Best way of preserving giant puffball please

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Best way of preserving giant puffball please

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Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 06 9:28 pm Post subject: Best way of preserving giant puffball please
A mate of mine has just returned from a garden job with the largest puffball I've seen. There are two more still there to collect & way to much to eat fresh. Help?

hedgehogpie

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 06 10:22 pm Post subject:

Never been lucky enough to find one in an edible condition yet, but a quick wizz on google gave me this recipe and the suggestion that it can be cubed or sliced and part prepared then frozen:

"Puffball Schnitzel

Great thanks to Johan Runeberg, webmaster of Hven.com, for suggesting cooking j�tter�ksvamp (Swedish for giant puffballs) just like schnitzel. He said that cooked that way it was his favorite fungal "taste-teaser" apart from chanterelles which are not found on the Scandanavian island of Hven where he lives. During the annual foray of the Arizona Mushroom Club I tried this out along with Scott Bates, webmaster of their site, and we both agreed it was simple yet delicious. I look forward to finding some more puffballs so I can have it again. Johan Runeberg indicates you can fry up the "schnitzels" most of the way and freeze them. Then when you thaw and finish cooking them the rest of the way they are just as good as if they were never frozen he says. If I ever have any left over I may try this. So far I have not had to deal with that problem.

Serves 2

1 small giant puffball (any edible species), about the size of a softball, or part of a larger one, sliced 1/4-inch thick

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs, beaten

oil for frying

1 lemon, sliced

Mix breadcrumbs with cheese (if used) along with thyme, salt and pepper and spread on a plate or large bowl. Heat oil for frying in a large skillet. Dip puffball slices in beaten egg coating all sides and then coat entirely with seasoned breadcrumbs"

Naomi

Joined: 26 Mar 2005
Posts: 1945

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 06 10:42 pm Post subject:
Make loads of soup and freeze it or mushroom quiches and freeze............in fact any mushroom based dish and freeze.Sense a theme here? I dry horse mushrooms etc , but not sure how puffballs fair when dried? Cab will know!

skedone

Joined: 19 Oct 2006
Posts: 351
Location: essex inbetween a blue bit and a green bit

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 06 8:46 am Post subject:
easyist way mate acorrding to loads of sites is to bread crum them after sliceing in to 1 inch or two ince slices then fry them in some nice bacon fat or goose fat then they can be freezed and the hold up very well that way thats what i did and it was lovly

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 06 9:12 am Post subject:

Dried puffball is a GREAT ingredient, but you need to dry them carefully.

If the puffball is young and firm, it dries easily; slice thin, dry the slices in a warm airing cupboard or in a dehydrator. If its older then do it in a luke warm oven or in the dehydrator. For any giant puffball, dry it fast, or it'll over-ripen and then its useless and borderline toxic.

With older specimens what you get is a sort of crumbly, powdery stuff that is fantastic almost as a mushroom stock. With younger ones you get thin white slices, just as useful.

Freezing, well, I've never found that the frozen bits (pre fried and frozen) were as appealing as fresh slices, but if you must then go for it. I'd rather cook a stew with puffball in it and freeze that.

ksia

Joined: 17 May 2006
Posts: 2320
Location: Mayenne, France

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 06 9:43 am Post subject:
I've found I (and friends) don't like the taste of puffball soup - so test it before making lots! Like Naomi I'd recommend dishes with mushroom in ...I've pizzas and quiches in the freezer from our last puffball find. Fry it up first in garlic or however and then put it in/ on. Or just fry them and freeze and decide later what dish to put them in. Nice problem to have!

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