Puffball Soup is a delicate, creamy soup made from the elusive Giant Puffball. If you're lucky enough to find one of these weird and wonderful wild mushrooms, this soup is a special treat you won't forget.
Finding one of those alien-looking, gigantic white balls of weirdness shining out of a field, grassy ditch, or forest's edge is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - it's a forager's treasure!
My car stops for puffballs! Does yours?
A friend told me she had seen a couple of giant puffballs in the field at the turn-off to our road in the country. How had I missed that?! I stopped on my way home, and sure enough, I spotted the prize - a Giant Puffball (Calvatia Gigantea) just beckoning me to come and get it!
There were four big puffballs altogether, but sadly, 3 of them were already past the edible stage - yellow and overripe in the center when I cut them open. But this one, growing by itself and away from the others, was perfect! It weighed about 5 pounds and was the size of a soccer ball. A treasure trove of sublime eating!
I turned that giant puffball into several batches of the most sublime soup - rich, creamy and silky. This elegant Cream of Puffball Soup has a very delicate mushroom flavour - reminiscent of mushroom soup, but richer and gentler, a bit earthy and musky, yet slipping like silk over your tongue. It is an unforgettable treat. Serve the soup in small bowls as as an elegant gourmet first course, or in larger portions as a very special meal, perhaps with some crusty bread or a salad.
Easy Signs to Know Your Puffball is Safe to Eat
To be sure that a puffball is safe to eat, it must be pure white when you cut it open. If there are any signs of gills or a stem inside, that would mean it's a toxic amanita muscaria, and should NOT be eaten. However, if your puffball is bigger than a fist and evenly white inside, you don't need to worry. You'll know it's safe, since amanitas don't grow that big. Giant puffballs can get huge - I've had one up to 15 lbs, and I know they can even be bigger than that!
How to Prepare a Giant Puffball
The outside of a giant puffball can be smooth or bumpy. Cut through the center of it to make sure that it is evenly white on the inside. Any signs of yellowing or browning inside means that it is starting to decompose and shouldn't be eaten. The flesh inside will have the texture of a dense, damp sponge, and should be evenly white.
The skin is a bit tougher than the inside, and shouldn't be eaten. It's not toxic, but it can cause gastro upset in some people. Sometimes, the skin peels off easily when you pull it with your fingers, like a banana skin, and sometimes it's kind of stuck and needs to be cut off with a knife. You can see that the skin is a denser layer when you cut into it.
The skin on this one needed some help.
Now you can slice, dice, or shred the flesh inside.
For this Cream of Puffball Soup recipe, cut the peeled puffball flesh into large chunks and shred it on the large holes of a box grater.
Try using the shredded puffball in this delicious Puffball Fettucine Alfredo or this Easy Crustless Puffball Pie, too.
Can Unused Puffball be Stored?
If you can't use it all up right away, leave the peel on and set the pieces of cut puffball onto a plate, cut sides down, and store them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can loosely cover the plate with plastic wrap or a tea towel, if there are cut parts exposed.
How Else to Use a Giant Puffball?
I love cooking with Giant Puffballs! They are an unusual and special delicacy. Check out my numerous other recipes:
- Puffball Parmigiana
- Puffball Schnitzel with Sage and Onion Gravy
- Puffball Fettucine Alfredo
- Easy Crustless Puffball Pie
- Puffball Patties
- Warm Puffball Bites with Pumpkin Seeds and Miso Dressing
- Sweet and Sour Asian Style Puffball
- Puffball Pizza
- Sautéed Puffball with Lemon and Garlic
- Puffball Fries
- Cheesy Puffball Pasta Bake
Ingredients for Puffball Soup
- Puffball - you'll need a good-sized chunk (1 lb/ 454 grams) of peeled puffball, slightly bigger than your fist, to make 6 cups when shredded
- Celery, onion, and garlic - for good base flavour
- Butter - for more flavour (but you can use oil, too)
- Bay leaf and nutmeg - for subtle backnotes of flavour
- Sugar - a tiny bit to balance the acidity of the wine
- Dry white vermouth - because it goes so well with mushrooms! But you can also use any dry white wine, or even just more chicken broth
- Sweet rice flour - to thicken the soup, but regular flour will work equally well if you don't need to be gluten-free. However, even if you're not gluten-free, sweet rice flour (not regular white rice flour) is a wonderful thickener for all soups and sauces, as it doesn't clump easily and makes a silky smooth finish
- Chicken broth - to provide the liquid flavour base for the soup - a good homemade or purchased broth, or a good quality broth paste mixed with water will work, too
- Salt & pepper - some in the soup and more to add later if needed. I prefer white pepper for its delicate flavour and to keep the soup fleck-free, but regular black pepper will work, too, if that's all you have
How to Make Cream of Puffball Soup
You'll need a puffball - or a good-sized chunk of one. Peel it and shred it.
Then sauté some chopped onions, celery, and garlic in butter. Add the shredded puffball mushroom and stir.
Add the salt, white pepper, sugar, nutmeg, a bay leaf, and a good glug of dry white vermouth or white wine. Cook until the wine is all absorbed.
Add the chicken stock, then cover the pot and simmer the soup for 10 minutes. Then purée the soup until it's smooth by putting it into a blender in batches or use a handheld immersion blender in the pot. (I prefer puréeing it in my high-speed blender so it gets ultra smooth.)
Return the soup to the saucepan. Whisk the flour into the light cream and add that to the soup. Cook it for a minute or two, and your soup is ready to serve.
A drizzle of olive oil (or truffle oil for extra fancy) and a sprinkling of chopped chives is the final touch to make each bowl of Creamy Puffball Soup feel extra special.
Bet you never thought that round alien ball growing in the ditch could turn into something like this. . . a bowl of rich, creamy, delicate puffball soup fit for a king.
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Guten Appetit!
Cream of Puffball Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup onion, diced (1 medium onion)
- 1 cup diced celery (~2 long stalks)
- 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 6 cups (454 g/1 lb) shredded, peeled giant puffball
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper (or black pepper)
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup (120 ml) dry white vermouth or dry white wine
- 4 cups (1 litre) chicken broth
- 1 cup (240 ml) light cream (10-18 % milk fat)
- 1½ tablespoons sweet rice flour (or regular all-purpose flour for non-gluten-free)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed stock pot or large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring often. Add the diced onion, celery, and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the shredded puffball, salt, white pepper, sugar, nutmeg, and bay leaf.
- Pour in the white vermouth (or wine) and cook, stirring constantly, until the wine has been absorbed and there is no liquid pooling at the bottom of the pot, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer it for 10 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaf. Purée the soup in a blender (in 2 batches) or with a hand-held immersion blender in the pot until it is really smooth. Return the soup to the pot if using a blender.
- Whisk the sweet rice flour into the light cream and stir it into the soup. Bring the soup to a boil and cook it for 30 seconds.
- Serve with a sprinkling of chopped chives.
- Makes 8 cups of soup, serving 4 to 6 for a main course, or 8 as an elegant starter.
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