Puffball mushroom: edible or not, what does a false puffball mushroom look like? Puffball mushroom: medicinal properties and how to cook? What can you make from puffball mushroom? Tasty and healthy puffball mushroom, description and use.

Today we will introduce you to a very interesting, healthy, and also tasty mushroom called puffball.

Description

Quite often, mushroom pickers call this mushroom differently. The most popular names are tobacco mushroom, dust mushroom or hare potato. This phenomenon is associated with various factors, the details of which we will not go into.

But it is important to know that this particular mushroom is characterized by increased activity in absorbing toxins from environment. In this component, it is several times superior to its “relatives”.

Belongs to the Champignon family, has a closed pear-shaped or rounded body. The leg is false. The skin grows tightly to the upper part of the plant, thereby creating inner pulp. When ripe, voids appear there - a kind of chamber. They collect a lot of spores in the form of powder. They may have different colors.

In a mature puffball, the peridium is quite thin, which causes it to rupture and allow the powder to fall out.

Appearance You can see the raincoat and where it grows in the video.

Kinds

The raincoat has quite a few subspecies, but among them there are several main ones.

Spiky

It can often be found in the forest and meadows. There is a characteristic tubercle on the mushroom cap in its upper part.

The name is due to the surface of the mushroom. It is white in color and has small spines that fall off easily.

Giant

Another type of raincoat distinctive feature which consists in size and ovoid or spherical shape. The mushroom may have a white or yellow-gray color.

Quite often, fallen shells collect on it, which makes the plant not very attractive. However, it can mature up to 7 kilograms.

Golovach

Oblong

It is somewhat reminiscent of the previous species, but its shape is club-shaped, the upper part is thickened, and the lower part is narrowed. This mushroom is sterile.

Where does it grow

Such a mushroom, in fact, has no specific geography or origin. He is well known in Russia. Raincoat can be found everywhere, but not everyone knows about its features and valuable medicinal properties.

However, there are references to this plant, according to which puffball has been used since ancient times, using its healing properties.

Storage method

Having collected mushrooms, they will retain beneficial features no more than two days.

So you need to put them in the refrigerator right away. To increase shelf life, place in the freezer, but cut the mushroom into slices first.

The product can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months. Only pickled raincoat or dried raincoat lasts longer - about a year.

If you need this mushroom from a medicinal point of view, then you need the powder from the ripe puffball. It should be stored in glassware in a dry place out of direct sunlight.

Peculiarities

In fact, there are more than enough features and a raincoat. But I still want to highlight the most interesting points.

First of all, it serves excellent assistant for our health. Key Feature lies in the ability to absorb radionuclides, as well as heavy metal salts, after which quickly and easily, naturally remove these “nasties” from the body.

It is because of this that many dietary supplements are created based on raincoat. The authors of this drug are confident that it promotes healing, cleansing the body, as well as restoring the skin and giving it elasticity.

How to choose

When going for mushrooms, few mushroom pickers dare to bend down to pick off the raincoat. Quite often they are simply neglected. Moreover, many deliberately crush, kick and destroy it.

This is due to the fact that many people mistake it for being dangerous. poisonous mushroom. This is not true, and today we will talk about this in detail.

If you decide to pick mushrooms and your goal is a raincoat, then you need to know important rule. You cannot collect it if the weather is damp. Otherwise, your initially snow-white beauty will literally turn into a kind of dirty rag in just a couple of hours, which cannot be eaten.

Suitable for cooking are young “individuals” that are not soaked or boiled to remove harmful substances. They simply don't exist. So feel free to throw it in a frying pan, into the oven, dry it, salt it and eat it.

A young raincoat, suitable for food, has a rather non-standard edible mushrooms appearance - spherical body, white, with small scales on top. His false pedicle, which can reach no more than 5 cm in length and 2 cm in diameter may be absent.

When the mushroom ripens, it forms on the surface brown coating, it becomes smooth.

Choose exclusively young mushrooms, the flesh of which is elastic and dense. Don't be afraid to collect different kinds raincoat, since each of them can be eaten.

old mushroom dangerous due to the fact that it intensively absorbs toxins. It's best not to assemble it near highways, since the exhaust from cars is not the most pleasant thing to experience.

Nutritional value and calorie content

As you know, mushrooms are very dietary product. And the raincoat was no exception. For 100 grams of this mushroom there is:

Chemical composition

In respect of chemical composition puffball is not inferior to many other mushrooms, and in some components even surpasses them. For example, it has more protein than our favorite champignons.

