Puffballs in Colorado.

Why puffballs are a good starting species

Because the safety test is a single unambiguous action, and because a large puffball looks like nothing else — a white ball sitting in a meadow, from golf-ball to football sized, with no cap, no gills and no visible stem.

Colorado grassland and meadow edges produce them through the monsoon months, including at lower elevations where little else worth picking grows.

The one test

Cut every specimen in half vertically, from top to bottom, before it goes anywhere near a kitchen. A good edible puffball is:

• Pure white throughout — like a marshmallow or firm mozzarella.
• Completely homogeneous. No lines, no shadows, no outline of a cap or stem, no gills, nothing.
• Firm, with no yellowing, browning, purpling or powderiness.

If you see any internal structure, discard it. Two things it could be:

1. An Amanita button — the reason this test exists

Young Amanita mushrooms, before they emerge, are egg-shaped and can be mistaken for small puffballs. Cut one in half and you will see the outline of the developing mushroom inside — a cap, a stem, gills, in silhouette. Several Amanita species are lethal. This single cut is what separates a good dinner from acute liver failure, and it takes two seconds. Read dangerous lookalikes.

2. A mature or earthball puffball

Yellow, olive, brown or purple-black inside means the spores are developing — past edible, and it will taste bitter and can upset your stomach. Dark purple-black, firm interior with a marbled look suggests Scleroderma, the earthballs, which are toxic and have a thick rind rather than a thin skin.

Pure, featureless, marshmallow white all the way through, or it goes in the compost. There is no partial credit on this test.

Identification notes

• Giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea): the prize. Smooth white ball, can reach the size of a football or larger, in meadows and grassy areas.
• Other Calvatia and Lycoperdon species are smaller, sometimes with a short sterile base or fine spines, and follow the same test.
• Skin: thin and easily peeled on edible species. Thick, hard, dark rind is a warning sign.
• No stem, no gills, no cap — externally featureless is the whole point.

Cooking

Puffball flesh is mild, faintly nutty and absorbent, with a texture close to tofu or halloumi. Peel the skin, cut into thick slabs, and treat it like a cutlet: sear hard in butter, or crumb and fry it. It soaks up whatever you cook it in, so season assertively.

It does not keep — two or three days at most, and it does not freeze or dry well. Cook a big find promptly. The crumb-and-fry method from our lion’s mane sandwich works particularly well on puffball slabs.

A note on quantity

One giant puffball is a genuinely large amount of food — a single specimen can weigh several pounds. Take one, leave the rest, and remember that a mature puffball releases trillions of spores and is doing more good in the meadow than in your basket.

Common questions