If you get the wee white ones that have the little spikes on them they should be absolutely unmistakable. HOWEVER. I have a tale for you. In a moment.
My girlfriend first introduced me to these when I knew nothing about mushrooms. In her woods by her home, she and her cousins would happily stomp on them! and cause they grey-brown spore mass to puff out and disperse on the wind 😊 I was aghast, at first, how destructive! But it turns out, this is in fact exactly what they need - once they mature, their spongey inside becomes a sack of spore dust; the top of the cap opens a pinprick hole and when raindrops or hooves or feet descend upon them, POOF! the spores shoot into the breeze. Yay! So check that they're mature before stomping on them because... if they're still young, they can be eaten for a lovely chewy texture a bit like firm marshmallow 😀
I did say "however" didn't I ?
Well. See the third pic? Those ones are smooth. Very young puffballs. We found them in the grass of a parking lot and there wasn't a tree for hundreds of yards. Which helpfully suggests we were safe.
But! But!
I told my gf that the insides need to be pristine white otherwise they'd be no good, and I was obsessing over this so much that I forgot to tell her the other thing to look out for: some very young Amanita species can look like puffballs if not paying attention, including some of the dealiest ones ☠️
Well, that caused a panic when I remembered, midway through the pasta and wild mushroom sauce we were having for dinner. Went to the hospital and all, kept under surveillance all night.
Turns out we were ok, they were, indeed, just puffballs. The telling features we should have kept in mind are the faint shape of a developing mushroom appearing, instead of a plain white mass; and that Amanita need to associate with trees.
Always remember all the identifying features when picking and when prepping. Don't rush on account of "hungry." Take your time.
🍽 Totally safe creamy puffball pasta sauce recipe:
Chop puffballs in half and check they are all-white and not showing a mini mushroom shape inside
Then toss them into a pan with some onions and a touch of olive oil and fry a bit
Add some double cream or sour cream, mix in, and add thyme/rosemary/oregano and a knob of butter, melt it all through
Season to taste
Over pasta
🍲 Alternatively, instead of creaming, add the sautéed mushrooms to a miso soup (maybe chop them smaller):
Chop spring onions, including the greens
In a mug add a teaspoon of miso paste and add just a bit of boiled water
Dissolve the miso in the modest quantity of water first, then add remaining boiling water
Throw in the spring onions, and mushroom; add some wakame seaweed if you have any to hand
Slugs snacking on this puffball that, like other puffballs, is edible to humans too! They're not very desirable though, unlike others in the family, but the slugs seem to enjoy them.