It is worth noting that the mushroom includes:

• Fats;
• Complex of vitamins;
• Useful micro- and macroelements;
• Polysaccharides;
• Mineral salts;
• Antibiotics, etc.

Useful and healing properties

This mushroom should be appreciated not only for its taste, but also for the benefits it carries.

• The pulp contains calvacin, which fights bacteria and fungi, has an anti-cancer effect, and reduces the activity of tumor development.
• Preparations made from spores remove heavy metals, radionuclides, and toxins from the body.
• The pulp can be used externally as well as internally. External use involves applying it to ulcers that appear due to skin cancer. For internal use, tinctures and decoctions are used. They relieve fever, inflammation, swelling in the throat, fight kidney problems, and help suppress the development of cancer.
• Spore-based products help with gastrointestinal problems, high blood pressure, blood viscosity, have an immunostrengthening effect.
• Spores also help stop bleeding, relieve pain, and heal festering lesions on the body.

In fact, there are incredibly many benefits from this mushroom, which is why mushroom pickers underestimate it in vain.

Contraindications

There are several nuances that relate to a raincoat and its use.

• Do not collect these mushrooms in places located in close proximity to polluted areas, factories, or highways. The raincoat actively absorbs toxins so you can go;
• During pregnancy and lactation, it is better to avoid mushrooms;
• If you have kidney problems, then this mushroom is not for you;
• Another condition under which a raincoat cannot be used is individual intolerance.

Application

In cooking

What else can you do with a mushroom other than eat it? After all, it’s tasty and healthy. Mushrooms can be an excellent substitute for meat and many other foods when on a diet.

How to cook

How to prepare raincoats:

• Pickle;
• Fry;
• Marinate;
• Bake;
• Put out;
• Boil and so on.

But first they need to be prepared. To do this, remove the skin from the white fruits. Cut the resulting pulp into pieces you like.

Fried mushrooms

After completing the previous manipulations, chopping the mushrooms, roll them in flour, add a little salt and fry in simple vegetable oil. A special sauce goes well with this dish.

To prepare the sauce, you need to finely chop Bell pepper, add finely chopped capers, green onions, as well as pickled or pickled cucumbers. Mix all this with mayonnaise, add salt to your taste, as well as fresh lemon juice. To add some spice, we recommend adding a little soy sauce.

Pour this sauce over your mushrooms, and your guests will be delighted with such a simple but incredibly tasty dish.

soup

If you're a fan of mushroom soups, then the raincoat will open up new horizons for you.

Take the prepared chicken broth, add sauteed carrots and onions to it. Mushrooms need to be cut into slices, although this is not essential. They are fried in a frying pan, thrown into the broth and cooked for literally 10 minutes.

The soup will be even tastier if you add fresh herbs and a little canned peas. The result exceeds all expectations.

Raincoat under sour cream

This is a great stand-alone dish. But it is also very tasty to eat with boiled rice.

The following ingredients are needed:

• Mushrooms - 0.5 kg;
• Sour cream - 0.2 l;
• Potatoes - 0.3 kg;
• Onions - 2 pcs.

Plus you will need vegetable oil and seasonings to taste. The indicated amount of ingredients is enough for about four large servings.

Preparation is carried out as follows:

• Peel the potatoes, boil them by adding salt to the water;
• Peel the mushrooms, rinse thoroughly, cut as you like;
• Fry the mushrooms in a frying pan for 25 minutes;
• Peel and chop the onion, fry in a separate frying pan until golden brown;
• Place the onion in the mushrooms, add salt and pepper as desired. Mix everything and fry for 15 minutes;
• About 5 minutes before the mushrooms are ready, add sour cream. Mix the ingredients and let them simmer a little over low heat.

Well, now you can serve it to the table. These mushrooms are great for new potatoes or fluffy steamed rice. Choose for yourself which side dish you like best.

In medicine

Alas, mushroom pickers are not particularly aware of the true properties of the raincoat. But medical experts will confirm that eating raincoat is not just tasty, but also very healthy.

We have already talked about the positive and healing properties. Therefore, now we bring to your attention several recipes for medicinal tinctures and decoctions prepared on the basis of raincoats.

• Powders. They can be purchased at pharmacies. You need to consume 1 tsp, diluting with half a glass of water, once every day before bed. In case of severe poisoning - 1/2 tsp. 8 times during the day.

