'Huge' puffball found near Listowel

A 16-year-old boy from theListowel area says he stumbled upon a 'huge' giant puffball mushroom that tips the scales at 19 lbs.

Matthew Hiltz, 16, said he happened upon the giant mushroom while hewith his father were out behind their home in Newry, Ont., about a 45minute drive northwest of Waterloo.

"Me and my dad were just going to cut some wood and I was walking through the bush with him when Ijust looked down and saw it there," he said. "Iwas like, 'holy cow' that's huge!"

At 59inches (149 cm)around, the mushroom is about the size of a large beach ball.

Prized by foragers

Considered a delicacy by some in Southwestern Ontario,giant puffball mushrooms are prized by foragers.

Hiltz said he normally keeps them to takehome for his family, but in this case, the 19 lbsmonster wasn't worth eating.

"It was a bit mushy, so I waspretty sure it was rotten,"he said. "If it wasn't, I'd have enough for a whole month."

Even though he wasn't able to dine on the corpulentmushroom, Hiltz didn't go home disappointed.

"We actually found a couple other ones walking through the bush and we ate those. Fried them up in a frying pan," he said. "They taste good."

Hiltz said he plans to keep the photos, so he can one day share the story with his children, but for now he'll settle for sharing his find onlineon a local online hunting and fishingforum.

"It got a lot of attention, a lot of people posting about it and commenting on it."