Edible puffball mushroom: +21 photos, how to distinguish from poisonous ones and description

Many mushrooms of the puffball ( Lycoperdales ) are often collectively called “puffballs,” although among them there are not only puffballs ( Lycoperdon ), but also puffballs ( bovista ) , bighead ( Calvatia ) and some other species . Any mushroom picker has seen a variety of raincoats many times: with a smooth surface and with growths, warts and needles. These mushrooms also differ in the shape of the fruiting body: spherical, pear-shaped, ovoid, etc. The white balls of some mushrooms lie on the ground, while others rise on a false stalk.

Puffballs grow in forests and parks, appear in steppes, agricultural fields, pastures and manicured lawns. If you trample a ripe mushroom, it will release “smoke” with spores.

Mushroom pickers often trample raincoats to release a cloud of “smoke”

There are several popular names for raincoats: “grandfather’s gunpowder”, “dust duster”, “wolf’s tobacco”, “devil’s tobacco”, “hare’s potato”, “mushroom-egg” and “forest egg”.

Characteristic features of Raincoats

The genus Puffballs includes about 10 species, most of which are edible. Ripe sporocarps of these fungi burst and release spores into the environment. Because of this property, mushroom pickers call them puffers, dusters, grandfather's or wolf's tobacco, devil's tavlinka, smoky, little golovachs.

Appearance and photo

The smokers have a closed round or pear-shaped shape. As can be seen in the photo, they are small in size, with a clearly defined false stalk and exoperidium covered with spiny outgrowths. Over time, the growths fall out, and the sporocarps open and release a rich yellow-green or brown spore powder.

Edible or inedible

Some varieties of dust moth are not only edible, but also very useful. The edibility of a mushroom can be determined by its external features.

Only unripe fruiting bodies, the inner layer of which is dense, tight and homogeneous, should be eaten. In addition, the pulp should be white; if it has a zinc-yellow or green tint, then such a duster is not edible.

Rules and meeting places

Grandfather tobacco can be found all over the world, with the exception of the cold areas of Antarctica. Dust moths are also widespread in Russia. They grow in coniferous and deciduous forests, parks, plains, fields, agricultural lands and manicured lawns. The collection time is mainly at the end of summer - beginning of autumn. Most often they appear after a good rain.

To avoid poisoning, you should collect fluffy beetles away from roads. When harvesting, it is important to check that all fruiting bodies on cuts are white and not yellow or green. The pseudopod must be cut off from each mushroom.

Note!

Immediately after collection, they must be cooked and consumed, as they quickly deteriorate and lose their medicinal properties.

Contraindications

To use mushrooms for food or for medicinal purposes, it is prohibited to collect them along busy highways and in areas with unfavorable ecological conditions, as this is fraught with poisoning.

Contraindications for use are also:

pregnancy;
lactation;
childhood;
individual intolerance;
renal failure.

It is recommended to start treatment with minimal doses and, if there are no negative manifestations, continue taking it at the indicated dosages.

I told you about the special properties of raincoats, their benefits and harms for the human body. Have you ever seen such mushrooms? Have you used them for cooking or medicine? Write about your results of use.

Main differences from false, inedible mushrooms

There are several types of inedible false puffballs. These include the following:

warty;
ordinary;
spotted.

Warty puffball
All these mushrooms have a number of distinctive features. The first step in distinguishing an edible puffball from a poisonous one is to pay attention to how it smells. A real raincoat does not have a pronounced unpleasant aroma. The insides of a good mushroom are soft but elastic; white, sometimes with very thin yellow veins.

Signs of poisoning and first aid

If a person eats a poisonous puffball instead of an edible puffball, he will experience abdominal pain, nausea, severe vomiting, cramps, and bouts of diarrhea (every 15-20 minutes).

The pressure drops sharply, the person loses consciousness, and a coma may occur. It is important to immediately call an ambulance at the first symptoms of poisoning.