• Infusion. Take a dessert spoon of spore powder, pour 200 ml of water (it should not be boiling water, but about 70 degrees). You need to insist for 40 minutes in a porcelain bowl. Drink half a glass twice a day before meals.

• Tincture. The proportions of spores and vodka are 1 to 5. The mixture is infused for 2 weeks in a warm place protected from the sun. Drink 1 tsp three times a day before meals. The course lasts no more than 28 days, after which a week break is required.

• For cancer. Mix a glass of powder with 500 ml of vodka. Close the jar tightly, bury it in the ground, where it should stand for 24 days at a depth of 0.3 m. Then dig it up and strain (do not shake the jar). Use the product three times a day before meals. Serving - 1 tbsp. l.

• From purulent wounds. Treat the wound with peroxide, blot it with a medical bandage, and then sprinkle it with spores. Do not tie the wound, as pus will continue to leak out over the next few days. Remove it, disinfect it, and spray the spores again. Once the wound is clean, the healing process will begin. A similar procedure can be done 2-3 times during the day. Treat yourself until you get rid of the wound.

• From a runny nose. If you have a severe runny nose, and simple remedies do not help or are simply not available, simply inhale the spores from a raincoat 2-3 times a day. This will quickly relieve nasal congestion and eliminate an unpleasant runny nose.

Growing

As practice shows, their use gives positive results, although at their own summer cottage It is better to use the simplest method.

To do this you will need arguments. They need to be sown in moist soil. The site should resemble the conditions in which the raincoat grows. That is, the grass is not thick, there is a lot of shade from trees, fallen leaves.

If you have ever collected raincoats in the forests, then pay attention to what is different about the place where you found them. If you manage to repeat the same conditions, you will ensure yourself an impressive harvest.

The fruits will appear a year after sowing the spores. To ensure fruiting does not stop, periodically add spores to your chosen area. It's not difficult to get them, but you will have your own mushrooms every season.

Edible or not

Many mushroom pickers do not dare to say for sure whether the raincoat is edible or dangerous to humans. It is because of this that he is often crushed or passed by when going into the forest to pick mushrooms.

So, this is a 100% edible mushroom. However, it must be consumed when it is young, when the flesh is white. Before eating, be sure to remove the shell. The pulp inside is tasty, which we recommend checking for yourself. There are many ways to prepare it.

If you go mushroom picking and are afraid of making a mistake in choosing a raincoat, here are a couple of tips:

• The pulp should be exclusively white, without adding other shades.
• The pulp should have a dense, elastic structure. With age, it loses hardness, and determining this by touch will not be a problem.
• The inside of the mushroom should have a uniform consistency. To do this, you can deal to break it.
• The structure of the edible raincoat does not have a pronounced cap and stem.
• There should be no signs of developing spores inside.
• In order not to confuse the raincoat and the young fly agaric, cut the mushroom. Our hero does not have a long leg, cap or plates.

These unique mushrooms belong to the champignon species. They all have a specific closed fruiting body round or pear-shaped. Rainfly is also called hare's potato, duster, tobacco mushroom and many more names. Meanwhile edible varieties This mushroom is very tasty and healthy, as it has a number of medicinal properties, among which the main ones are antitumor and antibacterial.

Edible puffball and false (poisonous) puffball are found in temperate latitudes our country almost everywhere and on any soil. They love open, well-lit and moist areas, so they can be found in fields, meadows, and sunny clearings of any forest. However, you should know that these mushrooms, as a rule, do not grow in the same places every year. The raincoat collection season varies depending on the type.

Mushroom Raincoat: photo, description

This is a completely unpretentious mushroom with a fruiting body, which, depending on the species, can have a wide variety of sizes and weight from several grams to 2 kilograms. Its surface may be white, greyish-white or yellow, sometimes it is covered with small thorns or warts. The white pulp turns yellow over time, and when the spores ripen, it turns into a dark brown powder that is released into the air.

Important: Puffball is edible only when young, when it has a delicate structure, pleasant aroma and high taste.

What does the Raincoat mushroom look like?

Several species are found in Russia edible raincoats, which vary significantly in both shape and size.

Types of Edible Puffballs

Giant mushroom puffball

The giant, gigantic, or bighead puffball looks like a huge ball, and can sometimes also have a slightly flattened shape. Its fruiting bodies, with smooth or flaky skin, can reach more than 50 cm in diameter. Its color ranges from white to yellow depending on the age of the mushroom. Also, as it grows, the color of the pulp changes from white to greenish-brown.

