Young, immature puff ball mushrooms are one of my favorite mushrooms to eat. They have a spicy taste.

You know when you squeeze a dry mature puff ball and you get that puff of spores, well when I was a kid my grandfather told me that they were horses farts.

We called them Devil's Puff Balls.

They certainly do look like truffles! I think you need a dog or a pig for positive ID. I do know they grow underground,must be dug up so they are not seen from just walking around in the woods looking around and they are found at the bases of oak trees. People use dogs or pigs to find them because they are underground and are recognizable by their smell.

http://truffleoils.com/

One more thing:

Here`s a link to a lot of truffle pictures.


http://www.natruffling.org/ (Click "truffle identification" which is the 12th link from the top or third from the bottom in the left menu. Also click where it says "photo gallery" on the truffle identification page to see lot of pictures of real truffles.)

Also they have pictures of the scleroderma puff ball things that start underground and work their way to the surface on the "truffle identification" page. It says do not eat them because they can upset your stomach. It looks like those have powdery stuff inside but the truffle is more solid inside.

Also, this page has a email link where you can write in to have them identified by experts. They also examine samples under a microscope if you want to send in dried specimens.

Thanks for that very informative link Karen! Hmmm..the ones I got closely resemble that Rhizopogon villosolus....or it could also be just a puffball too..now where did I put these three...forgot which container I dug it in!

I read those have been used as a soil innoculent to improve plant growth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

I`m reading that not all truffles(and certainly not the puffballs!) are used for cooking. It is a good idea to get them carefully checked by professionals if you really wanna know and are curious enough!