First of all, the victim’s stomach is washed out and artificial vomiting is caused. At the end of this procedure, give activated carbon at the rate of 1-2 tablets per 1 kg of weight. A person needs bed rest and a strict diet for several days.

To summarize, it is worth noting that the edible puffball is a tasty and healthy mushroom. But we must always remember that he has many poisonous doubles. If you are not completely sure that this is an edible specimen, it is better to completely refrain from eating it.

Beneficial nutritional properties and restrictions on consumption

Dust plants are highly valued in traditional medicine. They are able to absorb heavy metals, radioactive substances, fluorides, chlorides and remove them from the human body naturally. In addition, they prevent the development of cancerous tumors.

Good to know!

Constant use of raincoats helps cleanse the body of accumulated harmful toxic substances, which can cause thyroid dysfunction, kidney or liver dysfunction. Dust moths have a beneficial effect on the immune and circulatory systems. Even after drying, they retain their beneficial properties and taste.

Edible puffballs that grow far from highways and industrial plants are not harmful to health. However, children and adolescents, women during lactation and pregnancy, and people in very old age should refrain from using them. In addition, dust pollen is difficult to digest, so people with gastrointestinal and kidney diseases should consume them in limited quantities.

Cooking features

Raincoat has a rather specific taste, so you need to know how to prepare it correctly. There are many recipes for preparing duster: in batter, breadcrumbs, stewed in cream or fried with onions in a frying pan.

Proper preparation for eating

Preparing mushrooms includes three main points:

First of all, freshly picked fruiting bodies must be thoroughly washed to remove dirt.

Preparing mushrooms
Since the skin of the raincoat is quite tough, it needs to be removed.

Peeling
Prepared mushrooms must be boiled in salted water for 25-30 minutes.

Cooking process

The last step is not mandatory, however, many housewives consider it necessary to subject the mushrooms to additional heat treatment. Having prepared the raincoats, you can start preparing the dish.

Recipes

There are many different recipes for cooking golovach. Most of them are very simple, do not require special skills, but are very tasty:

Dust cakes with sour cream - a tasty and healthy dish consisting of simple ingredients. In order to prepare the dish, you will need: 0.5 kg of raincoats;
a glass of sour cream;
2 onions;
100 ml sunflower oil;
salt and pepper. Prepared mushrooms need to be fried in oil for 20-25 minutes. Separately, saute the diced onion until golden brown. Add the onion to the mushrooms and cook for another 20-25 minutes. 5 minutes before the end of sautéing, add sour cream and spices.

Raincoats in sour cream

Oven baked puffballs are a delicious appetizer that's easy to make. For this recipe you need:

1 kg of powder flasks;

100 g mayonnaise;

3 g salt;

herbs and spices.

All ingredients must be thoroughly mixed and left to marinate for an hour. Then transfer the mushrooms to a baking sleeve and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 60 minutes. Sprinkle the finished dish with herbs.

Oven baked raincoats

From freshly picked smokies you can prepare aromatic soup with dumplings. It requires:

300 g raincoats;

4 potatoes;

1 onion;

a bunch of greenery;

salt, sunflower oil.

For dumplings:

a glass of flour;
80 g butter;
2 eggs;
glass of water;
salt.

Soup with raincoats and dumplings

The first step is to let the potatoes cook for 20 minutes. At this time, chopped mushrooms and onions need to be fried in oil. Then, in a separate bowl, bring water with butter and a pinch of salt to a boil.

Remove it from the heat and, stirring quickly, add the flour. Add eggs one at a time. Throw mushrooms into the soup and, using a teaspoon, add dough for dumplings in small portions. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the greens, stir and remove from heat. Can be served immediately.

All these recipes are simple and affordable, however, thanks to raincoats, they have a unique taste and aroma.

