Edible
Giant puffball
Calvatia gigantea
The character that does the work
Pure white and completely featureless inside. Nothing else that size does this, and the cut is not optional.
The specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
A smooth white ball 20 to 70 cm across, occasionally far larger, like a football left in a field.
02Underside
None. No gills, no stem, no cap.
03Stem, and the base
Absent, attached by a cord of mycelium.
04Flesh, cut
CUT IT TOP TO BOTTOM: pure white, uniform, featureless, like a marshmallow. Any yellow or olive tint means the spores are forming and it is past eating.
05Spore print
06Where it grows
Pasture, meadows, hedgerows and open woodland, often in the same spot each year.
When to look
Typically Jul to Oct in the northern hemisphere. Fruiting swings by weeks with rainfall and by a month or more with latitude, so this is when to look rather than when it will be there.
Northern hemisphere.
What is worth knowing about it
Safe at a large size and genuinely risky at a small one, which is the important distinction. A puffball the size of a football cannot be anything else. A puffball the size of a golf ball could be an unopened death cap, and the only way to know is to cut every single one individually and look for the outline of a mushroom inside.
Confused with
- Earthball
- Amanita buttons, in small specimens
In the kitchen
Slice into thick steaks, discard the skin, and fry in butter. It absorbs fat astonishingly, so use less than instinct suggests. It does not keep and does not dry.
The techniques, and why they workThis page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
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