Giant puffball often grows singly. If a group of mushrooms is encountered, it may consist of more than ten mushrooms that form large rings. Fruiting begins in August and ends in early October.

Spiky Raincoat

They are also called pearl, hedgehog or needle-shaped. Their pear-shaped, slightly flattened fruit bodies are white and then light brown in color and miniature sizes, they reach from 2 to 6 cm in diameter and up to 5 cm in height. The surface skin of the puffball is covered with small warts; initially it is white, but as it grows it becomes brown.

Young specimens have pleasant white flesh with a pungent taste and delicate aroma. Over time, it turns gray and then purple-brown and is no longer edible. The collection of spiny raincoats begins in July and ends in early September.

Pear-shaped mushroom Puffball

It is named after the shape of its fruiting body, reminiscent of a pear, the thick part of which reaches a diameter of about 7 cm and a length of 4 cm. Young mushrooms have a milky color, which becomes dirty brown over time. The thick skin is initially covered with small spines, which fall off over time, and the surface of the raincoat begins to crack.

The white pulp does not have a very bright taste, but it has a very pleasant mushroom smell. Over time, it becomes brownish-red and then turns into powder Brown. Fruiting lasts from July to early October.

False mushroom Raincoat, photo

In addition to delicious edible puffballs, there are also false species, and they are often poisonous. Visually, their differences can be identified by looking at a photo depicting them.

Warty puffball

The warty false puffball is a poisonous mushroom with a tuberous fruiting body with a yellowish-gray and then light brown surface with thick and tough skin. Its diameter reaches 5 cm, the stem is missing. The aroma of false puffball combines the aroma of young raw potatoes and herbs. These mushrooms appear at the end of May, their fruiting lasts until the beginning of October.

Common puffball

The common or orange false puffball with a fruiting body about 6 cm in diameter has a tuberous shape, a smooth and thick shell of a dirty yellow or brown color with small scales in the upper half of the mushroom. In its bare lower part there are characteristic folds. When ripe, the white pulp becomes almost black, speckled with white fibers.

Although this false raincoat considered inedible, but it has flavor and taste qualities, somewhat reminiscent of truffles, then they are small quantity(no more than two or three cloves) are added to various mushroom dishes. The collection period for common puffballs begins in August and ends in September.

Spotted Puffball Mushroom

Spotted, panther, or leopard's scleroderma (Scleroderma areolatum) is characterized by a spherical or pear-shaped shape. The diameter of the fruiting body ranges from 1 to 5 cm. The smooth, very thin skin has a white or cream color; as it grows, it changes to brownish-yellow. Small scales with peculiar rims are scattered on its surface; it is this structure that creates the leopard pattern.

The white flesh of young mushrooms changes over time to greenish-brown or dark purple with white veins. The smell is weak, sweet. The spotted puffball has no legs. Bears fruit this type mushrooms from August to early September.

How to cook puffball mushroom

Many people ask: - Is it possible to eat puffball mushrooms?

Important: You can prepare various dishes and make preparations for the winter only from young raincoats with snow-white flesh.

Before cooking, mushrooms need to be washed and peeled. They must be used for food immediately after collection; they cannot be stored.

Mushroom Raincoat: recipes

Mushrooms baked in the oven

We will need:

• Mushrooms – 1 kilogram;
• Onion – 200 grams;
• Mayonnaise – 5 tablespoons;
• Cheese – 300 grams;
• Vegetable oil – 3 tablespoons;
• Salt, black pepper, dill.

Preparation

1. Peel the mushrooms and cut into large pieces.
2. Cut the onion into thin half rings and add to the mushrooms.
3. Make a marinade from mayonnaise, vegetable oil, salt and pepper.
4. Pour the marinade over the mushrooms and leave for an hour.
5. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater.
6. Place the pickled raincoats on a sheet of foil, wrap well and bake in the oven for half an hour.
7. Unfold the foil, cover the mushrooms with chopped cheese and send to open form into the oven for another ten minutes.

Sprinkle the finished dish with chopped herbs before serving.

Raincoat soup

Ingredients:

• Mushrooms - 300 grams
• Flour - 150 gr.
• Butter - 80 gr.
• Potatoes - 4 pieces
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Eggs - 2 pcs.
• Greens - 1 bunch
• Water - 150 milliliters
• Salt - to taste

Preparation

Let the potatoes cook, and in the meantime, sort and wash the mushrooms. Fry them in a frying pan with onions. Make choux pastry for dumplings - to do this, bring water to a boil with a pinch of salt and butter, add flour and eggs, while quickly stirring the dough with a spoon. Having kneaded it in this way, throw the mushrooms into the soup and, using a teaspoon, lay out the dough in small portions. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the greens, stir and remove from heat. Can be served immediately. Bon appetit!