Preparation for the winter

To preserve fluff for the winter, you can dry or pickle them. In order to dry mushrooms, you need to peel them, chop them and boil them. After this, the prepared dust particles should be placed on a baking sheet in one layer. You can dry raincoats in the sun or in the oven at a temperature not exceeding 100 degrees. To marinate mushrooms, you need to prepare the following ingredients:

raincoats – 1 kg;
sugar and salt - 10 g each;
vinegar – 75 ml;
dill umbrellas - 2-3 pieces;
garlic – 2 cloves;
allspice – 6 peas.

Pickled raincoats
Cleaned raincoats must be boiled in salted water for several minutes. Then you need to add all the other ingredients and boil for another quarter of an hour. Place the dust bags in jars and fill them with marinade and seal with lids. The next day, the jars must be taken to the basement.

Use in folk medicine

The beneficial properties of dust particles are used in traditional medicine recipes:

For diseases of the liver, kidneys and stomach, as well as as a means of combating tumors, a tincture of ripened dust pollen is used. To prepare it, fill half a bottle or half-liter jar with ripe mushrooms and fill to the top with vodka. Leave for 40 days, shaking occasionally. Take a teaspoon before bed.
For multiple sclerosis, use a tincture of different types of mushrooms. Take 10 grams of dry and crushed puffballs, saffron milk caps and white mushrooms. Pour the mushroom mixture with Cahors wine (750 ml) and leave for 7 days. Take a tablespoon 4 times a day until positive dynamics are observed.
The tincture will help with cancer. To prepare it, pour vodka (0.5 liters) into a glass of spore powder, close the jar with a plastic lid and bury it in the ground to a depth of thirty centimeters. After 24 days, carefully remove the jar and, without shaking, drain the liquid, which you take a tablespoon three times a day before meals.
For tumors, ointment is also used; it is applied to a napkin and applied to the site of the tumor overnight. Prepare the ointment as follows: collect the remaining pulp (pulp) after preparing the tincture and mix with lard. Bring to a boil, stirring thoroughly, then cool and place in jars. Store the ointment in the refrigerator.
For inflammation of the facial skin and acne, lotion will be beneficial. It is prepared like this: fill a liter container with the chopped pulp of fresh dust moths and fill it to the top with vodka, half diluted with water. Leave for 14 days in a dark place and then strain. Add 10 drops of tea tree oil to the resulting liquid. Wipe your skin with the resulting lotion twice a day.

Popular recipes

For elasticity and smoothness of the skin, use a face mask: mash fresh mushroom pulp, apply it to the face, avoiding contact with the eyes, and after 15 minutes rinse with warm water - the effect is guaranteed.
Fresh pulp or dry powder is applied to thrombophlebitis ulcers, wounds and cuts that do not heal for a long time.
After an exhaustingly long illness, after operations and colds, bronchitis, laryngitis and tuberculosis, broth cooked on raincoats will be beneficial and help you quickly recover. Its benefits surpass those of chicken broth.
To prevent urolithiasis, eat bread sprinkled with mature dust fly powder.
If you are concerned about postpartum bleeding, brew 3 teaspoons of powder with boiling water (200 ml) and leave for 2 hours. Drink the strained infusion one tablespoon three times a day.

For treatment, preparations made from pulp and spores are used. Homeopathy based on puffball mushrooms has medicinal properties and is used in the treatment of the following diseases and ailments:

Extract – removes heavy metals, radionuclides and toxins. Useful for people living in areas with poor ecology or working in hazardous industries. The product helps with gastrointestinal diseases, dysbiosis, suppresses tuberculosis and the development of cancer. Increases immunity and cleanses the lymphatic system, used in the treatment of immunodeficiency virus. Take 2 capsules three times a day, half an hour before meals. The course of treatment is 1-2 months.
Tincture - used in the complex treatment of the thyroid gland, slows down the development of leukemia and other cancers, relieves hepatitis and dysbacteriosis. Used in the treatment of anemia and venous stagnation. Take 40 drops of tincture three times a day before meals.