The #FungusFriday 🍄 gem is a Calvatia gigantea, commonly known as the giant puffball. This puffball mushroom commonly found in meadows, fields, and deciduous forests usually in late summer and autumn. Puffballs are a known styptic and have long been used in the medical field as wound dressing, either in powdered form or as thin slices. | Science Channel

Watch a Giant Puffball Mushroom (Calvatia gigantea) grow. #giantpuffball #mushroom | Professor Pouncey

Calvatia gigantea, the giant puffball, appears in the fall in open meadows and forest edges, often returning to the same spot from the same underground mycelium. It can reach the size of a basketball, from my experience, and I’ve read about larger. It’s edible only when the inside is pure white and firm. Slice before cooking. Any yellowing or hint of gills means it’s maturing and no longer safe. I like to peel the outside layer off and chop up the center to use as taco filling, heavily seasoned.

Ayıpufu mantarı (Calvatia gigantea) türünün ayırt edici özellikleri ✅ Devasa boyutlara ulaşabilir: 10 cm’den 70 cm’ye, hatta nadiren 1 metreye kadar çap yapabilir. ✅ Top şeklinde veya hafif yassı yuvarlak: Küresel veya ekmek biçiminde olabilir, sapı yoktur. ✅ Gençken dış yüzeyi tamamen beyaz ve düzgün: Zamanla sarımsı veya kahverengimsi bir renk alabilir. ✅ İçi pamuksu ve kar gibi bembeyazdır (gençken): Bu haliyle yenilebilir; iç kısmı sararmaya ya da kahverengileşmeye başladıysa yenmez. ✅ Olgun