Raincoats with sour cream

Ingredients:

• Raincoats - 400-500 grams
• Sour cream - 200 milliliters
• Potatoes - 6-8 pieces
• Salt - to taste
• Ground black pepper - to taste
• Onion - 2 pieces
• Vegetable oil - 5 tbsp. spoons

Preparation

1. Peel the potatoes, wash them, cut large ones into pieces and cook in salted water. Drain the cooked potatoes.
2. Clean raincoats from thorns, soil and leaves. Rinse thoroughly several times.
3. Place the raincoats in vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry for 20-25 minutes.
4. Peel the onion and cut into cubes. Fry the onion in a separate frying pan in oil until golden brown.
5. Add the fried onions to the slickers. Salt and pepper. Stir and fry for another 15-20 minutes.
6. About 5 minutes before the end of frying the raincoats, add sour cream to the mushrooms and onions. Stir and simmer for a few minutes.
Serve slickers with sour cream and potatoes.

Many mushroom pickers undeservedly bypass these mushrooms, and completely in vain. Young puffballs are very tasty and healthy mushrooms. And most often they are one of the first to appear in spring forest, therefore, for lovers of just such gifts, forests will be a pleasant variety in the diet after long winter when dishes from fresh mushrooms, collected in the forest, are still a rarity on the table.

Puffballs belong to the mushroom family. The fruiting bodies of these mushrooms different types They have a rounded pear shape, most often white. Many of them have a pronounced false leg, and their sizes can be medium or large (like those of giant puffballs).

In young mushrooms, the entire cap is covered with small growths similar to thorns, which fall off over time. The spores of this type of mushroom ripen inside the fruiting body; when they ripen, a hole opens at the top of the fruiting body through which the spores spread around the mushroom. The color of ripe spores can range from green with an olive tint to brown.

Common names for this type of mushroom:

• bee sponge;
• hare potatoes.

And raincoats, in which the spores in the fruiting body are fully ripe, are called:

• flutter;
• puffing;
• dust duster;
• grandfather's tobacco;
• wolf tobacco;
• tobacco mushroom, etc.

Puffballs belong to the mushroom family

Edible types of puffball

The following common groups of mushrooms are classified as puffballs:

• true raincoats;
• bigheads;
• flutters.

Typical raincoats are small in size (height - 5-6 cm, radius - 2.5-3 cm). Their fruiting bodies are closed; in young individuals they are covered with a double shell. The outer layer of the fruit body shell may be covered with cracks, small scales or spines. As the mushroom ages, the outer layer falls off, exposing the inner - brown or ocher - layer, which covers the ripening ones.

Gallery: puffball mushrooms (25 photos)

Where do raincoats grow (video)

Meadow, pear-shaped and pearl raincoats

All of the above types of true puffballs are the most common category 4 mushrooms in central regions And middle lane our country. They are very similar to each other, and pearl look also called real, or edible. It is covered with large spines, which makes it look like a bighead mushroom.

Golovachi

Mushrooms of this genus are similar to puffballs; some mushroom pickers often confuse them. The main differences between bigheads and raincoats:

• more large sizes(at least 7 cm in height and 3.5 cm in radius);
• The fruiting body of these mushrooms, after the spores ripen, ruptures much more strongly than that of ordinary puffballs.

Otherwise, they look about the same as raincoats. The most commonly encountered species of bighead are described below.

Golovachi

Baggy golovach

Common names for this type of raincoat:

• Bladderhead;
• The golovach is round;
• Sac-shaped golovach;
• Rabbit raincoat;
• The golovach is pot-bellied.

The fruiting body of such a bighead can be from 10 to 20 cm in diameter, round shape, slightly flattened on top, fine-grained inside, tapering downwards. Young bigheads are light milky in color and become brown with gray tint. Cracks run along the fruiting body of an adult bighead, and tubercles similar to warts will also appear. Old mushrooms open up at the top, becoming like bowls with torn parts.

This mushroom belongs to the 4th category; only young bigheads are used for food.

Baggy golovach

Golovach oblong (extended raincoat)

Synonyms – bighead marsupial. This species has a fruiting body of a peculiar shape - pin-shaped or club-shaped. The pseudopod is elongated, the apex looks like half a ball. The height of the fruiting body together with the pseudopod is from 8 to 14 cm, in rainy and warm weather can grow even more. The thickness of the upper part of the pseudopod is about 4 cm, and the lower part is about 6–7 cm. But different sources indicate different values ​​of these indicators.

