Other Cool Stuff
Many of the mushrooms that have been deemed safe (and delicious) to eat are members of the Agaricomycetes class of Basidiomycota (exceptions include morels and truffles which are Ascomycota). The pear shaped puffballs (L. pyriforme) and its relatives such as the giant puffballs (C. gigantea) are indeed edible in nature. However, before chomping down on any puffball mushroom, take a minute and consider the following:
- The outer layer of the puffball MUST be thin – if it’s thick you may have yourself a POISONOUS mushroom, see below for details of dangerous look-alikes
- The inside should be uniformly white, any darkening or discoloration indicates that the puffball isn’t “ripe”, basically that it’s no longer in its edible form
- The smaller puffballs should have a homogenous and marshmallow-type texture
- Slice through every puffball before eating not only to check for color but also any internal structures because this indicates that you probably have the LETHAL mushroom called the death angel
Morels, oyster mushrooms,
shiitake mushrooms and
chanterelles are just a few of the many different types of
delicious fungi. For more information about edible
puffballs and other mushrooms
click here. Or, for the culinary mycologists out there
looking for a challenge, check out the
cookbook provided by the Mycological Society of San
Francisco for puffball-related recipes (The parmesan puffballs
look like a winner to me!!)
photo by Building Blocks Show from flicr.com
Danger - certain puffball look-alikes can kill you!
Death Angels - Amanita bisporigera, Amanita virosa, and Amanita vernaThese are usually present as gilled mushrooms but may have a spherical ball appearance during certain phases of development. They are distinguished from puffballs by the presence of internal structures noted by slicing the ball portion in half
The
Poison
Pigskin Puffball - Scleroderma citrinum
Although not known to be fatal, these "false puffballs" do tend to cause a wide
variety of moderate to severe gastrointestinal problems, so it's best to know
exactly what to look for when selecting mushrooms. Since both
Scleroderma and wolf-fart puffballs tend to be similar in size, other means
of differentiation must be used. The outer skin of Scleroderma is
much thicker than that of the edible puffballs. Also, Scleroderma
will have a very dark interior compared to the desired pure white color of L. pyriforme.
Some members of the Basidiomycota produce secondary metabolites that have hallucinogenic effects when ingested by humans. One such example occurs in the Psilocybe sp. I encourage you to check out another student's P. cubensis MultipleOrganisms site for additional information and pictures.
