Creamy Giant Puffball and White Wine Pasta

A couple of weeks ago, I had an absolutely amazing week, with multiple high points for all of my hobbies. First, my husband and I took a long weekend (Saturday-Monday) to central Texas, doing a lot of rock hounding at the famous Texas Slab in Kingsland, looking for material to keep the tumblers running. Along the way we visited one of our favorite distilleries, Flannigan's, and did some fossil hunting along the highway roadcuts outside of Gatesville. We ended up finding some nice (if incomplete) rudist fossils and blue chert in the Gatesville area and a whopping 61.8 lbs of rocks for tumbling, mostly a mix of cherts, iron-stained quarts, jaspagate (including a spectacular root-beer nodule) and--one of my favorites--hematoid quartz. We also found a few interesting rhyolites, mica-rich rocks, and others I couldn't identify.  

On our way back home we went hunting for Texas llanite, a rare porphyry stone that's only found on one ridge in central TX. The ridge (called the Llano uplift) represents the movements of the tectonic plates over a geothermic hotspot. Llanite is the result of volcanic activity creating rhyolite with bubbles in the stone that would later fill with blue quartz and feldspar--truly gorgeous. Most of the ridge is on private land, but there is just one public access point on TX state highway 16, pretty much exactly 10 miles north of the junction between 16 and 19 in the city of Llano. The rocks are hard, but after a few hours of grueling labor we had about 5lbs of llanite to bring home. All-in-all I achieved all my rock hunting goals, except we didn't find any petrified wood.  

Then on Tuesday, while raiding in World of Warcraft, I finally got the bow off of Prince Malchezaar in Karazhan, giving my hunter the best weapon she can use in this phase.
Then finally, on Thursday the 23, I got lost while trying to pick up Italian during my lunch break and ended up stumbling upon the absolute motherlode of Calvatia craniiformis, aka the skull-shaped giant puffball mushroom. 

When I say the motherlode, I'm talking an enormous fairy ring of the mushrooms with over a dozen full-sized specimens that covered an entire yard. Having received permission to harvest (and after confirming that no fertilizers had been used) I decided to take 4: The very largest, a nicely large one that seemed quite firm, and two youngish and very firm, softball-sized specimens. There we also a myriad of babies (roughly golfball-sized) that I left to grow up so I could harvest them the next week. 

Our First Puffballs in Texas

When my husband and I lived in NJ, puffballs were one of the most common mushrooms we'd encounter, though the giant puffballs (Calvatia genus) were rare. Mostly we would find the small gem-studded puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum) or pear-shaped puffballs (Apioperdon pyriforme, formerly known as Lycoperdon pyriforme). We would frequently find dozens, nearly 100, in a single place. We found so many we rarely even photographed them, and--to be fair--this was before we owned smartphones. 

With regards to the giant puffballs, we'd only ever found a few. We found a cluster of 6 monstrously-sized Calvatia gigantea along NJ route 21. Since 21 is one of the most famously polluted areas in the Northeast USA, we didn't eat those. I found a fair number of Calvatia cyathiformis (purple-spored puffballs) over the years, but only ever felt a couple were in safe areas and received permission to harvest. 

However, since moving to Texas, puffballs, both small and large, have completely eluded us, though we did find several in while on Vacation in Puerto Rico. We had no way of cooking them or bringing them home and so let them be. 

About the Recipe

This dish is the evolution of one of my favorite meals I would cook while in college. In high school, one of my friends gave me a semi-gag gift, a lore-book called "Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home". The Inn of the Last Home was a tavern in the Dungeons and Dragons world of Krynn. Encompassing trivia, character backgrounds and, strangely, a cookbook section. The cookbook included recipes that--while not exactly world-class in terms of flavor--were generally very easy and quick to make, perfect for someone just starting out on their own. 

The recipe that inspired this dish was called "Shrimp Tarsis". The name was itself a joke, as in the lore of the books, Tarsis had once been a city on the sea, but a cataclysmic event sundered the world and left Tarsis inside a desert. The citizens adapted and converted their famous recipes to utilize fowl and game, rather than fish and shellfish. The original recipe called for turkey breast, but overtime, I adapted my own versions for mushrooms, particularly puffball mushrooms, though the change does make it take a lot longer to prepare. 