Young mushrooms have white color, which turns yellow and then brown over time. There are spines along the entire surface of the fruiting body. The flesh of young mushrooms is white, but over time it becomes yellow, withers, and then turns brown. The upper spherical part of the fruiting body opens and brown spore powder falls out. The young elongated bighead is quite edible.

Golovach oblong (extended raincoat)

Giant golovach

This mushroom is the largest among all varieties of bigheads. Some of its specimens can grow up to 0.5 m in height, and their weight reaches 18-20 kg. It is this representative of the bighead genus that is considered the most delicious of all representatives of the genus. But, unfortunately, giant bigheads always grow alone and do not appear in one place, and this is considered their main drawback.

How to assemble raincoats (video)

Poisonous false puffballs

But in the family under consideration there are also inedible species, some of which are also mildly poisonous.

False raincoat warty

This mushroom belongs to the category inedible mushrooms from the genus of False Puffballs of the Scleroderma family. Usually grows in "families" in deciduous forests and groves (especially on the edges or forest clearings), found in grassy meadows and on roadsides. Growth period is from the first ten days of August to mid-October. The fruit body is 3–5 cm in diameter, tuberous in shape, the color of the outer shell is brownish. The outer shell is leathery, corky, leathery.

False raincoat warty

Common false raincoat

The fruiting body of this mushroom is tuberous in shape, 5–6 cm in diameter, the shell can be smooth or covered with small scales. The color of this raincoat is dirty yellow. When the shell cracks, small warts appear.

Medicinal properties of puffball mushroom

Not all mushroom pickers know that raincoats have unique medicinal properties. They are able to stop bleeding and also have a healing effect. In case of a severe cut, you can simply break this freshly picked mushroom and apply the pulp to the wound - the bleeding will stop very quickly. Similarly, it can be used to treat other skin diseases:

• severe burns;
• poorly healing purulent wounds;
• acne;
• urticaria, etc.

Raincoats have unique healing properties

Decoctions are prepared from mushrooms, which are used to treat inflammatory processes in the upper respiratory tract:

• bronchitis;
• tuberculosis;
• laryngitis

The giant bighead has the ability to prevent the growth of malignant cells, so the medicine calvacin was made based on this mushroom, which helps in the fight against malignant tumors in different parts human body.

To this healthy mushroom was always at hand, it is prepared for future use (pickled, dried).

Places where puffball grows

Varieties of puffballs can grow in different places. The baggy loggerhead is usually found with last decade May to mid-September on open air sunny places – forest edges or clearings, in shallow ravines, in pastures. Most often it grows singly.

The elongated raincoat appears in forests, on the edges or forest glades from the second ten days of July. The last mushrooms of this species are found in mid-October.

How to cook puffball mushrooms (video)

Options for preparing puffball mushrooms

Only young mushrooms should be used for cooking. They can be fried, stewed, or prepared as first courses.

Stuffed zucchini

Peel the young zucchini, cut into rings 2.5-3 cm thick. Remove the middle (along with the seeds), boil in salted water until half cooked, place in a colander to drain. Then roll in flour and fry on sunflower oil. Pass young mushrooms through a meat grinder along with onions and fry in sunflower oil. Fill the zucchini with the prepared mushroom mince.

Vermicelli casserole

Vermicelli is boiled in salted water and drained in a colander. The puffballs are finely chopped and fried in butter until ready. Then the fried mushrooms are mixed with vermicelli and raw eggs, put in a mold greased with oil and sprinkled with crushed breadcrumbs and put in an oven heated to 170 - 180 degrees for 1/3 hour. Pepper is added to this dish to taste.

Although raincoats belong to category 4, you can use them to prepare a lot of tasty and healthy dishes. Fried young mushrooms are especially tasty.

Gallery: puffball mushrooms (35 photos)

Puffball mushroom: one type or several? The main types of puffball mushrooms, their photos. How are these mushrooms used?

Hello dear reader!

Talk about the puffball mushroom as if it were something special form, wrong. After all, raincoats at least several types. And these species have their own characteristics, both in structure and in habitat.

Puffball mushrooms unite common features buildings. Moreover, perhaps, the fact that all these mushrooms are edible and do not have poisonous “doubles”.

