Funghi
Handkea utriformis
B tier
Handkea utriformis (often still called Calvatia utriformis) is the mosaic puffball—medium, with a patterned or cracking surface and edible white flesh when immature. Flavour is mild; texture suitable for cubes and slices in the pan. It fruitings in sandy grasslands and heath-like open ground in Europe and beyond. Cut to confirm white homogeneity. Mature specimens become brown and powdery. A solid intermediate-size puffball between tiny Lycoperdon and giants.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Mosaic or urn-shaped puffballs were recorded in European grassland mycology.
Edibility of young H. utriformis was accepted in regional guidebooks.
Taxonomic moves between Calvatia and Handkea reorganised the name without changing cook use.
European foragers continued collecting mosaic puffballs as mild pan fungi.