Tis the season for giant puffballs.

Last week we saw (and adopted) purple spored puffballs and sulphur shelf mushrooms on our trek to see Aunt Harriette. This week the giant puffballs made their first appearance of the season. Puffballs, as previously mentioned, are not prime for eating fresh.

Yes, it looks like they should make great mushroom steaks, but I haven't discovered how to make them palatable in this form

So into the dehydrator they go.

If only I could bottle the aroma of drying puffballs!

They dry well and store well.

A cup to a pint of dried puffballs, rehydrated in the broth of your choice (we tend to have a lot of chicken and duck broth on hand....) and then whirred in a blender makes a fine substitute for any recipe callng for cream of mushroom soup. I love baked wild rice with puffball slurry, onions, and carrots. It is the taste of autumn.