Choice
Black trumpet
Craterellus cornucopioides, C. fallax
The character that does the work
A hollow black funnel with no gills, thin as paper. There is almost nothing else like it.
The specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
3 to 8 cm, a thin funnel open all the way down, dark grey-brown to nearly black, with a wavy flaring margin.
02Underside
Nearly smooth, or with faint shallow wrinkles. No true gills at all.
03Stem, and the base
Hollow, continuous with the cap, so the whole mushroom is one trumpet.
04Flesh, cut
Thin, brittle, dark.
05Spore print
06Where it grows
On soil in hardwood forest, especially with beech and oak, often in moss and often in large scattered troops.
07Smell
Fruity and rich, becoming intense when dried.
When to look
Typically Jul to Oct in the northern hemisphere. Fruiting swings by weeks with rainfall and by a month or more with latitude, so this is when to look rather than when it will be there.
Europe and eastern North America.
What is worth knowing about it
Among the safest wild mushrooms to learn, because it has no dangerous look-alike, and among the hardest to see. They are the colour of leaf litter and people walk over dozens before their eyes adjust. Once you find one, stop and look at the ground for two full minutes.
Confused with
- Devil's urn
- Other Craterellus species, all edible
In the kitchen
The one wild mushroom that is arguably better dried than fresh. Dried and ground to powder it gives an intense, almost truffle-like flavour that survives in cream, custards and butter.
The techniques, and why they workThis page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
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