Creamy Giant Puffball & White Wine Pasta Recipe

Serves 4 as a main course | Approximately 45 minutes prep + cook time

• 1 lb pasta of your choice
• 6-8 cups of puffball mushrooms, cut or broken into rough shapes, approximately 3/4 of an inch by 1 inch by 1/4 inch
• 2 medium shallots, diced
• 1 cup semi-dry, drinkable white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tbs flour
• 1 stick butter, 8 tbs/8 pats
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 large lemon, zest and juice
• Salt to taste
• Olive oil

1. Start the pasta according to package directions. When you drain the pasta, reserve 2 cups of the cooking liquid. 
2. Mix the wine, lemon juice and lemon zest and set aside. 
3. Add 4 pats of butter and a glug of olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. 
4. Once the butter and oil are hot, add the mushrooms and increase the heat to high. Continue to sauté the mushrooms, moving constantly, until they have released their liquid and are toasted brown all over, around 20 minutes. Add additional oil if needed but be circumspect. The mushrooms should release liquid making extra butter not needed. 
   
   
   
   
   
5. Once fully browned (see above) remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside in a large bowl.
6. Add the minced shallot minced garlic and 1 tbs of butter to sauté pan and reduce temp to medium. Sauté until translucent and fragrant, stirring constantly.  
7. Once the aromatics are cooked through, pour the wine/lemon mix over them and deglaze the pan by using your wooden spoon to scrape up all the browned mushroom bits from the bottom of the pan. 
8. Bring the mix to a boil and boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat, and pour the shallot mix over the mushrooms. 
9. Add the remaining 3 tbs of butter to the sauté pan and melt over low heat. 
10. Remove from heat and whisk in the flour, a sprinkle of salt and garlic powder until smooth. Taste for salt and seasoning and adjust as needed. 
11. Pour in the heavy cream and the reserved pasta liquid and return to stove over medium-low heat. Sauté--stirring constantly, and I mean constantly--until you have a perfectly smooth, creamy sauce. 
12. Mix together the pasta, the sauce and the mushroom shallot mix over low heat and heat through. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of parsley (optional). 

How to identify superfood honeycomb fungus, perfect for beginners

Latin name: Favolus brasiliensis (and related species)
Common name: Honeycomb fungus, chicken breast mushroom
Season: Spring, fall, and cool, wet summers
Edibility: Entire mushroom
Flavor: Fair taste, very chewy texture
Medicinal value: Unknown
Nutritional value: Superfood status: protein, fiber, minerals, micronutrients

Identification difficulty: Beginner 

Favolus brasiliensis is commonly known in the United States as the honeycomb fungus and in South America as the chicken breast mushroom. It's a superfood you've never heard of that's cultivated for by the indigenous people of Brazil. It's incredibly easy to identify, with no poisonous look-alikes as long as some very basic features are checked off. 

Though F. brasiliensis is the type species for this genus, there are many other virtually identical species that can be found in the Americas, Asia and parts of Africa. One such is F. tenuiculus, the tropical honeycomb fungus, which might actually be what I found here, as this species also grows in Texas.

I have been looking for this mushroom for around 10 years, having first found it the fall of 2016 after we moved to Texas, but not realizing it was edible at the time. Despite finding it many times since then, it was always buggy, dried out, decaying or otherwise unpalatable. The relatively dry flesh of this fungus seems to make prone to going bad more quickly than similar mushrooms. 

Honeycomb fungus season and range

Unfortunately, the honeycomb fungus is not widely distributed in North America, being limited to the Gulf Coast states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and their near neighbors, Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Oklahoma. It might also be found in North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. It is common throughout Mexico, Central and South America, though, as always, this blog is specifically focused on the continental United States. 

It has a distant northern cousin, the hexagon-pored polypore or Neofavolus alveolaris that I have eaten in the past and found to be not very good. The hexagon-pored polypore is also much smaller and rarely grows abundantly, making it much less worthy to harvest. But given what I've learned about F. brasiliensis as a superfood, I wonder if N. alveolaris is as well. 

I've found this mushroom in both the spring and the fall and it's reported in the summer as well, if the summers are cool and wet. 

Honeycomb fungus growing conditions

F. brasiliensis is found exclusively growing on wood that is either recently dead or almost dead. The logs or trees should still have all or almost all of their bark. Though I've encountered it 8 years out of 10 in Texas, I've only ever encountered it on the same tree twice. This was specifically on a barely living tree, leading me to suspect that the honeycomb fungus requires undecayed tissue to consume.  

Cap and stalk features

Note the very short "stem" with decurrent pores

The honeycomb fungus grows like a shelf off of the log or tree. Shelves are between 2" and 6" wide and as much as 4" from the tree attachment to the edge. The mushrooms often grow in overlapping clusters.

The mushroom is often stalkless/stemless but sometimes has a stalk that is very short as compared to the size of the mushroom, no more than around 1" long, often half that. 

