Calvatia and Lycoperdon

What are Puffballs? Does anyone really know?

I looked up puffballs on-line and found that several can be cooked and are enjoyed by many across the country and around the world. I also found that one species in particular is considered poisonous. Take a look.

(The Purple Spore Puffball)

Calvatia and Lycoperdon

The inside of puffballs are filled with countless spores which is soft and white at first. As the spores mature, they become violet-black, turn to yellow-brown, and finally they turn dark purple-black. Finally, the top of the puffball erodes and a large cup remains.

It can be hard to tell the immature mushroom apart from the skull-shaped puffball, which is also a choice edible, but there are no poisonous look-alikes.

Habitat

This mushroom grows in grassy pastures and suburban lawns throughout eastern and central North America. Manlius New York is known to grow large Puffballs.

Season

The mushroom appears in the summer and early fall, and persists through late fall.

Cooking

This mushroom is a choice edible. Trim away the cuticle

Slice the puffball, sauté it, steam it, or simmer it in soups, like other mushrooms. It's also great baked or grilled. It has a sweet-savory flavor and a soft texture.

This mushroom doesn't dehydrate well. To store it long-range, cook it and freeze it.

There is also what is called the False Giant Puffball or also called Poison Goalpost Fungus. Note the cracked surface about to erupt, ejecting enough spores to victimize up to 22 people at once! Look at the sample I pulled off the internet. Photo by “Wildman”

This mushroom is so deadly, merely inhaling the spores rearranges your brain's neural synapses, making you race endlessly back and forth across a field, stopping occasionally to jump up and down and cheer or curse insanely, never resting until death from exhaustion ensues.

Poisoning is so virulent, relatives of the victim, especially the parents, have been known to succumb as well!

Except for this species, the large puffballs have no poisonous look-alikes, so they're fair game for beginners.

Habitat

Look for giant puffballs on the ground in well-fertilized fields or pastures where the underlying fungus has plenty of underground manure to decompose.

Victims of the false giant puffball in the throes of madness

All this talk about the puffball started when I found some growing in my back yard this weekend. I do not plan on eating them and do not advise anyone who is not an expert in the mushroom to eat any they find either. Enjoy the puffball for what they are. Photos by “Sara”
Disclaimer: The information I found and printed here can be found on the web in my link section.