Outdoorzman
09-14-2001, 07:43 AM
Mushroom is talk of the town
The 14-pound puffball may be record-setter
September 14, 2001
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It's a mushroom the size of a small dog, and Mt. Pleasant resident Louie Jensen is the proud owner.
He found the 14.18-pound puffball growing in his backyard.
"Imagine something big, round and white that would fit on your entire car floorboard," said Carol Howard, Jensen's neighbor. "It's like it's from outer space."
Puffballs generally grow in Michigan from mid-August to October and can reach 4 feet in width, said Howard, a retired Central Michigan University professor and self-described mushroom connoisseur. They thrive in hot, wet conditions, leading Jensen and Howard to speculate that heavy August rainfall bolstered the growth of an entire mushroom crop.
"I had 11 of them in my yard," he said. "We've been eating them for two weeks."
Wild mushroom hunters covet puffballs because they're highly edible before they crack and dry out, and because they don't have poisonous lookalikes, Jensen said.
Jensen said he was hoping Michigan State University extension agents would declare his prodigious puffball a state record. While deciding whether to preserve it or eat it, it's occupying most of the space in his refrigerator.
Jensen said, "I had to take everything out to fit it in," the Morning Sun reported Thursday. "My wife wasn't too happy."
The 14-pound puffball may be record-setter
September 14, 2001
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It's a mushroom the size of a small dog, and Mt. Pleasant resident Louie Jensen is the proud owner.
He found the 14.18-pound puffball growing in his backyard.
"Imagine something big, round and white that would fit on your entire car floorboard," said Carol Howard, Jensen's neighbor. "It's like it's from outer space."
Puffballs generally grow in Michigan from mid-August to October and can reach 4 feet in width, said Howard, a retired Central Michigan University professor and self-described mushroom connoisseur. They thrive in hot, wet conditions, leading Jensen and Howard to speculate that heavy August rainfall bolstered the growth of an entire mushroom crop.
"I had 11 of them in my yard," he said. "We've been eating them for two weeks."
Wild mushroom hunters covet puffballs because they're highly edible before they crack and dry out, and because they don't have poisonous lookalikes, Jensen said.
Jensen said he was hoping Michigan State University extension agents would declare his prodigious puffball a state record. While deciding whether to preserve it or eat it, it's occupying most of the space in his refrigerator.
Jensen said, "I had to take everything out to fit it in," the Morning Sun reported Thursday. "My wife wasn't too happy."