The edges of the caps are either smooth half-circles or ovals, or have large, smooth scalloped frills.

When fresh, the honeycomb fungus is pure white all over. It is also vaguely translucent at the thin edges. As it ages it becomes first soft white and more opaque, then cream or off-white and eventually yellowish, especially at the edges. 

The mushroom has an unusual texture. It feels somewhat hard and brittle, like a hard rubber or a rubberized plastic.

Pore surface features

Honeycomb fungus has pores on the underside, not gills! This is the most important identification feature. The pores are white or off-white like the caps and they are shaped like somewhat like elongated hexagons--hence the name "honeycomb fungus." This is an organic organism though, and the pores are rarely even or clearly defined as hexagons. But they are always large and most often elongated. 

The spore print is white, but doing a spore print isn't required for identification.

The pores are "decurrent" which means they run down the stem, if there is a stem present. 

Honeycomb fungus identification checklist

So, to summarize the above your honeycomb fungus should have all of the following:

1. All white to cream color
2. Grows on dead or dying wood that still has all it's bark
3. Grows like a shelf off the wood
4. No stem or a stem that is very short (around 1" or less)
5. A pore surface on the underside--not gills!
6. Pores are shaped like elongated hexagons
7. Pores are decurrent--they run down the stem (if present)
8. Hard and brittle texture that feels somewhat like hard rubber or rubberized plastic

Honeycomb fungus nutrition information

As I said before, the honeycomb fungus is a superfood that you've never heard of. And, in most English mushroom hunting and identification books it's listed as inedible, or even poisonous! But that's largely due to a lack of understanding and a Western preference for mushroom taste over nutritional or medicinal properties. 

Most of the mushrooms eaten in Europe and North America are selected for their sweet, nutty, umami, spicy or meaty flavors, but in Asia, parts of Africa and South America, nutrition and/or medicinal qualities are as important as taste--sometimes even more so!

Recently, the government of Brazil did a study of the wild foods eaten by it's indigenous peoples, one of which was the honeycomb fungus, Favolus brasiliensis. You can read the report abstract here.

But I'll summarize some of the highlights here for you. The honeycomb fungus contains a whopping 27% crude protein--a much higher percentage than any commercially available mushroom. It also contains 17% crude fiber, 1.5% ether extract (fatty acids) and 1.7% minerals. While this is a lower percentage of minerals than some other mushroom varieties, there is an enormous range of micronutrients included. Alongside the nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium found in most mushrooms, we also find magnesium, sulfur, manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt and molybdenum. 

The protein, fatty acid and micronutrients that are more often found in meat and dairy, make this fungus especially interesting for vegans and vegetarians--though obviously only if it were ever grown commercially. 

Foraging recipe: Oyster and honeycomb mushroom Sisig

Don't want to hear me go on and on about foraging? Click here to jump to the recipe. 

I find myself foraging the same foods (my favorites) year after year, rather than focusing on trying new things for variety. So this year I set out with clear goals in mind:

1.  I was going to try and find honeycomb fungus (Favolus brasiliensis), an early-season polypore superfood that can only be found in this part of Texas in unusually rainy springs. 
2. I was going to pick lots of early-season giant ragweed, Ambrosia trifida, and experiment with it in the kitchen. 

Ultimately, I was successful in the first, but unsuccessful in the second. 

The flooding blocked off many familiar trails, and made others too dangerous to attempt

Here's what happened. I arrived at the park where I know lots of giant ragweed grows only to find that it was closed for safety considerations due to flooding. Several bridges were out, including the one I would have needed to use to get to the giant ragweed field. So that was a no-go. 

Instead, I decided to check out the nature preserve that butts up against the park in question. This preserve is on the other side of a large creek/small river from the park, but shares a lot of ecological features. Unfortunately, both entrances to the preserve were flooded out as well. 

Something compelled me to keep walking past the main entrances, uphill, to see if there was another way into the preserve. Eventually, I found a small desire path/trail, perhaps made by mountain bikers, that seemed to be clear, and I made my way inside.   

Even though I had been in this preserve many times before, I found myself in a part of it that was completely unfamiliar. Fortunately, more flooding and downed trees blocked most of the meandering and crossing trails, offering me only one way forward. Occasionally it would appear that there were alternate trails that were clear, but always I would find them blocked at some point, leading to a lot of climbing over downed trees, going off-trail to bypass bogs and a ton of backtracking. 

Eventually I did find one branch of the desire path I was on that connected to the main trails of the preserve, but ultimately those trails ended up completely impassable, leading me back to the desire paths made by mountain bikers and fishermen. 

