Puffballs-The Mushroom Giant

By Al Lowe
Contributor

These giants of the mushroom world are not all that common here in Northern Ontario, but they do grow here.
Have you ever seen a big white ball growing in a field or under a tree? That is very likely a puffball. And that is just about what they look like - a big, white ball. How big? Well, they usually run from 8 to 20 inches or so in diameter. But there have been some really monstrous ones. In 1927 one was found which measured 5 feet across, and the largest one recorded was the granddaddy of them all. It measured 5 feet 4 inches in diameter, and was mistaken for a sheep when it was first sighted.
The species above is the Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea). There are quite a few others. Some have stubby stems, some are grayish instead of white, and some are sort of lop-sided, and all are smaller than the gigantea. Even an average sized puffball will provide for a good sized family. The flesh is white, and it tastes much like the ordinary store mushrooms.
Now, as in all mushrooms, the part which you see is only the reproductive part. The real plant is the mycelium, and it is all under the ground. The mycelium is made up of a mass of very, very tiny fibers which live in dead and decaying plant material under the soil. This mycelium is so fine that when you expose it, it just looks like something we on the earth.
Why are they called puffballs? Because they puff! When the spores inside the ball are fully mature, then the outer skin shrivels and leaves a very thin inner skin. If a raindrop falls on this thin skin, then it makes a tiny hole, and a 'puff' of black spores come out. A lot of drops means a lot of puffs. If a plant brushes against it, or if a boy throws a pebble on it, that will trigger a puff. Very little touches will set it off.
The spores, in case you have forgotten, are the things which carry the mushroom into the next generation. In that sense they are like seeds.
They are different from seeds in every other sense. A spore is like a tiny speck of dust, and it gets around by being blown by the wind.
To give you an idea as to how many spores a single puffball will produce, consider this for a moment. If every spore inside the puffball were to land in the right place to grow, the result would turn out to be over 800 times the size of the earth. This gives you an idea as to how many spores are produced, and also how few ever get the chance to germinate and grow.
Puffballs grow almost anywhere, in fields, in the woods, pastures, orchards and so on. The chances of them growing anywhere in large numbers are very small indeed.
A puffball which you want to eat should be cut open to make sure the flesh is white, and nice and firm. You should never eat any mushroom which is in any way discoloured. Puffballs can be sliced up and fried, they can be used in salads, or you can use them in any way in which you use any other mushrooms.
The Giant Puffball (the largest) is quite a curiosity to many people, but it is quite delicacy to a lot of others.