In late summer and early autumn, keep your eyes open for giant puffballs, best picked when young and firm, and no bigger than 25cm or so in diameter. A puffball of this size will feed at least four people, so should you stumble across a few it’s unlikely you’ll need to pick them all. They’re not difficult to spot – they stand out like bright white footballs amid the green of the grass. I’ve always been really fond of this unusual fungus. As children we used to jump on the older, wrinkled ones, and they would explode in a magical puff of spores. Good times. For cooking, I treat them simply, peeling away the thin skin, cutting them into thick slices, then frying them in butter. Sometimes, I dip the rounds in beaten egg and porridge oats to give a wonderful, crisp coating. Here, I’m cooking the puffball in the same way I would a steak – on a griddle pan, with good bacon, and some garlic and parsley – the perfect forager’s breakfast.