Gabe Poehlmann's Puffball and other Matter$$!
Here is a second picture of Gabe's Giant Puffball. Gabe really is a collector of fungi. Recently he and his dad found over 5 lbs of Matsutakes, and sold them at around $22 per lb to a local buyer! This Puffball was already past eating, and in fact might have been one of the toxic ones, since it had a very thick skin. The Giant Puffball which is edible generally has a thinner skin, and when fresh has the color and texture of cottage cheese or a cheese. Puffballs also need careful watch, because they can be mistaken for the "egg" stage of a deadly amanita muscaria or panthera. One way to tell is that when you cut them, you can see the gill lines of the amanita if you look carefully, while a ture puffball will be solid white throughout.
Here is an illustration Gabe did of his puffball with some information.
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