel of skilled chefs to
> >> orchestrate the whole meal, led by Executive Chef Roland Henin, a
> >> genius; it
> >> was him that taught me this technique, one he's used for years. It is a
> >> worthy addition to any mycophile's bag of tricks.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Steve Taylor
> >> www.MadAboutMushroo ms.com <http://www.madabout mushrooms. com/
> >> <http://www.madabout mushrooms. com/>>
> >>
> >> On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 9:50 AM, Dave Grubb <davidgrubb@sbcgloba l.net
> >> <mailto:davidgrubb% 40sbcglobal. net>>wrote:
> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > A few years ago at the Crested Butte Mushroom Festival, at one of the
> >> > wonderful cooking demonstrations, we had salmon coated with dried
> >> powdered
> >> > puffball. As I recall, the technique was to cut the puffball in
> >> slabs, dry
> >> > them thoroughly, and grind them to powder in a blender, then add a
> >> little
> >> > cornstarch to keep the powder dry, season to taste, and use as a
> >> coating for
> >> > the fish. You would dip the fish (or chicken, or whatever) in egg or
> >> liquid,
> >> > then in the powder, then fry.
> >> >
> >> > Maybe Jean-Marc can elaborate?
> >> >
> >> > Dave Grubb
> >> >
> >> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >>
> >>
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
>
>

--
David Lubertozzi, Ph.D.

Keasling Research Group
Berkeley Center for Synthetic Biology
University of California, Berkeley
5885 Hollis St., MC 3224
Berkeley, CA 94720-3224

(510) 508-1544



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]