Giant puffball
Calvatia gigantea
This one has a dangerous look-alike
A button-stage Amanita — including the destroying angel — looks like a small white ball until you slice it and see the outline of a young mushroom. Always slice.
- When
- Typically August – October — August, September, October. Earlier in the south, later in the north.
- Where it grows
- Pastures, lawns, hedgerows and open woods — often a white ball visible from the road.
- How to know it
- Smooth white ball, football-sized or larger. Slice it top to bottom: it must be pure white and uniform like a marshmallow, with no gills, no outline of a mushroom, no yellowing.
- Harvest and use
- Slice thick and fry like a cutlet. Only while pure white inside.
- Caution
- Any yellow or olive inside means it is past it: discard.
Found in these regions
Is it ready near you?
Get this week's foraging guide for your area
Enter a town, postal code or ZIP and we'll tell you what's in season right there this week — from your local climate, this week's weather and your ecological region.
Also ready in September
FruitAugust – SeptemberBeach plum
Prunus maritima
Low sprawling shrub in the sand, with dusty purple plums about the size of a marble.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Tom Norton · CC BY 4.0
NutSeptember – OctoberBlack walnut
Juglans nigra
Tennis-ball green husks lying under a tall tree with long compound leaves; the husk stains everything it touches brown.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Sandy Wolkenberg · CC BY 4.0
FruitAugust – SeptemberChokecherry
Prunus virginiana
Long drooping clusters of dark red-to-black cherries on a small tree with finely toothed oval leaves.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Tom Norton · CC BY 4.0
Educational information only. Never eat a wild plant or mushroom identified from a single photograph or description — confirm with a regional field guide or an experienced forager, and know the poisonous species in your area first.