It’s interesting that everyone knows about the edibility of puffball mushrooms. But mushroom pickers rarely take them. I tried these mushrooms myself. Not only edible, but also delicious! However, I almost never take it. Why? Mystery…

But at the same time, we know quite little about puffball mushrooms. Unless sometimes the press flashes a message like: found giant mushroom a raincoat the size of a human head and weighing several kilograms.

True, such a mushroom, from a biological point of view, is not a raincoat at all, but a representative of a different genus. But more on that later.

Puffball mushrooms - general structural features

It is curious that Wikipedia now classifies the Raincoat genus as a member of the Champignon family. Of course, I don't agree with this. As far as I understand, serious mycologists do too. They classify these mushrooms as belonging to the Rain family.

So who is right – mycologists or Wikipedia?

No, perhaps some microscopic details allow us to classify puffball mushrooms as champignons. But from the point of view of a mushroom picker, it’s hardly reasonable to talk about this at all. And some common structural features still quite sharply distinguish raincoats from agaric ones, which include champignons.

Here, which I wrote about not so long ago, really belongs to the Champignonovs. For now, let’s not include raincoats among them.

The puffball mushroom as a biological genus is included in the order Gasteromycetes. These are mushrooms whose fruiting bodies are closed. There is an outer shell surrounding the entire body of the mushroom. It is called peridium. And there is pulp inside, called glebe by scientists.

At first the gleba is homogeneous. Later, cavities appear in it, on the walls of which spores ripen. When they are ripe, the fruit body disintegrates or opens at the top. Disputes spread around the world in one way or another. Puffball mushrooms rely on the wind for their spores.

Actually, only a young mushroom is popularly called a puffball. When the spores have matured and are thrown out at the slightest shock, people call such a mushroom “grandfather’s tobacco”, “devil’s tobacco” and similar names. And as children, we love to step on such mushrooms, and even scatter them. Interesting!

The gleba (pulp) of a young puffball mushroom is porous. Since it is inside, under the shell, it is sterile. Therefore, such a mushroom, once cut, can be applied to wounds to stop bleeding. You never know what happens in the forest to mushroom pickers or tourists?

Our main raincoat mushrooms are pear-shaped puffball (Lycoperdon pyriforme), pearl puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) and meadow puffball (Vascellum pretense). Scientists attribute the first two species to the genus Raincoat, and the third to another genus Vascellum of the same family.

A Russian name for this genus has not yet been invented. That’s why mycologists call the mushroom a puffball. Still, “vascellum” somehow does not sound in Russian speech.

This raincoat is a forest look. Grows on deciduous and coniferous-deciduous forests, in clearings. May also be found in gardens and parks. The fact is that the pear-shaped raincoat prefers to live on rotting wood: stumps, dead wood. It can even settle on the lower part of the trunks of living trees if they are overgrown with moss.

The fruiting bodies of the pear shaped mushroom usually do not grow alone. They grow in a whole bunch at once. These fruiting bodies are small in size. They are usually from 3 to 5 cm in height.

The shape of the fruiting bodies is most often pear-shaped. But the division into the upper spherical part and the stalk of this mushroom is purely arbitrary. It is only external. After all, the gleba pulp is uniform throughout the body.

Outside, the fruiting body is completely covered with a peridium shell. Spines and warts form on the surface of the shell. At the top there is usually a sort of “pimply”, as in my photo.

The color of the shell can vary from white to yellow and even brown. The pulp of the young mushroom is white. Later it turns brown.

Fruiting body of the puffball mushroom

The mycelium of the pear-shaped raincoat consists of whitish cords of mycelium, clearly visible even to the naked eye.

As long as the flesh is white, the mushroom is edible. It is fried, made into soups, and dried.

An inhabitant of both forests and open meadow spaces, the pearl raincoat settles primarily on the soil, rather than plant residues. This is a soil saprotroph that uses ready-made food from the soil layer.

The pearl puffball mushroom usually grows on the soil

Its fruiting bodies are also pear-shaped, but can grow larger than those of the pear-shaped puffball. The mushroom can reach a height of 10 cm.

The shell is white, all covered with thorns and warts. The mushroom is found not only in groups, but also alone.

Fruiting body of the pearl puffball mushroom

And here the division into the leg and the upper part is purely arbitrary. The glebe is exactly the same throughout the fruiting body.

The flesh is initially white or light gray, later turning brown. When the spores ripen, a hole opens at the top through which the spores leave the mushroom when shaken. A raindrop fell and the mushroom released a portion of “smoke” (spores). And the wind carried these disputes to a new place.

