Rural Faribault Man Discovers Large Mushroom

Les Kaderlik of rural Faribault was mowing his lawn earlier this week when he came upon this huge white thing under an evergreen tree.

Kaderlik phoned me and said, "Gordy I've done two tours in Vietnam and never saw anything like this. You have to come out and take a look."

So I did.

At first he didn't know what it was, a boulder? Somebody's idea of a joke? After poking it with a stick and touching it he discovered it was a huge mushroom.

The biggest mushroom I've ever seen. I asked Les what he's going to do with it and he plans on seeing how big it gets.

I did some checking and indeed it is a "puffball" mushroom. This is about as big as they get -- the size of a basketball. When they are all white, like this one is, they are edible.

Puffball refers to three genera of fungi, Calvatia, Calbovista and Lycoperdon. Puffballs are attached to the ground with little or no apparent stem.

It is estimated the average mature specimen of the genus Calvatia contains 7 trillion spores stored inside the puffball.

According to americanmushrooms.com, puffballs are sometimes referred to as "breakfast mushrooms" because they blend so well with eggs.

They must be all-white inside. Any shade of yellow or purple makes them inedible or upsetting. When cut they must have a uniform internal consistency.

According to the Mycological Society of San Francisco, some people develop intestinal irritation from the outer covering, so that area should be peeled with a knife.

Have you seen a bigger mushroom? Have you ever eaten a "puffball"?