Purple-Spored Puffball

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Purple-Spored Puffball (Calvatia cyathiformis)

**On This Page:** Description, Habitat, Season, Cooking
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Purple-Spored Puffball sculpture, acrylic paints
Description This large, roundish, puffball, often somewhat flattened puffball can grow from 2-3/4 to 7 inches across, and from 3-1/2 to 8 inches tall. Its beige surface, smooth at first, later develops cracks.
Purple-Spored Puffball This puffball is certainly shaped like a skull, and you really have to wait until the purple spores form before you can be sure this isn't a skull-shaped puffball (which is also edible.) I usually eat the puffball first!
The inside is soft and white at first. As the spores mature, they become violet-black to yellow-brown, then dark purple-black. Finally, the top of the puffball erodes and a large cup remains. It can be hard to tell the immature mushroom apart from the skull-shaped puffball, which is also a choice edible, but there are no poisonous look-alikes.
Habitat This mushroom grows in grassy pastures and suburban lawns throughout eastern and central North America.
Season The mushroom appears in the summer and early fall, and persists through late fall.
Cooking This mushroom is a choice edible. Trim away the cuticle (covering) if it's encrusted with dirt, and cut out any bad parts with a paring knife. Try not to wash this mushroom under water, or it will become too soggy to sauté. Slice the puffball, sauté it, steam it, or simmer it in soups, like other mushrooms. It's also great baked or grilled. It has a sweet-savory flavor and a soft texture. This mushroom doesn't dehydrate well. To store it long-range, cook it and freeze it.