This puffball mushroom is also edible in at a young age, while its gleba is white or light gray in color.

Actually, this particular mushroom, which grows in open places: in meadows, pastures, and fields, is usually called a puffball. In the forest, if it is found, it is along the edges and clearings. But guess what - scientists distinguish it into a separate genus, not classifying it in the Raincoat genus!

Fruiting bodies of meadow puffball - young and old

The situation somewhat reminds me of the current situation with... Mycologists have found out that it is not a relative of the moss fly, but of the butter fly. And they persistently call it a yellow-brown oiler. The tongue resists - what kind of yellow-brown oil can, if it is a moss...

But a Russian name for the genus Vascellum has not yet been invented, and the mushroom remains a puffball.

It has rounded fruiting bodies with a flattened top. The stem usually does not stand out externally; the fruiting body simply becomes somewhat thinner towards the base.

But if you look inside, you can also see the leg! The situation is this: the gleba pulp of the meadow raincoat is not at all homogeneous, like that of representatives of the genus Raincoat.

Here is a picture I borrowed from Mikhail Vishnevsky’s book “Mushrooms. Mini-expert” this can be considered. Shown here is a cut meadow raincoat.

Meadow puffball mushroom in section

Most of the mushroom pulp is spore-bearing gleba. Here, as the fruiting body matures, chambers with spores will appear. But smaller Bottom part, separated from the upper membrane. And underneath it the gleba is already barren. Spores are not formed in the “leg”.

The young meadow puffball mushroom has a uniform, white or grayish flesh. On the outside, the entire fruiting body is completely covered with a durable, hard shell, the peridium. The shell is also white; it begins to turn yellow with age. There are spines on the shell, but they are held very loosely and can even be washed away by rain.

The fruiting bodies of the meadow raincoat reach a size of 10 cm (but no more). Usually they are still smaller.

As it ripens, the flesh turns yellow. Then the shell at the top breaks, creating a gap, and the mushroom disperses brown spores, becoming “grandfather tobacco.”

This is the largest and tastiest of raincoats. The meadow puffball mushroom is fried, dried, mushroom powder is made from it, and soups are cooked. There is no need to boil before cooking. But it is highly desirable to remove the hard shell.

There are other types of raincoats. But these are the most common and numerous.

Every village child knows that if you kick or press on this mushroom during its ripening period, a cloud of smoke will rise above it. That’s why children call the edible puffball “smoke machine,” but it’s not smoke at all, but myriads of ripened spores, but a mushroom, despite unusual appearance, really edible.

Edible raincoat

Edible raincoat – Lycoperdon perlatum

In other words, it is called Puffball, bee sponge, puffball, puffball, pearl puffball, wolf's, devil's or grandfather's tobacco, hare's potato, tobacco mushroom.

But the mushroom got its true name due to the fact that it is born after rain.

Where does the tobacco mushroom grow?

Raincoats prefer deciduous and coniferous forests, can grow in forest clearings.

They bear fruit, depending on the climate, in June – November.

External signs of the edible raincoat

Stipe

These mushrooms either have no legs or are so tiny that they are barely noticeable at first glance.

Gleba mushroom

The shape of the dust duster resembles a mace or a pear. The diameter of the spherical part reaches 2-5 cm. The bottom grows cylindrical, 1.2-2.2 cm in thickness and 2-6 cm in height.

Young glebs are distinguished by their white color and the presence of warts, while mature ones acquire an ocher-brown color and become smooth.

They are covered with two shells - leathery on the inside and smooth on the outside. There are small white spikes on the surface: if you touch them, they will easily separate from the mushroom.

When the edible puffball ripens, the gleba becomes thinner and dry, and a hole appears in the middle of the ball through which a powder is released, consisting of round, warty spores of a brown-olive hue.

Similar species

These mushrooms are similar to the following edible representatives of the champignon family:

• Elongated golovach. Both have a pear- or club-shaped body, but the bighead does not form a hole at the top. The tops are destroyed, and only sterile legs remain in their place.
• Pear-shaped raincoat. In contrast, the fruiting body of the Edible Raincoat is covered with small thorns.

According to the Italians, the duster is the most delicious mushroom in the world, especially fried slices. The main thing is to catch it at a time when the flesh is still loose and white and has not begun to turn green. Greenish specimens lose their pleasant taste and become like cotton wool.

It is necessary to eat the collected raincoats as soon as possible: if they sit for a couple of 1-2 days, they will turn green.