After an hour and a half of that, I decided to give up on trying to find a field of giant ragweed and simply harvest the abundance that was all around me. Within 30 minutes my bags were bulging with favorites like curly dock, greenbrier, wood ear mushrooms and wild garlic scapes. And then I finally found some of the honeycomb fungus I've been looking for years! 

It took me another hour to get out of the preserve. I was absolutely drenched, covered in mud, and feeling amazing!

Once home, I had my first usable batch of honeycomb fungus, or Favolus brasiliensis, or possibly the related Favolus teniculus. Both are edible, grow in my area, and look very similar as far as I can tell. 

My history with this mushroom goes back 10 years now, to when I first moved to Texas and found the honeycomb fungus in a nature preserve during the early fall. 

I was disappointed at the time, since from a distance I had thought they might be oyster mushrooms, and I shared my disappointment on my Instagram. In all of my mushroom hunting books Favolus brasiliensis is listed as non-poisonous but also non-edible. To my surprise, one of my fellow foragers--a much better mycologist than myself--told me that the honeycomb fungus is not only edible, it's considered a superfood that's cultivated in Brazil, where it's known as the chicken breast mushroom. 

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Mind blown. 

I immediately began to research and found so much information on this mushroom, it's both amazing and sad that it remains so unknown in the US. 

Having finally found a nice amount to experiment with, I didn't want to waste them by preparing them incorrectly, so I decided to do some research on how other people prepared them. Unfortunately, as they are pretty much unknown outside of the Brazilian Rainforest, there wasn't a whole lot of information about how to properly prepare them. I only found 2 posts, one from the Central Texas Mycological Society and one from a blog called Retratos da Serra, which chronicles one couple's adventures in nature, living in the area. It's a fascinating blog, tbh. 

Anyway, in both posts the mushrooms were fried into a chip, which sounds interesting, but I didn't want to do that again, since it had been done. Forage.atx with the Central TX Myco society said that, once boiled, the mushroom has a texture similar to chicharrones or pig's ears. I like both of those things, pig's ears more so, and so I decided to try a classic Filipino dish that is traditionally made with them: Sisig. 

So, Sisig is a dish I've never made before and a cursory inspection of recipes online ranged from very simple to exceedingly complex, with some involving Asian mayonnaise and/or coconut milk. The simple preparations seemed to serve as the "core" of the more elaborate dishes, as well as standing as a dish on their own. 

Despite finding a fair number of mushrooms,
this is what was left after cleaning

You know me, so simple is what I was going for, especially since I had a relatively small haul. So, I focused on what all the recipes had in common, starting with what defined a "Sisig" in the first place. 

The term apparently means "to make sour," and while the original includes pigs' ears and/or cheeks and/or liver, the real key ingredient seems to be calamansi fruit or juice to make the sour. The calamansi, also known as Filipino lemon, Filipino lime, or calamondin, is a hybrid citrus fruit made by crossing a kumquat with an orange. I don't have access to the calamansi here, and I couldn't easily get my hands on any of the juice that wasn't in a "juice mix," since I am boycotting the country's largest internet retailer. So, I just used limes instead.

A fair number of Sisig recipes I've found omit the calamansi and replace with limes or even vinegar, so I'm not sure how much my version is a compromise. 

The dish officially calls for Thai birds' eye chillis. I used the first few ripening chilis from my Thai pepper plants, though I don't know exactly what they are. I exchanged some foraged mushrooms with a Thai neighbor for the seedling plants and she just told me they were Thai peppers. 

Recipe: Honeycomb fungus and oyster mushroom "Sisig"

• 
  2-3 cups dried oyster mushrooms
• 2-3 cups frozen honeycomb fungus
• 1 large jalapeño pepper, cut into matchsticks or coins
• 3-4 Thai hot peppers, minced (or to taste)
• 2 limes, juiced and zested
• 1 large shallot or half a red onion, sliced thinly
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2" of ginger, 1" grated & 1" sliced
• 1 bunch of scallions/green onions
• 3/4 cup light/regular soy sauce, divided into 1 portion of 1/4 cup and 1 portion of 1/2 cup
• 2 tbs dark soy sauce
• 2 star anise
• 2 tsps Asian 5-spice powder
• 2 tps lemongrass powder (optional)
• Salt
• 2 pats of butter (optional, omit for vegan)
• Avocado oil 
• Rice or rice vermicelli to serve

