The late scholar and psychedelic guru Terrence McKenna believed that mushrooms came to earth from outer space. Seeing the basketball-sized mushrooms in Diana Conway's yard on River Road, that isn't hard to believe.
Conway's son, Hoover Middle School sixth-grader Will Conway, discovered the mega-mushrooms coming back from a soccer game late last month. In a damp dirt at the edge of the grass, lying among fallen Osage oranges were three or four of them — smooth surfaced tan blobs bigger than his head. Pleased with their discovery, the Conways did what any reasonable family would do. They picked the giant mushrooms, cut them up, fried them and ate them.
"It tasted like foie gras, but without all the fat," Diana Conway said.
"IT WAS REALLY good. It was really, really fluffy," said Will. Actually, the family first identified the mushrooms with the help of father Bill Conway — a naturalist — and a field guide. They learned that the giant mushrooms are edible and have no look-alikes. It isn't advisable to eat any wild mushroom unless you are 100 percent sure they are safe, usually requiring the advice of a professional.
The new arrivals: giant puffballs (calvatia gigantea), which are considered "fairly common" according to guidebooks and range throughout the American east and midwest, and with close variants in the west and elsewhere. Giant puffballs typically measure between a few inches and two feet in diameter — but far larger specimens have been recorded. According to the VNR Color Dictionary of Mushrooms, "In New York in 1877 an extremely large fruiting body was reported to have been mistaken for a sheep." Other guides mention reported specimens weighing 200 pounds or more. The "fruiting body" is what most people consider to be the mushroom — the part visible above the ground. But as with most mushroom varieties, most of the organism lives below the ground as a sort of mushroom root system known as the mycelium.
While the mycelium is spreading its reach underground, the fruiting body is producing the mushroom's "seeds" — microscopic spores. An average puffball produces 7 trillion, so many that if they were lined up end to end they would circle the earth's equator, though each one measures less than 1/200 of a millimeter.
Analogies connecting mushrooms and plants are helpful. But mycologists — who study mushrooms — might take issue with those comparisons. Fungi comprise their own biological kingdom, and in some ways more closely resemble animals than plants.
NO SURPRISE then that each weekend when botanists and wildlife enthusiasts head out to Montgomery County's parks, mycologists do too. "I tend to pick the parks up in Montgomery County," said Mitch Fournet, forays chair for the Mycological Association of Washington, D.C. "People don't realize the diversity of mushrooms. It's really neat, the colors and the scents — anywhere from anise to chlorine. We had one that smelled like almonds. It was really sweet smelling."
The Association, known as MAW, has more than 200 members and meets monthly, usually at the Chevy Chase Library. Membership costs $20 annually, but non-members are invited to come for mushroom-hunting trips. Members also hold an annual mushroom fair and semi-annual tastings, where they prepare a variety of mushroom recipes.
The group has an international membership, including many Europeans, who Fournet said are "not fungi-phobic, like we are here." Fournet, who lives in Bowie, is a molecular biologist by day and said he became interested in mushrooms because of their variety and other-worldliness. "I see mushrooms growing and I always wondered—what's this and where's it coming from?" he said. "They're ephemeral. It's like they appear and they're gone. What's going on with that?"
Fournet still considers himself a mycological rookie. "We have some guys that have been doing this for years and years and years," he said. "It's easy to get sucked in."
AS FOR CONWAY'S giant puffballs, the rule of thumb is that the mushroom is only edible when the flesh inside is pure white, firm and resilient. That may be a short window — the flesh quickly degrades into a putrid yellow and then into dust. Gentle contact with the puffball sends the powder — the 7 trillion spores — up in a cloud, giving puffballs their name. When firm, the flesh is often cut into pieces or large steaks and pan-fried with garlic or shallots. Some recipes call for dipping them in egg and coating with breadcrumbs before frying as a breakfast food. If puffballs are past their edible prime, don't despair. They are likely to pop up in the same spot year after year in the autumn.
"Puffballs seem to be really going this year," said Katherine White-Horne, MAW's membership chair. "I would love to find one. That would be just my dream."