1. 
   To 5 cups of water, add in a spice bag that contains the sliced ginger, the soft, dark green tops of the green onions, the skin of the shallot or red onion, 2 star anise and 1/4 cup of soy sauce. Bring to a boil. 
2. Add in the frozen honeycomb fungus and dried oyster mushrooms. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until oyster mushrooms are fully reconstituted. I used this time to slice all of my vegetables. 
3. Drain your mushrooms, reserving liquid (optional). Dispose of spice bag. 
4. Squeeze as much moisture as you can from the mushrooms.
5. Reconstitute your rice or rice vermicelli in the reserved, seasoned liquid.  
6. Mix together the 1/2 cup of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, lemongrass powder (optional), 5 spice powder and the juice and zest of 2 limes. Divide in half and set aside.
7. 
   In a large sauté pan, (I used a 5 qt.), melt 1 pat of butter (optional) and heat a glug of avocado oil over medium heat. 
   
8. Sauté your mushrooms in the pan. You don't need to add more oil or butter. Let them get mostly dry, then sprinkle with salt to help bring out more moisture. Reduce temperature to medium and continue to sauté for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms develop a nice, tawny caramelization. 
9. Add the shallot or onion, grated ginger, scallions, peppers, and garlic to the pan. Sauté, stirring constantly. Add in the other pat of butter, if using, and another glug of avocado oil. Sauté until onion starts to become translucent. 
10. Pour in half the soy sauce mixture and stir through. Continue to cook until onions and peppers are fully cooked and the liquid is absorbed. 
11. Reduce heat to low. Mix in your rice or rice vermicelli and the rest of the soy sauce mix. Toss everything to combine, coat everything and heat through. 

The honeycomb fungus absorbs flavors more than any other mushroom I've found, but it still remains rather unpleasantly chewy, even after freezing and lots of cooking. 

Curly dock rollatini | Vegetarian cuisine with foraged ingredients

This foraged take on Italian American rollatini comes together much quicker and easier than any eggplant dish could ever dream of. It's quite tasty too! 

Rollatini is an Americanization of the word involtini, which is apparently Italian for "small bundles," an accurate description of the dish. 

Regardless of what you call them, when you swap the eggplant for curly dock you don't have to bread or pre-fry the rolls, cutting calories from breadcrumbs and oil. More important to me, it cuts over 20 minutes (more like 30) off the cook time! 

But this dish comes together FAST. Almost too fast, to be honest, as it can be easy to over-cook the curly dock leaves. They are no less delicious overcooked, but the texture is more pleasing when it's just a little bit toothsome. 

For this reason, the recipe works best if your curly dock leaves are largely the same size, thickness/toughness, and maturity, so they all cook together the same amount. 

Wild garlic

Curly dock rollatini with wild garlic & horseweed

Serves 4 as a main course

8 large, mature, curly dock leaves *

15 oz. ricotta cheese 

1 cup shredded mozzarella, divided

3 cups tomato sauce, homemade or store bought 

~ 10 wild garlic stalks with bulbed heads, minced *

6 - 8 horseweed leaves, minced *

5 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 egg

Salt to taste

Olive oil, optional

1. For around 1 minute, lightly cook the minced garlic in a drizzle olive oil over medium heat, stirring constantly to keep from burning. Use the same pan you will cook the meal in. This step is optional. 
2. In a medium or large bowl, mix the ricotta, half the mozzarella, wild garlic, basil, egg, garlic powder, a pinch of salt, and horseweed.
3. Rinse your curly dock leaves carefully. Don't trim the petioles (leaf stems). Spread the curly dock leaves out and coat thinly (1/4 inch) with the ricotta mixture. 
   
   
   
   
   
4. Starting with the narrow end, roll your leaf up on itself till you have a little bundle. Wrap the petiole loosely around the bundle.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Place your bundles in the pan, petiole side down. Generously pour tomato sauce over and around the bundles. Cover the pan and simmer over medium-low for 10-15 minutes, or until petioles are tender. 
   
   
   
   
   
6. In the last 2 minutes of cooking, uncover and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese. (Though, of course, I forgot to do this.)
7. Remove from heat and serve immediately.  Also makes good leftovers!

You can use skim or part-skim for the ricotta and mozzarella. 

* You can substitute 4 cloves of regular garlic for the wild garlic, and oregano for the tarragon. Unfortunately, there is no substitute for the curly dock. For this recipe, I recommend leaves that are 10-14" long and at least 3" wide at the widest part. 

When it comes to portion size, it's important to remember that these rollatini have a larger cheese to vegetable ratio than traditional eggplant rollatini, as the leaves are thinner. 2 rollatini should be a portion size, and pair nicely with a side salad.